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Thread: A more efficient .38! Step inside for some edjumacation!

  1. #1

    A more efficient .38! Step inside for some edjumacation!

    So obviously we have had a bit of an ammo crunch and components have been hard to come by. The short version is that finding new brass has been a bear. I have been loading .44 Russians for guys who want to shoot target loads in their .44 Mags and Specials and have had no shortage of requests for .38 Special ammo. However new .38 Special brass has been pretty much unobtanium in the last few months.

    However... I did grab some ... 38 Short Colt Brass!

    Now most shooters have absolutely ZERO clue what .38 SC is, or they confuse is with .38 S&W. (different caliber completely, the .38 Short Colt and Special family is .357, and the .38 S&W is .361)

    I will just skip to the punchline. .38 Short Colt is the grandfather of .38 Special and it is essentially .38 Special brass cut to 9mm length. In fact the 3K cases I picked up from Starline are simply .38 Special cases cut down and stamped short Colt.

    Here is a pic of .38 Short Colts next to 9mms.



    I can tell you that they are extremely slick little things in terms of loading and unloading due to their short length. I loaded up some poly coated 125 grain truncated cone flat points and they are some accurate and slick loading little suckers!




  2. #2
    Site Supporter entropy's Avatar
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    Damn. Learn something every day. Now I’m off to the basement to look it up in my Lee Manual.
    Working diligently to enlarge my group size.

  3. #3
    Frequent DG Adventurer fatdog's Avatar
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    for cas side matches I load 38sc with black powder for my .38 special FIE derringer, it VERY closely replicates the original .41 rimfire load for the old remington derringers and is quite manageable

    another benefit of the 38sc case for .38 specials is the short ejector rods have enough stroke to completely clear the cases, even in a 2" j frame...

    I always have thought of .38sc to .38 special as having the same relationship that .38 special has to .357 magnum or .45 schoefield to .45 colt pr .44 russian to .44 special...etc.

    good tip LR!

  4. #4
    Check this out!



    The Short Colt next to the Special.


  5. #5
    BTW,

    These little 125 grain poly coated truncated cone flat points are doing 850 FPS out of a 4" K frame and are just plain fun to shoot in both Js and Ks.



    I have to get some more dang boxes for them LOL. Guys keep wiping me out!

  6. #6
    Site Supporter
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    Did you buy this brass because you can't find .38 Spl brass?

  7. #7
    Are you using (light) 9mm data? Or .38 Short data? I've been curious about trying this for lighter loads either with short Colt or long Colt brass... I do wonder how heavy of a bullet you can push at a reasonable velocity without making them uncomfortable to shoot in the light 2" J-frames.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by WDR View Post
    Are you using (light) 9mm data? Or .38 Short data? I've been curious about trying this for lighter loads either with short Colt or long Colt brass... I do wonder how heavy of a bullet you can push at a reasonable velocity without making them uncomfortable to shoot in the light 2" J-frames.
    Assuming the intended purpose is self defense against deer-sized critters, I'd want the cylinder full of wadcutters at 650 ft/s:

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    And the speed loaders full of 200 grainers at 625 ft/s. If the 200 grainers went straight, they'd over-penetrate with minimal wound mass:

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    But with the "right" bullet, something like the Lee C358-200RF, they might yaw, flip 180 degrees, and stop in (maybe) 15". Then it might look more like this:

    Name:  38_Speculation.png
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    Note that the MacPherson penetration model does not apply to "tumbling" bullets. So, the wound mass in this last graph is my own speculation based on some admittedly simplistic physical "analysis."

  9. #9
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WDR View Post
    Are you using (light) 9mm data? Or .38 Short data?
    I'm not shy. What's your recipe?
    .
    -----------------------------------------
    Not another dime.

  10. #10
    Site Supporter Oldherkpilot's Avatar
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    Hang on! Shouldn't the title of this thread be: How to turn your .38 Special into a .32 ACP?

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