Can I use 38 short colt in s&w air weight 642 38?

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Tarheel7472

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Brand new pistol owner having hard time finding ammo for practice. Can I use Remington 38 short colt in my new pistol?
 
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No, they shouldn't even fit in the cylinder. They are a true .38 while .38 special is .357. This round is the same as the .38 S&W aka the British .380.
 
The .38 Short Colt is shorter but has the same case diameter than the .38 Long Colt, which in turn is shorter than the .38 Special, so it should work fine. The Colt rounds used to be loaded with hollow base bullets that had to expand with firing, but they now both use .357 diameter bullets.
 
The .38 SC is simply a short .38 Special. Certainly you can use it in any revolver chambered in .38 Special or even .357 Magnum. It's a weak round similar in power to the .38 S&W. It's a fairly popular round for ICORE shooting, and is still loaded. It will also work OK in any .38 S&W revolver, even though it has a slightly smaller case and bullet diameter.
 
38 Short Colt vs 38 Long Colt vs 38 Special Usage

Tarheel,

I think you will find that these is much confusion about the usage of the these cartridges in a 38 Special revolver. I am referencing this information about a "marked' 38 special revolver, not a 357 Magnum revolver, different subject altogether.

This family of cartridges are related to each other, in the fact they share the same base dimensions:
.379 " at the base (not the rim) and at the mouth of the cartridge.
Only major difference is the length of the cartridge!
The 38 S&W (sometimes called the 38 Colt New Police) is not the same as a 38 Short Colt. The base dimensions of the two cartridges are different!

For very soft plinking rounds, 38 Short Colt and 38 Long Colt ammo could be fired and safely ejected from a 38 Special Revolver. But, not advisable and not recommended!
The long bullet jump from the mouth of the cartridge to the end of the cylinder charge hole, and into the rifling of the barrel, would make one of these rounds very in-accurate. The powder burn "crud" left by a 38 Short Colt would foul the charge hole of the cylinder, and require more cleaning than just staying with 38 Special ammo in a 38 Special revolver.
 
"The long bullet jump from the mouth of the cartridge to the end of the cylinder charge hole, and into the rifling of the barrel, would make one of these rounds very in-accurate. The powder burn "crud" left by a 38 Short Colt would foul the charge hole of the cylinder, and require more cleaning than just staying with 38 Special ammo in a 38 Special revolver. "

Simply not so. I have fired thousands of rounds of .38 SC from .38 Specials with none of those problems. I even reload them.
 
DWalt said:
"The long bullet jump from the mouth of the cartridge to the end of the cylinder charge hole, and into the rifling of the barrel, would make one of these rounds very in-accurate. The powder burn "crud" left by a 38 Short Colt would foul the charge hole of the cylinder, and require more cleaning than just staying with 38 Special ammo in a 38 Special revolver. "

Simply not so. I have fired thousands of rounds of .38 SC from .38 Specials with none of those problems. I even reload them.
Click to expand...

I was thinking isn't it kind of like shooting 38spl in a 357 magnum frame? Because people seem to do that plenty.
 
It is true the .38 Short Colt uses a heel base bullet of approximately .375" diameter. While it may seem to not be a good idea because of this the cartridge has always been listed as an alternative cartridge for .38 Special. There has never been a warning against using the cartridge in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolvers. The .38 Short Colt is a low pressure cartridge that operates at about 1/2 that of standard .38 Special.

Years ago, 1966 to be precise, I came into possession of a full box of .38 Short Colt. Not having anything to shoot them in except a .38 Special I used them in it. Absolutely no problems whatsoever. Still have the brass.
 
I would imagine 38SC is not the stuff you see on Wally-World shelves (as an example) very often. If you do a lot of shooting, get into reloading and down-load your practice rounds if you want to. You can get into 38-special reloading for under $100. Last time I looked the Lee loader (one at a time) was still available. Why bother with shooting a not-so-easy-to-find wimpy round. Reloading gear and supplies are coming back into the market at reasonable prices after the panic. You can build 3,000 rounds or more out of one pound of Bullseye for instance at around $26. Primers are back close to less than a nickel and slugs are around 10-cents.
 
