38 colt in 38 special/357 magnum??

[BigBill]

I was wondering if I can shoot the 38 colt in a 38special/357 mag revolver?

I'm looking for a very light round to start off with in my s&w k38
Revolvers for my gals. My wife and her girlfriend want to go shooting. I figure to let them shoot the 22's first then by the end of the shoot let them shoot the 38cal k38.

 

[DS326]

Yes, you can, but aren't they a little hard to come by? The .38 Long and Short Colt cartridges I see at gun shows are priced for collectors.

How about the .38 Special 148 gr target wadcutters? That's the light load I use. And that's the cartridge your K-38 was made for.

Dick

 

[ArchAngelCD]

They are hard to come by and if you find them they will cost you plenty!

Even the 148gr WC bullets will cost you these days.
Light bullets are best to reduce felt recoil as long as they aren't pushed to very high velocities. There are plenty of 125gr and 130gr FMJ standard pressure .38 Specials out there which won't break the bank.

Prvi Partizan 130gr FMJ - $14.95/50
Magtech 130gr FMJ - $16.99/50
Blaser 125gr FMJ - $16.75/50

I know those prices aren't cheap but in context, you can afford enough for practice. 148gr WC ammo will cost you around $26/50 or more...

 

[Nevada Ed]

I see a box of 125gr LRN for $34 ........but it did not say they were of .360 dia.

A true 38 S&W is .360 in dia.

Most of the junk you see for sale is the lead .357 dia. stuff for the newer guns and used for the S&W 38............which is not right but..........

If you do have .360 dia. bullets save them for the S&W 38.....
for the best accuracy.

Guns shoot BETTER with the correct size bullet dia.

I did a 115gr 9mm in my 38 snub nose two days ago.........lets say that it was interesting but also a waste of 5 FMJ bullets.

 

[venomballistics]

Why?
you want her to shoot a 38 spec ... hand her a 38 spec
molly codling a girl just because she's a girl does her a disservice by establishing sn unrealistic baseline for every gun she will fire from that day forward.
In the military, women are trained with full power ammo.
My wife was taught to shoot with full power 45 ACP defensive loads.
I may have problems in life, but weaning her off of 22 lr isn't one of them

 

[bedbugbilly]

I'm assuming that since you are posting in the reloading section you reload? If so . . . I believe you can find some starline brass at Midway - they showed it in stock a few days ago I thought about the same thing at one time but as pointed out to me, why go to the extra expense of getting 38 Colt Long brass. Just load your .38 spl. brass to a mild target load. The old standard 148 gr. WC with 2.7 gr. of BE is a nice mild load for what you're thinking of and you can shoot it all day long without getting tired.

If you don't reload . . . well, the last .38 Colt Long I saw on the shelf seemed to me like it cost an arm and a leg. You'd probably be better off picking up some light WC target loads for the girls to try.

If you don't reload . . . save your brass . . for someday you might want to. As I said, I was looking for 38 Colt Long for kind of the same thing you are but now, the only way I'd really want to have any on hand would be if I had something chambered in that cartridge such as an old Colt. A mild 38 spl. target/plinking load should give you the same results. Good luck!

 

[Jellybean]

I am assuming you are talking about the .38 Long Colt by the way.

With the interest in Cowboy Shooting, you might be able to find brass for the .38 Colt's, if you reload, or maybe even some loaded ammo if you don't.

If you do reload, try loading .38 Colt Long charges in .38 spl. brass. ArchAngelCD is correct that light bullets would be better for light recoil, and you should be able to find some light weight lead bullets if you look for them.

 

[alfsjeep]

38 Colt & 38 S&W are two different cartridges. Just like any 38 Spl. will work in a 357 Mag, any 38 colt will work in a fire arm chambered in 38 Spl. Remington makes both, and they run 25 to 30 dollars a box of 50 down here in Bryan, Tx.

