.38 TJ .38 SuperComp 9x23

[jonsidneyb]

I am currently a 9x23 shooter but I want to try a straight wall .38 Super rimless in a .38 Super barrel, I know this will take some tweeking of the extractor but that has already been done for the 9x23 barrel. I want to see if it will solve a magazine stacking problem in one of my guns.

I was going to try .38 SuperComp but I know that the .38 TJ exists but I can't find much information online about it. I know that hornady makes brass for it. I am trying to figure out what is different between .38 SuperComp and .38 TJ. I understand that Fiochi makes a .38 Super Rimless but not seen where to get that as well.

Does anyone know about the .38 TJ and can you bring me up to speed on this?

 

[ReloaderFred]

Welcome to the forum.

I pretty much shoot .38 Super, .38 Super Comp, 9mm Super Comp and 9x23 interchangably in my .38 super Witnesses. I do have a 9x23 Winchester barrel for one of them, but the chamber appears to be identical to the .38 Super chambers in my other barrels.

As for .38 TJ (Todd Jarrett) brass, it's made my Starline. I picked up about 10 pieces of it at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas in February, but I haven't loaded it yet. You can go to the Starline Website and there is a description and price on it there. Here's the link: http://www.starlinebrass.com/

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[jonsidneyb]

Can you tell me how .38 TJ differes from .38 Supercomp???

Starlines site does not give any details that I could find.

 

[ReloaderFred]

It's supposed to be a little heavier in the base area and a little thicker in the web area, too. Later on today I'll get it out and take some measurements and post what I find out. I'll compare it to factory 9x23 brass and see if it's similar in construction.

Fred

 

[Clark]

base: 38 super: .384", 9x23: .390"
case: 38 Super: .9", 9x23mm: .9"
neck: 38 Super: .384", 9x23mm: .380"
OAL: 38 Super: 1.28", 9x23mm: 1.245"


Starline 9mm Supercomp brass holds more.
Win 9x23Win brass can take higher pressures.

I convert Tokarev 9x19mm barrels to 9x23mm barrels and load 158 gr LSWC and 158gr XTP bullets with Power Pistol and 1.36" OAL, to take advantage of the long 7.62x25mm Tokarev magazine.

 

[jonsidneyb]

I wonder if the .38 TJ or .38 Supercomp can run a true 1450fps safetly out of a 4.5 barrel with 124 grain loads.

 

[BullfrogKen]

I wonder if the .38 TJ or .38 Supercomp can run a true 1450fps safetly out of a 4.5 barrel with 124 grain loads.

Maybe . . . But if you can't get close enough to it with 9x23 brass, you are tempting fate with the others.

What powders have you tried? The Winchester 9x23 is the thickest commercially available, and I use small rifle primers when I load mine. It does produce rifle chamber pressures, so an accident with one of these cartridges is going to be a little bit more spectacular than with a .45 or 9mm, or even a major 38 Super.

If I had a mag stacking problem, I might consider different trying mags first myself. What brands have you tried, and how many rounds? I never try to load more than 9 rounds of 9x23 in my 10 round Metalforms, even with their "10 round follower" or Wilson's "38 Super 10 round spring and follower kit".

 

[jonsidneyb]

9x23 has been well behaved in all my single stack mags, where it does not behave is in my double stack mags.

The 9x23 easily gets the velocities I am talking about. I have not tried the .38 TJ or .38 Supercomp.

I do not know what is safe in them since they are not built like the 9x23 and have not found loading data on the .38 TJ, I don't know if .38 TJ is built tougher than .38 Supercomp.