38S&W and 25acp ammo

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Looking to buy some 38S&W and .25acp. Haven't been able to find any locally. No experience in buying from ammo websites. No idea which ones are reliable.

Terry

Terry,

If you plan to do any real amount of shooting of the .38 S&W and don't already reload you should start now. I know components are high and hard to find but you will still come out cheaper. Not to mention that reloading is fun and can keep you shooting when there is no factory ammo in the food chain. .38 S&W is very low on most manufacturers priority list so is not made often and is high priced even before the scalpers get ahold of it .
 
I agree, if you reload you should load for the .38 S&W because of he price and no availability. You can load it as mild or wild as you see fit and find a load which is accurate in your gun.

Sorry if you don't reload and I posted suggestions to load the .38 S&W.
 
Even if reloading the 38 S&W brass may be hard to locate.

Once you have the cases the other items are easier to get a hold of.

Maybe in the beginning buy about 200 factory rounds and then reload the fired cases or have an experienced reloader reload for you
 
I've never tried it,,but would 38Super brass make a suitible substitute for trimming to length and using as 38S&W brass?

The base dia is nearly the same. The very small semi-rim on the Super would seem to work in a revolver just as it does in the 32acp when that is used in guns chambered for 32 S&W.

Maybe once the Super case is trimmed to proper 38S&W length (.895 down to .775), heavier walled brass (?) would interfere with bullet seating?
Perhaps plain .356d 38Spcl bullets would be a good choice at that point.
I always loaded those anyway when I reloaded the 38S&W with the correct brass and had accurate shooting results.

Seems like 38Super brass is more common than 38S&W is.
.and then again in these days,,maybe not.
Just a thought.

It's a fun caliber to reload and shoot. Wish I still had my Enfield and BSR.
 
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I have been sniffing around Ammoseek and a couple other web sites but have no experience in on line ammo buying and have heard a lot of horror stories of less that reputable sites. I will check out SGAmmo

Terry
 
I've never tried it,,but would 38Super brass make a suitible substitute for trimming to length and using as 38S&W brass?

The base dia is nearly the same. The very small semi-rim on the Super would seem to work in a revolver just as it does in the 32acp when that is used in guns chambered for 32 S&W.

Maybe once the Super case is trimmed to proper 38S&W length (.895 down to .775), heavier walled brass (?) would interfere with bullet seating?
Perhaps plain .356d 38Spcl bullets would be a good choice at that point.
I always loaded those anyway when I reloaded the 38S&W with the correct brass and had accurate shooting results.

Seems like 38Super brass is more common than 38S&W is.
.and then again in these days,,maybe not.
Just a thought.

It's a fun caliber to reload and shoot. Wish I still had my Enfield and BSR.
You could do that, but all that case trimming requires some work. I have always used .38 Super dies for loading .38 S&W. .357-.358 dia. bullets for .38 Special will work fine. For use in a solid frame revolver it is easy to develop considerably more powerful .38 S&W loads than factory loads provide.
 
Yes, the work involved in trimming of course.
I was just considering the availability of 38Super brass as opposed to the usually non-existant 38S&W.

38Super once fired is in stock several places,,$8 to $10 /50
38 S&W once fired is OOS everywhere I checked.
New Brass is as well either OOS or backordered.

Trim once and done. A power trimmer or a set up to do the same in a drill press/mill would ease the pain of the trimming process.
But a crank job can do it as well. It's a hobby after all.
Don't like the work, then pay the price for a precious factory box/50. That'll get you brass in a hurry.

If I did get back into that caliber, I'd be set w 100 cases or so. I still have some brass around from the previous reloading days.
You're right, you can make up some great loads for a solid frame revolver in that caliber. Factory stuff is pretty whimpy with a nod to all the top breaks and antiques around.
 
My reloading days are long behind me for a verity of reasons, just not interested any longer. I enjoyed it while I was in to it, now not so much.

Factory or trusted reloads for me now.

Terry
 
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