.38 Super

[Walkalong]

I picked up a Springfield in .38 Super off GB a couple of weeks ago. There was not a lot of interest in it. I made an offer via email and bought it. It is really nice. I really like the Aimpoint sight. It's very clear with a perfectly round crisp red dot. which is more than I can say for many. I would like to put the smaller CompC SM sight on it when I can manage it. The 5000 Mag Dot on it now would work great on an AR Carbine.

I fit an STI trigger to it, changed the bumper pads on the mags, and changed the grips. It came with some Nighthawk grips on it.

I had a handful of .38 Super range pick ups, including a couple of Comp brass. The Comp brass fed so much better (empty brass) from the clip, racking the slide slowly by hand, that I decided to go with it first, so I ordered 100 Starline Super Comp brass from Grafs. I had already ordered some .38 Super brass before I realized this gun seemed to be set up for .38 Super Comp brass. I guess I will just sell it.

I loaded up some Zero 125 Gr .356 JHP's @ 1.270 O.A.L. with WSF and N340 to try first. Mild loads. I was looking for 1200 FPS. I got a high of 1193 (N340) and a low of 1132 (WSF) from 50 rounds fired with both loads. The N340 was very accurate, while the WSF was just so so. The N340 load was also much cleaner. The WSF load just did get the brass out of the port (it caught one) while the slightly stouter N340 load did a little better. I am going to bump it up a tad. 1200 tp 1250 should do fine. All rounds fed fine with no issues. Neither clip (Shooting Star) locked the slide back, but I figure it will be an easy fix.

I shot a few pins at around 40 yards with the leftover rounds after shooting targets through the Chrono. I forgot the targets, so I just used some of my data sheets I use for logging numbers and made a dot with a magic marker. I did not save any. They knocked the pins over easily and were very pleasant to shoot.

I had a lot of fun and see myself shooting a LOT more .38 Super.

Thanks to Jim Watson who patiently answered questions via PM about it for me. He was a big help. AC

 

[DougDubya]

Nice. Love the .38 Super, and that's a good looking piece.

 

[Walkalong]

Now I understand why .38 Super fans get carried away talking about their Supers.

 

[Eric F]

Hey Good buy on the super........I shoot agulia at 1450 fps its "super" hot stuff. I reload 135 gr zero with AA#2 to 950 fps much more mellow like that.

 

[Walkalong]

I like AA #2. I may have to try some for some mellow loads. It looks like I am going to have to run 124/125 gr bullets at 1200 FPS minimum to get good function with the stock spring.

 

[Eric F]

124/125 gr bullets at 1200 FPS minimum to get good function with the stock spring.

I have modified my gun some. 19lb main and a stock-3lbs recoil(I forget the actual) You might be able to run a lighter recoil spring and run a cooler round. Send me a pm and I will forward my work up for the 135 gr zero bullets I shoot with the aa#2 btw its cleaner than n320(my buddy shoots this alot) and its much cheaper.

 

[Walkalong]

I just loaded some N320 to try against the N340 that shot so well. I was thinking of trying some AA #2 after that. The N340 load shot so well all I did was go up .1 grain with it, to get closer to 1200 FPS since the 1168 Avg FPS was just enough to function well, and then loaded some N320 to try as well. I do not want to change the spring as I will shoot some hot loads on occasion as well.