Anybody here regularly shoot .38 S&W?

[SMLE]

As you can guess from my moniker, I'm into collecting British and Commonwealth firearms, primarily Lee Enfields. But a while back, I picked up a dandy little S&W M&P "Victory Model" in 38 S&W. It has the US Property mark on the top strap and several British proof marks as well as a Canadian Broad Arrow mark. The finish is the typical war time Parkerizing, but the bore and chambers are PERFECT.
Of course I just "had" to shoot it and took it to the range with some Remington 145grn LRN ammo. That little revolver is just plain sweet to shoot. It has minimal recoil and blast and is a real tack driver to boot. While I was shooting it, a lady in the next bay started blasting away with what sounded like a cannon compared to the 38 S&W, I looked and darned if it wasn't an M&P in .38 Special! It was neat to be able to compare the two side by side. The lady and I traded six rounds in each other's guns and she thought the 38 S&W was "sweet".
I have also allowed my 11 year old neice to shoot it and she loves it too.
While the 38 S&W may be "obsolete" it is still a good round for fun shooting.

 

[BluesBear]

I used to sell quite a bit of custom .38S&W ammo.

Speer 146gr short jacket hollow point over 3.2 gr Bullseye.
Speer 148gr CWBH over the same charge.

You could go a little higher in a solid frame revolver or an Enfield break-open.

Accuracy is a crapshoot though since there seems to be a wide variation in bore diameters. The later S&W and Colt revolvers I have tried seemed to do best.

 

[berto]

I shoot the .38S@W in my Enfield top break fairly often,it's DAO (spurless hammer),so getting groups smaller than 4 inches at 25yrds is impossible for me.Nonetheless,it's fun to shoot and I wish I handloaded so I could make up some .38/200 loads and bring the POI up as it's sighted for this load.

 

[mec]

If I got real interested in shooting it, I would want to get a roundnose mold that would allow sizing to .360. So far, just factory remingtons in the various older guns such as the Smith Safety Hammerless and this Owlhead.

The owl head is very tight and sound but has a .025 gap and the remington factory loads clock out at 550 fps.

Here's the text of an American Handgunner Article on the Smith.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0BTT/146_24/61861511/p2/article.jhtml?term=

 

[clipse]

My father-in-law recently got a couple of revolvers that look very similar to the one above.(his are iver johnson) He is really wanting to start shooting .38 S&W but can't figure out if the revolvers are ok for smokeless powder cartridges. I think that .38S&W looks like a very interesting little cartridge that would be fun to shoot.


clipse

 

[BluesBear]

2.0gr of Bullseye behind a 148gr HBWC should be safe even in an older black powder .38 S&W chambered gun if, If, IF it is in otherwise good shape. The Hollow base will fill the bore.

Be sure and check for rust eating away the hinge pin and make sure the latch spring it strong enough to hold the action closed under recoil. And IF the rest of the gun seems sound. Check the chabers to make sure none are bulged. I have seen more than one old black powder pocket revolver in .32 or .38 with bulged chambers from heavy smokless power useage.

Did I mention it MUST be in good condition?

 

[mec]

the one in the picture is the Iver Johnson safety hammerless "automatic revolver" It is the third model with a patent date of 1908-but is very similar to preceding models from 1896. by the time this one came out, it had coil springs and was proofed for smokeless.

The patend date of 1908 is on the butt and if you remove the grips and see a coil spring, you can be pretty sure your dads guns were ok for smokeless when new. Rumor has it that the Remington factory loads are made with the black powder guns in mind - not really sure about that but they are mild.

 

[mec]

Also if the owl head is facing you like this, it shows that it is one of the new smokeless models

 

[Old Fuff]

As a rule-of-thumb, S&W Safety Hammerless revolvers that have the "T" shaped barrel latch which is lifted up rather then pushed down to release the barrel are safe to shoot with today's smokeless powder loads.

Provided of course that they're in good mechanical condition.