.38 Super Reloaders

[Walkalong]

I just recently got a .38 Super "racegun" ,comped and everything, for fun at the range. I have never loaded for .38 Super and have a couple of questions.

The previous owners "favorite load" for this gun was 8.3 Grs. WAP with a 130 Gr. FMJ and WSR primer for 1360 FPS.

It is my understanding that WAP is discontinued. Will WSF (with an appropriate change in charge wieght) work here? What powders do, or did, ya'll use in the Super and what primer, charge, bullet, and O.A.L.?

Is it necassary to use .356 bullets in the Super instead of .355? Why are .38 Super bullets .356?

I probably have more questions I have not thought of yet. Feel free to answer them too. Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge..... A.C.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Walkalong,

You're in luck, in many ways. First of all, the .38 Super is a great round. Mine are very accurate, but they're all Witnesses, which headspace on the case mouth, instead of the rim. The early Colts headspaced on that abbreviated rim, and were inconsistant.

Second of all, you can use your friend's data by switching to Ramshot Silhouette, which is the same powder as WAP. It's made by St. Marks Powder Company and when Winchester dropped it, Western Powders picked it up and renamed it.

Not all .38 Super barrels are .356". I've slugged some that were as large as .358". I've also seen them that measured .355". You'll have to see what your barrel likes for bullets, but if you've already got a proven load, that simplifies things.

I normally shoot 9mm bullets in mine and they all go into the same hole, but I've also shot .38 Special bullets through it, and they went through the same hole, too. It all depends on your gun.

This is a high pressure cartridge, so watch your pressure signs. Most of the .38 Super barrels I've seen have an oversize chamber for some reason. Perhaps it's to enhance feeding of the longer cartridge, but I'm not sure. I just know they expand quite a bit when fired.

There is ample data for the .38 Super available, with bullet weights from 90 grains up through 160 grains. It's a heck of a cartridge. With your comp, you'll need plenty of gas to make it work properly, so you'll probably want to avoid the faster pistol powders. The more gas the powder produces, the more efficient the comp is.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[mc223]

Slug your barrel to find the diameter. I have a Colt series 80 with a Wilson barrel that measures .356. I shoot a lot of cast 158g RN for practice using Unique. Works the comp. just fine. For competition I use 147g with Blue Dot or #7 or #9. I also use WSR primers. Thicker cup holds the pressure a little better.
As stated in the earlier post, there is an abundance of data for the super. Great round, Enjoy safely.

 

[Walkalong]

I just loaded 100 rounds of .38 Super with new Winchester brass, Winchester small rifle primers, 6.6 Grs. of WSF and a .356 Zero 125 Gr. JHP @ 1.275 O.A.L.

This should be well within the limits of the gun and under the velocity of the "pet load" described above. I felt like it was a good place to start. I hope to shoot it tommorrow or Sunday.

 

[Walkalong]

Well, good news and bad news. The gun has a great trigger and is very accurate, but it failed to function 1/2 of the time. 3 different problems. Failure to feed, locked up trigger, and trapping brass in the port. It also won't lock back most of the time. I never got more than two shots in a row before failure of some kind.:banghead:
The previous owners loads that came with the gun and my new ones behaved the same.

His pet load over the chrono @ 50 Degrees.

Hi - 1409
Lo - 1383
Avg - 1399
ES - 26
SD - 8

Good numbers for sure.

My loads over the chrono @ 50 Degrees.

Hi - 1349
Lo - 1287
Avg - 1313
ES - 62
SD - 23

Not bad, A good start I thought.

 

[mc223]

Souds like the first time out was not all bad. Too much recoil spring will cause some of the issues you describe. I have a full set of springs and routinely change these for various conditions and loads. With a given load it is generally best to use the heaviest spring with which the slide will fully function and reliably eject the spent case without sending it to the next county.
Kinda sounds like your recoil spring is too heavy for the load. If the slide cant travel rearward far enough it wont pick up the next round from the magazine.
Solution: Lighter spring or pump up the loads

 

[HSMITH]

Have you contacted the original owner about the cycling problems? Sounds like it won't run with the loads that he provided.

I would talk to him about it, and specifically cover cleaning and oiling. An open gun isn't your average bear and will need to be treated accordingly.

I watched that gun in the classifieds, I built my own and it was coming together as that ad was posted or I probably would have bought it myself.

 

[Walkalong]

I contacted him and he is taking it back. He sent it clean and oiled and I don't want to fool with a gun that doesn't run clean and oiled by the person who should know what makes it run. It had a superb trigger and I just could not miss with it. It hit hard to. It is a shame it had issues.

 

[TonyT]

I load fairly light loads using Rainier 151 gr. or Berry's 147 gr. bullets with either 3.6 gr. Titegroup or 4.5 gr. W-231 with Federal SP primer in my S&W 646 or CZ-40B.

 

[HSMITH]

Sounds like it needs a trip to Texas to see Benny at Triangle Shooting Sports, if anyone can make it run my money would be on Benny.

 

[Primersinmyshoe]

Yes, I'm taking the gun back, after I inspect it. I provided many high cap mags, some of which are practice mags, some match. Some mags work good without tweaking, others not. I'm not sure if he tried all of them. I made the mistake of not lubing it before I sent it. It had sat in my safe for well over a year without shooting. I think it was dry. I shot many IPSC matches with this gun, and it worked well. If there is a problem, the gunsmith that built it (Otto Matyska - OttoComp) will fix it. I'm lucky that his shop is only 20 minutes away, and he is a friend. I will not try and sell this gun long distance again. I will instead sell it locally (even if I take a hit - less $$$) to someone who knows their way around an open class gun. I don't shoot IPSC matches any more and this gun is just sitting in my safe and I would instead like to have a high end 1911 in 45acp. So, I am sorry this whole transaction fell through. I hope we both have learned something from it.

 

[HSMITH]

Primers, your conduct in this matter sure seems like you are just the sort of guy most of us want to deal with. If you decide to sell it again you might have better luck on the USPSA classified ads or over at www.brianenos.com . The forums at Enos are busy, and lots activity on the classifieds.

Like I said, I watched that gun when it came up for sale and if I wasn't tapped out from building my own I would have bought it. Beautiful gun and the price was outstanding.

 

[Walkalong]

Yes, Primers is A # 1.
I PM'd and asked him if he would take it back and said I would pay all shipping to send it back and let him deduct his original shipping costs from the refund and without hesitation he PM'd me that he would take it back and also called me. He was genuinely sorry I had problems and did fine by me. The gun probably has simple easy to fix problems. I don't have an expert gunsmith to work on it and I did try the "good" mags and some lighter lube. I wiped off some of the heavier lube and tried a bit of M-Pro 7. I wish it had worked out.

 

[Primersinmyshoe]

Walkalong,

You will get a full refund, I will not deduct anything from what you paid. If I lube the gun and shoot it, and it fails, I will add to your refund the cost of shipping. If it does not jam or fail to function in any way, what should I do?