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1911 .38 Special Barrel

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9 comments

  • TAURUS-357
    Are you talking about .38 Super?
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  • perry shooter
    Hello are you sure you want a 38 special barrel ? workable magazines are very pricey. $100.00 plus because 38 special is a rimmed case only the orginal 38 special midrange magazines work reliably . Back in the old days Giles , Clark , Shockly, and others rechambered 38 super barrels and used 38 super slides. The colt midrange was a straight blowback and never was a gun that shot good groups like a S&W model 52. A 1911 type frame will limit you to flush mounted full wadcutter bullets as anything else will not fit in the magazine well of the frame. I think BARSTO will make you a barrel ,I know this does not answer your question but in resent years much development work has been done with the 9 mm in the 1911 frame and there is one pistol smith in Va. that built 2 1911 type pistols that won the police national championship with his 2 pistols that shot 1.5 inch groups at 50 yards .
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  • mpolans
    Barsto should be able to custom make you one, but I question your reasoning for doing this.
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  • ducky
    I'd never thought of a 1911 in .38 special before, but it sounds like it would be a bit pricey and difficult to make it worthwhile. Bar-Sto would most definitely be the place to look for a barrel though, as said previously. If you do go ahead and build it though, it would be great to see a followup from you on how it works out. Good luck.
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  • fishermanben
    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=35972481

    Here's a good example of the Clark Custom 1911 chambered in .38 special.

    I've had the pleasure of shooting one, and it was a tack-driver.

    Ben

    logo_chc_79x76.jpg
    Play Ball!!!
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  • cloop
    The AMU used to turn off the .38's rim, and cut an extractor groove, on loaded ammo, in a lathe. It then fed much more reliably. The .38 load is so wussy, however, that you need special springs in both the recoil and mainspring persuasion, or the slide won't cycle.
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  • mpolans
    quote:Originally posted by cloop
    The AMU used to turn off the .38's rim, and cut an extractor groove, on loaded ammo, in a lathe. It then fed much more reliably. The .38 load is so wussy, however, that you need special springs in both the recoil and mainspring persuasion, or the slide won't cycle.


    At which point, a .38 Super or even better, a .38supercomp might start looking pretty darn good.

    Somehow, I doubt the reward was even close to being worth the effort.
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  • SKYDIVER386
    Although it is possible to convert a 1911 to fire the .38 Special, it would be very costly. To my mind, there is no need for such a conversion because several factory loaded rimless rounds already fill the bill, mainly the .38 Super (semi rimmed) and the 9X23 Winchester (true rimless). Conversion to one of these calibers would eliminate the need for VERY expensive magazines as mentioned above.

    Winchester lists 3 loads for the 9X23 in Silvertip, Super X and white box types, and the .38 Super is loaded in several weights by most ammo companies. The .38 Super+P or the 9X23 Win. are very good loads for any pistol with a ramped barrel (fully supported chamber) and a strong slide and frame. The 9X23 is a very hot round and is the full equal to a .357 Mag. The .357 Mag fired in a revolver and the 9X23 fired in a semi-auto pistol both launch a 125 grain bullet at 1450fps.

    My reccomendation would be to have the gun set up for one of these calibers and enjoy.[:D]
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  • cloop
    no kidding. The .38 wadcutter does nothing that a .22 won't do, other than qualify as being "centerfire"
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