The original loading for the .38 short Colt was with an outside lubricated heel bullet that was case diameter. All of the original Colt designed cartridges, except the .45 Colt were the same design, but many years ago the cartridges were redesigned with hollow base, inside lubricated bullets. The current Remington loaded .38 short Colt uses a bullet of the same diameter as the ,38 Special. The current ammo is undoubtedly loaded for use in .38 Special guns because the superior .38 S&W and .38 Special replaced the Colt rounds about 100 years ago, even in Colt guns. As for availability, my local Academy Sports store hs the .38 short Colt ammo on the shelf in good quantity, although expensive.
 
Thanks to everyone for advice. I had purchased the 38sc ammo when there was no other 38 ammo on the shelf. Amazing how varied the responses. A call to S&W customer service resulted in a first response of " should be OK but hold for a moment while I check". Then, when Cust serv rep came back on phone, was told " Should not use 38 short colt". Then a call to the gun shop where I purchased the pistol first resulted in response of should not use 38sc which was changed to OK to use on a call back later in the day. Since I'm only going to be using 25 rounds to qualify for my CWP this weekend and can't find other ammo, I think I'll go ahead and use the 38sc. Doesn't seem like there are any safety issues, which is my main concern.
 
This thread actually opened my eyes a bit. It had been so long since I'd had any reason to purchase 38SC, that I made an assumption it may be hard to find. Actually...it's not if you know where to look and it's priced pretty close to 38-Special. I have been down-loading 38-Special for the wife and I have an idea that the 38SC may be the perfect round for her and I have the dies to reload it with. I won't have to mark or separate her 38-Special loads....the 38SC will be easy to see.
 
I use .358 160gr bullets in 38 short colt cases in some of my revolvers, that are 357 mag. They shoot just fine and the smaller cases load much quicker.
 
Yes, these most assuredly can be used in a .38 special, or 357 magnum for that matter.
(or .357 max or .360 DW too, if you're lucky enough to have one)


Modern, off the shelf .38 Short Colt does not use a heeled bullet- it uses the same .358 diameter bullets that .38 special uses. When I say "modern," I'm talking about the loads available from Remington and Ten-X, and most all loads for it made since WWII.

Currently made .38 SC load SKU numbers that are 100% fine in a .38 Special or 357 magnum (or .357 Max for that matter):

  • Remington: RTG38SC (new SKU number 2013)
  • Remington: R38SC
  • Ten-X: 38001093
If you can find some of the old Winchester lubaloy coated ones, they are fine too...but I think they'd likely be over 30+ years old



I've been loading .38 Short Colt for a a while now, and I like it a lot better than .38 special, especially in conjunction with moonclips as they behave more like .45 ACP and just "fall" into the cylinder for faster loading and shooting. They works fairly well with speedloaders too.


The "crud ring" that some have mentioned is greatly exaggerated. It's usually caused by a less than efficient combination of powder and bullet or wrong lube combination. You'd have to shoot several hundred, or perhaps a thousand or more at a sitting before you'd have enough residue not to get a .38 special into a cylinder- which in any case can be remedied quickly with a few passes of a brush.


Only problem with them is- as loaded from the factory, they are expensive!!! :eek:


The only loader that I know of that makes them with a heeled bullet on request is Gad Custom Cartridges. Heeled bullets are a pain in the neck to load, as I have done it in .38 Long Colt for a pair of Lightnings. Crimping when loaded with heeled bullets is the problem, as a collet die is absolutely necessary. A Lee die set for .38 LC and .38 SC is all you need to load them with regular .358 bullets.


I assure you, that the stuff off the shelf in any gunshop today is NOT heeled.

Also, .38 Short colts will not feed in Marlin or Winchester rifles or clones without modification.
Certainly are fun though- even if you have to single shot them- very quiet. :)
 
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