Who here has made functional .38RF ammo using 9mm floberts?.

Tyockell18

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
138   0   0
Location
Not really sure.
I'm looking for input from experienced people on the matter. I think that the 9mm flobert is still able to be found in some regards.

I am all for using .27 hilti's ect. but having a few "reliable" rounds made up would be nice as well.

Does the 9mm flobert fit inside of a .38spl case for example?. Cut the flobert down and glue them in there perhaps, load with BP and seat a round ball or slug ect.

My gun is a brass frame gun so I don't really know if I wanna try any smokeless loads in it.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
Ah wonderful!, thank you antiqueguy. I presume this is your blog, if so....Where do you get your hands on heeled .38 colt bullets?. Ever use roundball?.

nope not mine just found it about a year or so ago. but there are makers of heeled based bullet molds though id think a round ball will work too
 
There's a guy on gunbroker selling 38 colt 41 colt and 44 colt both heeled and hollow based bullet moulds his ad says no international shipments
but if you look under item description he will ship internationally.
 
The 9mm shotshells are avail and cheap-relatively and I'm looking at modifiying the cyl on a Bacon .32 long to use these. Main dia on the case is only .002 larger which would hone out easily and the base first .25 inch could be machined out leaving still enough meat-I think. Case length is bang on and my info is that these are a low powered shell for garden guns so should not overstress the pistol. As these pistols were designed to be used at 10 ft or less I think the shot would be as effective and also good for breaking ballons and such at fun shoots.
 
The 9mm shotshells are avail and cheap-relatively and I'm looking at modifiying the cyl on a Bacon .32 long to use these. Main dia on the case is only .002 larger which would hone out easily and the base first .25 inch could be machined out leaving still enough meat-I think. Case length is bang on and my info is that these are a low powered shell for garden guns so should not overstress the pistol. As these pistols were designed to be used at 10 ft or less I think the shot would be as effective and also good for breaking ballons and such at fun shoots.

id leave it alone if it where me .32 rimfire is easy to reload for mine have gone bang every time
 
Have done the .32 Short Colt/.27 Hilti route and they go bang alright but the failure rate on the cases when trying to reload is about 50%-there is just not quite enought meat on the original cases to stand the stress of re-charging. I did use Hilti green along with 4 grs of fff and perhaps that was a tad strong. Always interested to experiment and the 9mm is cheap and available. Have a friend trying the same on an early Stevens .32 r/f with a bad bore.
 
Have done the .32 Short Colt/.27 Hilti route and they go bang alright but the failure rate on the cases when trying to reload is about 50%-there is just not quite enought meat on the original cases to stand the stress of re-charging. I did use Hilti green along with 4 grs of fff and perhaps that was a tad strong. Always interested to experiment and the 9mm is cheap and available. Have a friend trying the same on an early Stevens .32 r/f with a bad bore.

I presume you mean you used both the primer and charge in the Hilti caps plus the 4grs of BP right?. I only intend to use the primers plus black powder.
 
Have done the .32 Short Colt/.27 Hilti route and they go bang alright but the failure rate on the cases when trying to reload is about 50%-there is just not quite enought meat on the original cases to stand the stress of re-charging. I did use Hilti green along with 4 grs of fff and perhaps that was a tad strong. Always interested to experiment and the 9mm is cheap and available. Have a friend trying the same on an early Stevens .32 r/f with a bad bore.

yeah thats a way hot charge theres alot of smokeless in the green ones and the BP on top of that id leave the old guns alone though the bacon's are not easy to find
 
yeah thats a way hot charge theres alot of smokeless in the green ones and the BP on top of that id leave the old guns alone though the bacon's are not easy to find

Even the green hilti by its self would probably be slightly too hot for a .38RF no?. I guess some of these old guns are tougher than we think.

I'm still not advising pushing them though obviously. Some would also say I'm just overly cautious.
 
Last edited:
This isn't for the .38 RF but you may find it useful:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?427850-32-rimfire-question

For the .32 RF but that is a great thread on this topic; read through it, folks apparently do use the green Hiltis with success in their .32s...I'm gearing up to trying it with green as well, cannot source brown Hiltis where I am at, not even on special order through the local hardware store.

Be careful...and good luck
 
This isn't for the .38 RF but you may find it useful:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?427850-32-rimfire-question

For the .32 RF but that is a great thread on this topic; read through it, folks apparently do use the green Hiltis with success in their .32s...I'm gearing up to trying it with green as well, cannot source brown Hiltis where I am at, not even on special order through the local hardware store.

Be careful...and good luck

i tried at the mom and pop hardware store here no brown at all went to home hardware had them order me some i have used green but with only a round ball
 
I did use the Green Hilti plus 4 grns. Did a comparison with original smokeless rimfire and found the report and recoil almost identical. Not scientific but I was comfortable with the results. I took an original apart and it had 8 grns of an unidentifiable slow burning smokeless.
 
Back
Top Bottom