Now with that said, your revolver may chamber the 38 S&W. The 38 S&W has a tapered case ( bigger at the base than the neck) where as the 38 Colt is a straight wall like the 38 Spl or 357 mag or max. If your revolver has a slightly larger chamber, then it should take the 38 S&W. My Ruger SP101 will load the 38 S&W but my S&W M60 and Ruger LCR will not.

I do the same thing. With new shooters, I will lay out different revolvers of different sizes and weights, along with different loads like the Remington 125 gr 38Colt, Winchester 130 gr 38 Spl, 130 gr +p, and 125 gr .357 mag. They will figure out the one that fits them best, then run them through the basics, then I'll start them with the lightest load (38 Colt) and work up from there. By the end of the day, they'll be able to make up their own mind about what they want to shoot or spend their money on..

The best thing to do, is give them options. Just because I prefer to shoot 180 gr 357 mags out of a 4 inch GP100 doesn't mean everyone will want a heavy revolver and full power heavy loads.

 

[rwsmith]

She just doesn't like.....

Why?
you want her to shoot a 38 spec ... hand her a 38 spec
molly codling a girl just because she's a girl does her a disservice by establishing sn unrealistic baseline for every gun she will fire from that day forward.
In the military, women are trained with full power ammo.
My wife was taught to shoot with full power 45 ACP defensive loads.
I may have problems in life, but weaning her off of 22 lr isn't one of them

My wife just doesn't like bang and kick. She likes a light load in a heavy enough gun. I'm trying to work her upward into the 'normal' range, but if that's what she likes, I'll keep cranking out the bunny poot loads.

 

[chief38]

My suggestion is to reload some 148 grain wadcutters over 2.8 grains of Bullseye or 3.0 grains of Titegroup. They make a real mild load for the Gals. If you do not reload, Factory 148 grain W/C's are about the next best thing.

 

[Hamster65]

I don't know if this will help your decision or not but, here goes anyway.

When I was first learning to shoot, I was missing my target badly because I was anticipating the "kick". My instructor, (also a LEO at the time) had me shooting 38 specials out of her .357 magnum to get used to the recoil (or lack thereof). Once I got pretty consistent, she slipped in a couple of .357 mags without my knowing. I managed to nail the bullseye with them because I didn't anticipate the recoil.

 

[scooter123]

Sometimes folks just miss the obvious. If you want to build a light load one way to avoid position sensitivity issues is by using a smaller case and the 38 LC fills that bill when compared to 38 special. The case length is about 1/8 inch shorter than the 38 special and Starline does produce new brass for this cartridge.

Suggestions for a light load. First, make sure you use LEAD bullets, plated or jacketed bullets have a distinct tendency to stick in the bore if you load them too light. By using a lead bullet you can probably produce loads with velocities as low as 500 fps without concerns about squibs. For load data, look for data that some powder manufacturers provide in a separate Cowboy load section. Unfortunately you probably wont find Cowboy loads for the 38 Long Colt but who knows, maybe it's a popular Cowboy load cartridge for the reduced case volume I cited. To be honest I haven't looked. As for a powder, I think that Trail Boss would be an obvious choice.

Now, for a final note. It's quite possible that you'll be going a bit "off the chart" if you want to produce a load that feels like a small step up from the 22LR. I STRONGLY suggest that you use a chronograph in any load development that uses powder charges lighter than the normal starting loads. Even with lead bullets you will be treading the line where you might produce a squib. So, make sure you use fresh targets so you can see every single bullet strike and I would advise bullet velocities be held to a velocity above 500 fps.

 

[Skeetr57]

I don''t know which .38 Colt cartridge the OP had in mind, but Remington still loads the .38 short Colt, and the local Academy Sports store had a bunch of it in stock when I was in there a few months back. It will probably shoot better in .38 Spl/.357 Mag revolvers than in the Colts for which it was chambered, because the Colts had larger bores for the case diameter original outside lubricated bullet, while the current ammo is loaded with .357 diameter slugs.

