I hope to be rebuilding my S&W .38 DA Third Model Top Break (SN# 1700##) within the week, and I will post photos. This will be my first attempt at it and I hope to bring the old girl back to shooting condition. It is chambered in .38 Smith & Wesson. Will I be able to shoot contemporary .38 S&W rounds through it? Or, will I have to buy reproduction ammo? Thanks, Waistgunner

I hope to be rebuilding my S&W .38 DA Third Model Top Break (SN# 1700##) within the week, and I will post photos. This will be my first attempt at it and I hope to bring the old girl back to shooting condition. It is chambered in .38 Smith & Wesson. Will I be able to shoot contemporary .38 S&W rounds through it? Or, will I have to buy reproduction ammo? Thanks, Waistgunner

Some caution against it, there are plenty of us who shoot modern Win or Rem off-the-shelf with success. It is loaded plenty light for weaker actions. The real concern is the drastically different pressure curve of smokeless vs blackpowder. While I load my own in both bp and smokeless in all 3 top-break calibers (.32, .38, .44) I also shoot the occasional factory round. No problems so far.
Chris

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

Some "home rolled" Pyrodex rounds should be both safe and fun.

Cgt4570 hit it just right. An occasional cylinder full of modern ammo shouldn’t hurt it if the gun is tight and in good condition. The operative word is “occasional”. If you plan on taking the gun every time you go to the range and shooting it with any regularity, it will shoot loose. Keep an eye on it.

Actually, if you want to shoot it just to experience what it was like “back in it’s day”, you should be using ammo that was in use “back in it’s day” (i.e. BP) You could get some CAS loads, but they always remind me of shooting Air-soft. (Kind of “pop-pop, puff-puff” )

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Great information guys, thanks! Anyone know of an on-line source for the CAS "light" .38 S&W loads? Waistgunner

Unfortunately the 38 S&W isn't used much in Cowboy shooting, they use the 38 S&W Special which is a different cartridge. The 38 S&W uses a slightly larger bullet (.361 vs .358) and has a case that is shorter and a little fatter. It is difficult to even find the proper, larger bullets for the 38 S&W today.

??????? I thought that Cowboy shooting was supposed to use the guns (or a reasonable facimile thereof) of the Old West. 38 Special didn't even exist until 1899, the "Old West" was pretty much gone by then.
And if that's the case I should be allowed to use my Mauser Broomhandle in the rapid fire events. (It's older than the Special)

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Dean;

Like any other "Competition Shooting" the Rules tend to get 'adjusted' as necessary and anything to make it 'easier' on the shooter. Most all of these shoots that I've attended were all being shot with very light loads - especially the shotgun matches. I know I've seen several cases where the 'popper' wouldn't go down simply because the load of shot and powder was too light to do the job.

As I said before... reminds me of Airsoft.

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Can't imagine something I've never tried but I do know the Factory loadings for the .32 S&W and the .38 S&W made very poor showings during a 'penetration test' I was running a few years ago!

Most .32 and .38 S&W chambered revolvers were top-breaks of any of several makes and the majority of "modern" ammunition is loaded to be used in this type of action. Assuming the gun latches snugly, with no more than just enough slack in the latch to know it is there, and the gun is otherwise in good mechanical condition there is no reason to not shoot current production ammunition of either Winchester or Remington manufacture. Wouldn't guarantee anything from other manufacturers unless they specifically state their product is safe in top-breaks.

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Gunsmithing since 1961