Any one shooting .38 S&W?

[BudS]

I posted a scary session in the Reloading area about a friend shooting .38 Special in a .38 S&W revolver Don't worry, neither he nor the gun was damaged. But here's my question: does anyone ever shoot .38 S&W any more and where can he get ammo for it?

Thanks!

 

[B27]

Remington and winchester both still load it.
Among others.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=70812

 

[James Bondrock]

Smith & Wesson made revolvers for the .38 S&W clear into the 1970s, mostly for export to British Commonwealth countries. The Brits set great store by this round, albeit with a 200-grain bullet. Factory ammo is loaded with a 146-grain bullet, and very lightly so somebody will not blow up his 1887 Safety Hammerless. In a modern S&W K-frame, this round could be carefully handloaded hotter than this.

 

[Jim K]

In the 50's and 60's, thousands of surplus S&W M&P revolvers chambered for .38 S&W were rechambered for .38 Special. At the time, there was a lot of alarm and concern about the practice. In fact, there seems never to have been any problem except that the cases swelled a bit more than normal and didn't last as long when reloaded. Accuracy was good in spite of the difference in bullet diameter.

AFAIK, there were no reports of any damage to revolvers or to shooters. But note that the M&P had been designed for the .38 Special; the above might not be true for other guns made for the .38 S&W. Needless to say, none of the old guns, even the M&P, should be fired with +P or +P+ loads.

Jim

 

[Josey]

I have one of those WWII Canadian S&Ws. It was chambered for 38 S&W and had the lanyard ring and a 5" barrel. The agency that had these surplus had them cut to 3" barrels, lanyard rings removed and rechambered to 38 Special. The only thing they did was to actually bore straight through at .358. I can put a loaded round through the front of the cylinder! I COULD chamber 357 Magnum due to the .358 straight bore, I WON'T!! I have fired 38 S&W, 38 Long Colt, 38 Largo and 38 Special in my revolver. It works with all of them. I did have some problems with 38 Special black powder loads though. The star ejector gummed up. I would have 0 reservations about firing regular white box, Winclean or other OTC ammunition in a converted Victory or import M&P from S&W. Colts that I have seen are much like the Webleys and H&Rs in that their cylinders are not long enough to convert to 38 Special. I have seen these bored through though. They use a recessed wadcutter in 38 Special. I DO NOT SUGGEST THAT THEY BE SO LOADED AND FIRED.

 

[OH25shooter]

I have a 38/357 Ruger BH and shoot mostly 125 gr. 38 special rounds by Winchester (WC381). I like 38's so much I just bought a S&W 38/357 model 686. Funny how people ask, "what is that?" My goodness, it's a 38. Seems to turn more heads that someone shooting an AK-47. I've found the ammo at gunstores or in the hunting section of department stores.

 

[jar]

Yup, still shoot 38S&W fairly often. And my PP has even been known to do duty as a CCW on occassion.

 

[M67]

I have a Webley mk IV. Mine seems to be regulated for the lighter bullets. As far as I know the Brits changed from .380 revolver mk I (their name for the .38 S&W) with the 200 grain lead bullet to .380 mk II with a 146 grain FMJ sometime in the '30s.

Very few gun stores in my corner of the world have ammo for it, but I have fired Austrian, German and I think Italian factory ammo through it, in addition to some surplus.

The solution for me is to reload. I bought some new Starline brass to supplement what I had from other sources. I use the same cast 158 grain SWC bullets that I use for .38 spl/.357, I just don't size them. It works reasonably well, at least it stays in the black or better at 25 meters if (ehem) the shooter does his part. I use light loads, it's not like I plan to use that particular gun for bear defence anyway...