Picked up an 'old school' S&W K38 - questions

Use a light roll crimp. That is what your seater die will do.

Try Bullseye 2.7 to 3.1, to test for the variations in gun, powder and crimp. One of those loads will shoot real tight groups for you.
 
mwjones said:
Every single 38 spl on the planet will shoot this load: 148gr hollowbase wadcutter, 2.7gr bullseye.

That said, i don't have a supply of hbwc, but i have a mould for 158 rn. i load them with 3.2gr of red dot. Very cheap to load, and it shoots better than I do. According to quickload, 3.2 of red dot is pushing the top end of .38 special loads, but is below the low end of +P

As far as speedloaders, it's a hard gun to use them with. Even with the big cutout in the left hand panel, there isn't enough room to fit the speedloader past (at least with mine). I also have a set of pachmayr grips, and have the same problem with them. I have considered getting an old set of target grips and enlarging the slot, or maybe trying to find a decent set of the REALLY old school grips )the very ting slim ones

As far as the actual speedloaders go, stak away from HKS. You have to turn the knob towards the gun, which will try to close the action unless you have holk hands and can hold both the frame and cylinder tightly at the same time. The rounds also have a tendency to stick and require jiggling to drop free. Safariland comp II and comp III are pushbutton type, and actually eject the rounds out and work well. Good luck finding any for less than $40 each. For that price, I'm considering a group buy with a couple other guys on some speedloaders from 5starfirearms. They're machined aluminum, and are smaller in diameter than the plastic ones, so more clearance to get past the grips. While they're the twist type, they twist AWAY from the frame, which appears to work a lot easier than the traditional, towards the frame ones.

As far as holsters go, I bought a http://sportsmansguide.ca/net/cb/th...l-sw-k-and-l-frame-ruger-gp-100.aspx?a=268452 and it's not bad. It fits fairly well, though the thumb strap is a little long (it's a K/L frame holster).
Click to expand...

Seriously??? Epp's has them for $19.99...

As far as the HKS loaders go - it's all about technique...
 
the speer 148 hbwc is an excellent bullet - clean in your dies and very little smoke for lead - very very accurate in all my 38 specials 2,8 of bullseye or 3.1-3.2 of 231/hp38
a lot more accurate than i ever will be

those older k 38's are amazing guns - you will be impressed


as for speedloaders - for competition go safariland comp3 or jet loaders - all others are second class
 
ampegor said:
the speer 148 hbwc is an excellent bullet - clean in your dies and very little smoke for lead - very very accurate in all my 38 specials 2,8 of bullseye or 3.1-3.2 of 231/hp38
a lot more accurate than i ever will be

those older k 38's are amazing guns - you will be impressed


as for speedloaders - for competition go safariland comp3 or jet loaders - all others are second class
Click to expand...

Thanks was looking at them..
 
ScarceChalice9 said:
Thanks all - upon further investigation it is a 1952 model, meaning it's a proper K38 designation not a Model 14. I'd like to stick with one powder for now - the Bullseye - and it seems popular, anywhere from 2.7 to 3.5 grains. If I can find some HBWC to load, do they need a roll or taper crimp?
Click to expand...

For years I roll crimped my 38 Spec loads. However, I have been doing some reading recently that suggested taper crimping. It does make some sense because if you roll crimp, to get consistency in where the crimp is the cases have to be exactly the same length which almost never happens. Taper crimping is a lot more forgiving of varying case lengths and all you really need to do is taper crimp enough to remove the 'bell' the expander puts on the case. It's much easier on the case mouths as well. I've been using this method lately and prefer it to roll crimping. The only real down side is that seating and crimping have to be done in separate steps. It's a little more work on a single stage but I reload on a progressive so I don't notice it.
 
ted_dent said:
For years I roll crimped my 38 Spec loads. However, I have been doing some reading recently that suggested taper crimping. It does make some sense because if you roll crimp, to get consistency in where the crimp is the cases have to be exactly the same length which almost never happens. Taper crimping is a lot more forgiving of varying case lengths and all you really need to do is taper crimp enough to remove the 'bell' the expander puts on the case. It's much easier on the case mouths as well. I've been using this method lately and prefer it to roll crimping. The only real down side is that seating and crimping have to be done in separate steps. It's a little more work on a single stage but I reload on a progressive so I don't notice it.
Click to expand...

I agree, I taper crimp all mine as well. I have read three different articles about roll crimping versus taper crimping and all three stated that taper crimping is more accurate.

Graydog
 
I've yet to get the loader I'm currently using to do a fully symmetrical roll crimp. So the idea of a taper crimp which is a little less fussy over how well centered the round sits in the die sounds like a winner as well.

A taper crimp would also be more suitable for jacketed ammo.

If you guys do get a taper crimp die I STRONGLY suggest it is only used with jacketed ammo or as a separate crimp operation. I've got a taper crimp die for .45acp on a three position loader. So no room for a separate seating die. On jacketed this is fine. On cast lead the taper crimp bites in and ploughs a ring of lead ahead of the case mouth. So I've got 200'ish rounds of cast lead reloads that I need to make up a special little trimmer to turn off that lead so the rounds will seat in the chamber. The cure for this is to use the taper crimp as a crimp only step in a 4 or more position loader.

This would not be quite as big an issue on a .38/.357 round since the round headspaces off the rim instead of the case mouth. But it does produce some distortion in the bullet which could affect accuracy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom