38 S&W

[lyricsdad]

Sorry to revive an old thread but...

I was searching about this pistol. My dad has one, it is an old Double Action 5 shot, top break revolver, no safety w/ the exception of a "glock" style safety trigger. .38S&W. I was always amazed and enthralled w/ this pistol. Ugly as all hell, lol. A few years ago, I was able to get a hold of a box of 50 shells, I ran all 50 through the revolver w/ no problems at all! Pretty accurate from what I remember. I dont remember who made the gun, but from what I have been reading, sounds like these are cheap guns...

Like I said, I dont know who made the pistol, but it didnt seem like a cheap pistol, it was really tight, and seemed really well made, the bluing of course was pretty much roughed up w/ alot of surface rust, that has been kind of polished down from the handling of it from lots of people prior to me handling it. so it still looks "grey" w/ noticiable rusting. sometime I will have to get ahold of that gun to post pics to get some input on it. Anyways, it was a real interesting little gun to shoot, almost no recoil whatsoever w/ that pistol. and that safety trigger, wow. I always thought that glock invented that..

 

[ssteven1]

Your gun is most likely an Iver Johnson safty hammerless second model top break that was made around the 1900-1909. I bet it has an Owl head on the grips. This gun by iver johnson was also the first gun the have a transfer bar of ruger and taurus fame. Here is a web sight that may help you. http://www2.arkansas.net/~sws1/ij-faq.htm

 

[lyricsdad]

Yeah.. after looking at pics i am willing to bet its and Iver Johnson, cool. thanks. Its kinda neat. cant believe i was able to shoot bullets out of it, i dont know if that was wise at the time or not lol.

 

[mainmech48]

FWIW, you can get new .38 S&W brass from Starline in lots from 100 to 1000 inexpensively. Dies are no problem either. Available from Hornady and Lee, among others. Cast bullets of the proper size (0.361" nominal) and weight might be a problem from regular commercial sources. If you have a commercial caster in your area, you might be able to work something out if you can order in some quantity. You can always cast your own, if you're so inclined. Loading data in most manuals.

I reloaded for a Webley .380/200 in my boyhood using a Lyman 310 tool. Back then I used an as-cast Lyman #358212 which weighed about 149 grs. and miked 0.362" as it came from my mold. IIRC, I used something very near to 3 gr. of Bullseye as my standard charge and filed the front sight down to bring POI closer to POA with the much-lighter bullet.

IMO, this little cartridge is great fun to play with. Cheap to shoot, very little recoil, and quite accurate in high-quality revolvers. Lots of those still out there, too, and sometimes dirt-cheap due to the lack of new factory ammo.

 

[cxm]

Ammo Still Made

Remington still makes .38 S&W ammo.

It is pricey...but it is available.

FWIw

Chuck