S&W 38 ammunition

M

Mulvale505

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I am new to revolvers and am looking at purchasing an older Colt police revolver in 38S&W. Now I know that this is different and not compatible with 38 special. I have done a bit of looking and it does not look like many sources carry the older 38 S&W. Is this the sort of thing that I will be hunting around for and buying whenever I find it or will local shops be likely to have at least a few boxes around?
 
My experience (Webley 38) was it's pretty much comes down to hunting around gun shows and most offerings were expensive collector stuff. You're better off to load your own. You can reload that stuff using 9mm dies if push comes to shove. 38 S&W dies are available.

M
 
Unless it is cheap as hell , I would look for something in 38 Special.
Mulvale505 said:
I am new to revolvers and am looking at purchasing an older Colt police revolver in 38S&W. Now I know that this is different and not compatible with 38 special. I have done a bit of looking and it does not look like many sources carry the older 38 S&W. Is this the sort of thing that I will be hunting around for and buying whenever I find it or will local shops be likely to have at least a few boxes around?
Click to expand...
 
Keep your eyes open for one of these...

U-38SW-1b.jpg
 
New factory ammo is usually quite pricey these days. Getting harder to find .38 S&W ammo either surplus or factory at gunshows etc, too. Good news, as stated above, you can easily reload for it.

I have a S&W Victory model, restricted, with 5" barrel in .38 S&W. I scrounged up some once fired brass & got a set of Lee dies with carbide sizer. Funny, the sizer die was marked .38 Super so out of curiosity emailed Lee about it & they said it was the correct sizer die for .38 S&W in their line.

Easy to reload for, mild to shoot. Enjoy your new gun! :cool:

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NAA.
 
I shoot it all the time through a S&W Victory. Just get brass and dies from Budget Shooter Supply and save a ton off $. I just use regular 38 Special / 357 mag projectiles. There is the proper .003-.004 larger projectiles that are "proper size" for the 38S&W but the easily found and less expensive 38/357 ones work fine and I don't see any difference in accuracy. If reloading is not your thing you will be forced to suck back expensive ammo from sources like Rusty or Budget.

Cheers
Moe
 
Yeah Im just starting to get into reloading now because .303 is expensive and I don't really like paying at least a buck a round. Good to know that there is at least some ammo out there for brass and 38 spl bullets work. Any thoughts on which companies dies are available or best for this caliber?
 
I have a Webley and an Enfield which get fed a diet of regular 357-38 cast bullets sized to 0.359. Reloading is the only way to go. New stuff is over $50 a.box. I was looking at a Victory last week which just might find a new home. When I take my military stuff to the range I usually start with the 38 S&W. The break actions are just neat.
 
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