Ken ended up with a box of 38 short Colt, can this be fired in 38 special or 38 S&W revolvers I think it is a 95 grn bullet

Yep.

There's a box of 130 grain Remington .38 Short Colt around here someplace. It's truly wimpy to fire.

The case is narrower than the 38 s&w. It's the parent cartridge of the 38 Long Colt which led to the 38 Special.

I got a box of Remington .38 Short Colt along with an IJ break-top I bought to help out a critically ill old Marine a few months ago, when he was selling off some stuff his kids did not want. It is loaded with 125gr. LRN bullets. Haven't shot any yet, but the old gun is unusually solid for its type, and I expect I'll pop a few someday. I suspect that the gun was actually made for .38 S&W, but I'm not sure it's marked either way. Will have to go look.

A wonderful load to graduate the young or recoil sensitive with from rim fire to center fire. Lighter even than the 148 target wad cutter loading in .38 Special. It feels like an air pistol when fired, except your able to do it out of a heavier framed K, L or N.

As in my posting...can the 32 Colt long be safely and accurately fired in a 32 S&W or Ruger 32 H&R mag

Dunno Bimmer?
I don't have any dimensional data for the 32 H&R? And I'd have to dig a bit for the 32 S&W info, but it is lurking around here somewhere. The wild card is the 32 Colt long. I can't recall whether or not some of my ancient stuff covers it? I'll have a look and get any info I can.

I have both a Colt New Pocket in .32 Long Colt and a Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector in .32 S&W Long. The the .32 Short and Long Colt cartridges will chamber and safely fire in the revolvers chambered for the .32 Smith & Wesson Long but the reverse is not true. The .32 Short and Long Colt chambers are slightly smaller in diameter.

.32 Short and Long Colt

bullet dia. .313
neck dia. .313
base dia. .318
rim dia. .374

.32 S&W Long

Bullet dia. .312
Neck dia. .335
base dia. .335
rim dia. .375

Source: Barnes "Cartridges of the World" 8th Edition


The old .32 Short Colt has become very hard to find and the .32 Long Colt is discontinued and scarce.

Thanks BMC!

I went back and read the narrative on the .32 Short and Long Colt. Forgot that there were two types of bullet designed for use in these cartridges, the inside lubricated heel type bullet of .299 inches in diameter and the outside lubricated bullet of .313 inches in diameter. Both types would safely work in a .32 S&W chambered revolver.


I've taken delivery on a set of .32 Colt loading dies and the two different styles of bullets for loading the .32 Short and Long Colt cartridges but haven't hand loaded any yet. Having fired all these different .32 cartridges I can say that none of them set the woods on fire.

Starline makes new brass cases for
.38 Short Colt as well as .38 Long Colt.

R-