 

[David Sinko]

I assume you handload. Why not buy some Starline .38 Short Colt brass and go from there? If it works wonders for the top competitive shooters , it'll work wonders for you too. There's absolutely nothing wrong or immoral with loading a modern .357 Magnum revolver with the obsolete .38 Short Colt, as long as it suits your needs. Get her some moonclips and maybe she'll learn to reload in 1.5 seconds too.

Dave Sinko

 

[bedbugbilly]

To answer your quecstion - yes you can. I have been gathering components for 38 Colt Short and 38 Colt Long in preparation for working up loads to be used in 38 Spl. I like to "play" with such things. I am planning on getting a Uberti Colt 1872 "open top" as soon as I can locate one and I want to try these cartridges in them.

38 Colt Short and Long brass is made by Star Line - unfortunately, most suppliers are now out of it until they make another run of it. The dimensions of those cartridges are the same as the 38 Spl. - but shorter. The one thing to remember is that yo will have the "jump" of the bullet from the casing to the forcing cone - the same as a 38 Spl. shot in a 357.

The 38 Colt Short was designed originally as a BP cartridge to be used in such handguns as the Richards and Mason conversion on a 1851 Navy. It used a "heeled" bullet due to the size of the bore on the Colt Navy - they were bored to .360 and then rifled.

The 38 Colt Long was the Short's later sibling, used in the later Colts such as the Army and Navy models which also had a larger bore size than the current day 38 Special (.357) and they also used a heeled bullet to fit the bore.

Google both the Short and the Long - Wikipidia gives a good background on them.

I picked up some Long and a few Shorts (casings) - they are out there, you just have to keep looking. Track of the Wolf offers both sizes in brass (Star Line) but they are currently out of them and I think they are looking at 90 days out at this time. They can be had for around .19 a casing.

You could trim 38 Spl down to 38 Colt Long if you wanted to. But, you could also just load up some lighter 38 Spl loads as well. I cast all of my bullets. I mainly use Bulls Eye and for a lead WC, use the traditional 2.7 grains of Bulls Eye. It makes for an accurate and light target load that I shoot out of the 7 38s of various barrel lengths that I have.

FYI - the current reproductions of "original" revolvers such as the Uberti Richards & Mason conversions on the '51 Navies and the 1872 Colt "open top" - chambered in 38 Spl. (they are usually listed as 38 Colt Long/38 Spl.) all have barrel bores corresponding with modern 38 Spl. revolvers (.357). For a lead bullet, I usually size them to .358 or shoot "as cast" (depends on bullet configuration - I have an original Winchester mold for the 160 gr. RN - it drops them at around .358 or a little over).

If you reload and go with the 38 Colt Short or the 38 Colt Long - you really should get a set of dies for those cartridges. You can substitute some dies for other cartridges - i.e. the 38 Spl. sizing die will size them. I haven't loaded any of the Shorts or Longs yet - I'm told that a 9 mm seating die can be used and a 9mm crimp die as well. However, I prefer a rolled crimp over a taper crimp. Personally, I'd rather have a set of dies that are made for those cartridges so will e going with a set of Lee dies. I seat and crimp in two different operations so will get a Lee 3 die set and a separate roll crimp die as I use a 4 hole Lee Classic Turret to load on.

To keep things simple - you may want to just load some cat sneeze 38 Spl. But, the option of the Colt Short and Long is certainly out there if you choose to go that way. I'm not a competitive shooter but I understand that some use the 38 Colt Short to shoot in some competitions as it makes for a quicker reload duo to the length of the cartridge.

I just want to play with them in the 1872 Open top based on their history. I'll be reloading them in both smokeless and BP.

I dont' know if any of this has been helpful or not - if not - just disregard. Good luck to you!

 

[gwpercle]

I saw 38 S&W mentioned....they will not chamber in a 38 special/357 magnum revolver . I just tried to put one in...it's a no-go so don't order any of those....unless you have a 38 S&W chambered revolver. The short and long colt's .... I don't have any to try, so got no " for sure" answer on them