First Blood...38 Short Colt

After an uneventful Wisconsin deer season, I thought I'd share a picture of my new TC barrel (38 Short Colt) and its first "trophy".

Awesome

Good show!

Hay, aint nothing wrong with that, I love me some squirrel huntin' and if you can hit a squirl you can hit a DEER...

X2....congrats!

Great practice.

Good shooting!

Sweet looking gun!!

Here's a picture of a 38 Short Colt compared to a 9mm case:

Critter,

That is one nifty "little" gun you have there. Your set-up looks like a surgical lead launcher to me ;^) Your bullet picture seems to confirm it. Pretttty coool. I once had a Contender set up similarly using one of the old 45 Shot Shell barrels, but that barrel was pretty weak on the lead bullet accuracy.

Craig

Thanks all for the compliments, it was hard to resist the temptation to go out and find a squirrel until after we broke deer camp, but I managed.

I'm pretty excited to give this barrel a workout and see what I can do with a cartridge that's been more or less obsolete for over a century...I wonder when the last time a squirrel has been shot with a 38 SC? I have plans for 110 grain HPs and prairie dogs, once I get some time to do some load development.

Critter Gitter

That bullet looks like the Lyman/Ideal 115 gr. wad cutter. How much difference is there in that cartridge than the .38S&W? Is there a story about why you picked that round?

Back in the days when I shot the Contender, I had a .357 bull barrel, since crimping is not an issue with a single shot, I used to load a 77 gr. wad cutter into .357 brass and seat the bulled all of the way into the web over 2 gr. of BE, that made a great small game load.

You identified the bullet correctly, Lyman 358425. I don't think there's much difference between the two rounds ballistically. The case diameter of the 38 S&W is larger due to thicker brass. The diameters of short and long Colt are the same as 357 Mag and 38 Special...so I can use my 357 dies for reloading except for bullet seating, then I just use a 9mm die.

Why?...I like stuff that's different I guess...but I want to do exactly what you were doing with the 357 Mag, a light bullet at moderate velocities for small game. I would really like to find one of the older Lyman/Ideal molds for one of the 75-85 grain wadcutters. I was originally thinking something in 32 caliber, but those barrels with slow twists aren't common with the custom barrel makers. Barrels in .358 are common with a twist rate I was looking for.

Critter Gitter

All I can say is good for you.. There is a lot of talk here by the "wrist breaker magnum" folks, but there is some real fun to be had with the small game stuff.

My youngest son has and old, H&R .38S&W, I have cut down .38 Spl. brass, but as you have noted is is smaller diameter. We loaded the 115 gr. wad cutters but it was a bit off.

I, after a half century of reloading, really like the various possibilities of the .357/.358 stuff.

One of my favorite small game loads of all time was the 77 gr. wadcutter in a .38spl. case over 4 gr. of BE, in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk. That load accounted for a lot of squirrels, ruffed grouse and wood chucks.

Those old Lyman molds in the light weights are pretty hard to find these days. But I would be willing to loan that mold out so you could make up a batch.

Take Care .. John

Where did you get your barrel from? This is a very interesting caliber & gun choice.

It's an MGM.

Ok, thanx for the reply. From what reading I've done on this caliber it seems to be the most logical small game choice for a handgun; from a reloading stand point. Especially since I already have other 357 & 38 specials that I want to start hand loading for.

Nice shootin' Critter!

I haven't been able to do any more shooting due to other priorities and poor weather for load development, but it does show good potential for doing what I want it to do with bullets of 125 grains or less.