38 Super
Can A 38 Super Auto be fired in a S&W 66 357 is the pressure to much?
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Thinking about getting a 1911 in .38 Super. How does it compare ballistically with the .357 mag? Good personal defense round?[?] 0 -
38 super is a rimless cartridge made for auto's the 38 special is a different cartridge,made mostly for revolvers and has a rim S&W did make the model 52 and colt made the Mid range Gold Cup both auto's in 38 Special . Can you shoot + P 38 super "YES" but it will reduce the life of your pistol[:(][xx(] . YOU IMHO do not NEED the +p but to each his own. Note there were a small number of 38 supers converted to 38 special for BULLS-EYE shooters . I doubt it but you may have one of these . 0 -
colt is serial 436xx I bought yesterday with 1 mag loaded with rimmed 38 specials wadcutters. I thought wrong ammo, glad I did not shoot. Will this gun shoot +P. Thank You VERY much for the info. Dave 0 -
The .38 Super IS a +P cartridge. It is NOT a .38 Special.
Would NOT reccomend that you try to shoot ANY 38 Special ammo in yours- they headspace off the crtridge mouth.
Here is some info for you- and BTW, it a GREAT cartridge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Super0 -
Hello I Think You MIGHT have one of the 38 supers converted to shoot 38 special for Bulls-Eye shooting. THis was done by John Giles, Jimmy Clark, Diana, Shocky, and others . Because it was delivered with a magazine full of 38specials I suggest before shooting you have a GOOD PISTOL-SMITH take a close look and see if this barrel has been sleeved and rechambered to 38special This was done to original 38 super barrels so you CAN'T go by the barrel marking 100% of the time. I have 3 such pistols so better safe then sorry . IF you want send me an email to my profile and give me your direct email address and I will send you some pictures of my modified barrels. 0 -
Prior post jogged my memory- there was also a rather unusual round called the .38 AMU- (Advanced Marksmanship Unit) that was basically a .38 Special wadcutter that had MOST of the rim removed. These were built in 1911A1 pistols for competition. Here is a link to some info on the .38 AMU cartridge- http://www.ammo-one.com/38AMU.html Probably a good idea to have a GOOD pistolsmith look over what you have..... 0 -
Conserning shooting +P loads in yoour Super shouldn't have any effect on the wear and tear of your weapon. I have shot .38 Auto loads, factory W-W and several different other .38 Super loads through my Springfield Custom with no effect what-so-ever. You can work up a good reload for your 1911 by using a 9mm 125 gr RN bullet loaded to mid 9 MM velocity with good results; although you may have to lighten up your recoil spring.
P.S. The factory loads of the origional mfg power were hotter than the loads made today. The +P loads basically duplicate the origional factory loads. Were I you, I think I would clean that beauty and lightly oil it, set it back and get another to shoot.0 -
Pretty easy to tell if it will shoot any cartridge you have a question about; simply remove the barrel from the gun and see if the cartridge in question will slip easily into firing position.
If there's space left over between the case rim and the end of the metal on the barrel; do not shoot.
If your gun is designed to shoot .38cal. WADCUTTERS; you have a different animal. That gun will ONLY shoot .38 Special loads with short wadcutters almost flush with the case mouth; NO +P anything.
You may notice that 38SUPER ammo may chamber, but don't shoot any through that gun.0 -
gunnut505;
I am sure your intentions are pure and with safety being taken into account; but that being said, I know for a fact, based on conversations with individuals @ S&W, and actually firing the rounds myself several thousand times through 3 different S&W Model 52-1 auto pistols chambered for the .38 Special wadcutter round while competing in both PPC & Steel Plate matches, that properly loaded .38 Super ammo works safely and quite accurately; while function was perfect. The Super case loads and feeds better through the model 52 mag than the .38 Special, due to the lesser sized rim with the overall length of the Super being slightly shorter then some wadcutter loads & slightly longer than others;.38 Super using a 147 gr. FN shows an OAL of 1.217". The .38 Spec. using a HBWC runs about 1.165" +- .005; while using the 148 gr button WC in the .38 Spec., the OAL runs about 1.276". Remember another thing, the super case is semi-rimmed vs the full rim on the Spec. The super rim is about.042" smaller & the case diameters are almost identical, .378" for the super & .374" on the Special. Now I am NOT telling anyone to use Super ammo in .38 special weapons, especially autos due to the Spec. being a blow-back action which can be quite abusive with the factory .38 Super ammo; but, in case of a DEEP S<>T situation where you are using a Super and carrying a small .357 Mag for back-up, if necessary,you can save yourself by using the super ammo in a .357 Mag with no danger of an overload from the factory ammo. I once shot a BELLY GUN MATCH using a Model 19 S&W .357 Mag, in which we shot 8 bowling pins which had to clear the table as quickly as possible. There was a 6 round max allowed to start calling for a reload and by using the super ammo first, my re-load was quicker due the shortness of the case falling out expedited the following shots for a win. It doesn't hurt to know what will work in an emergency!0
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