38S/W cartridges

When last I needed some I made my own by using .355 9mm bullets and dies and 4f powder. They worked good and had decent power and accuracy despite the too-small-diameter of the bullets.

If I wanted some today, I would spend the money and get Buffalo Arms loaded ammo. These should be just what you need.
https://www.buffaloarms.com/38-s-w-...et-this-is-not-38-special-box-of-50-amobp38sw

OP asked for black powder 38 S&W. The Buffalo Bore 38S&W is loaded pretty hot and would most likely damage if not blow up a black-powder 38 S&W revolver.

I have not seen anyone loading black powder 38 S&W commercially.

I don't necessarily advocate this but I have shot both PPU, Magtech and Remington 38 S&W commercial ammo in my second model Iver Johnson safety automatic that is technically a black-powder revolver without issue. Those three commercial loads are all pretty anemic even by blackpowder standards of the day. YMMV and at your own risk on this for sure.

Matt's bullet makes a few correct diameter (.361) bullet for 38S&W reloading. Most of them are 200gr bullets for creating replicas of the 38/200 used in Webley and Enfield revolvers but his 150gr bullet would work well in black powder reloads if you willing to reload them yourself.

mcb said:

OP asked for black powder 38 S&W. The Buffalo Bore 38S&W is loaded pretty hot and would most likely damage if not blow up a black-powder 38 S&W revolver.

I have not seen anyone loading black powder 38 S&W commercially.

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I looked again and it is out of stock at this time, but perhaps reread my post and check out the link

RevolvingGarbage said:

I looked again and it is out of stock at this time, but perhaps reread my post and check out the link

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Opps... My apologies, my brain read Buffalo Bore not Buffalo Arms. That Buffalo Arms ammo would be just what the OP needs if it's ever back in-stock.

When I read your post I was thinking of this ammo that would not be safe in an old blackpowder revolver: https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=350

Sorry about that.

What gun?
Do you plan to shoot it a lot?
.38 S&W is not loaded any hotter than it ever was. I bet Grandpa shot smokeless when he could afford it.
Driftwood Johnson will explain that black is easier on the old guns, but he shoots his routinely in CAS matches.

For the money they seem to get these days for a box of 38 S&W of any flavor, Id suggest getting into reloading if you want to shoot a lot of it.

What I load costs me about $7 a box, and thats for something you wont normally find anywhere. Matts sells the same thing I load, loaded for $40 a box of 50. Hes the only one Ive seen selling it too.

Plain old 38 S&W goes for $35-40 a box of 50 around here, if you can find someone who carries it. Online is a better source.

If you reload, brass and bullets are readily available, and you can have a lot more lattitude in what you load. Its also a LOT cheaper too. I load it as 38/200 for my Enfield and Victory's.

If you dont reload "yet", it would be an easy round to start with.


I had a S&W 4th Model top break that was of the black powder era. I loaded for it and used black powder. Its another one that will cost you an arm and a leg if youre buying factory.

For what a box of factory would have cost me, I got a set of dies, 100 pieces of brass and 100 bullets for $20 more. A pound of black powder would probably last you years.

Black powder is a little different than smoleless to load, but its still easy.

AK103K said:

For the money they seem to get these days for a box of 38 S&W of any flavor, Id suggest getting into reloading if you want to shoot a lot of it.

What I load costs me about $7 a box, and thats for something you wont normally find anywhere. Matts sells the same thing I load, loaded for $40 a box of 50. Hes the only one Ive seen selling it too.

Plain old 38 S&W goes for $35-40 a box of 50 around here, if you can find someone who carries it. Online is a better source.

If you reload, brass and bullets are readily available, and you can have a lot more lattitude in what you load. Its also a LOT cheaper too. I load it as 38/200 for my Enfield and Victory's.

If you dont reload "yet", it would be an easy round to start with.


I had a S&W 4th Model top break that was of the black powder era. I loaded for it and used black powder. Its another one that will cost you an arm and a leg if youre buying factory.

For what a box of factory would have cost me, I got a set of dies, 100 pieces of brass and 100 bullets for $20 more. A pound of black powder would probably last you years.

Black powder is a little different than smoleless to load, but its still easy.

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4th Model S&W Safety Hammerless was the first "smokeless" model. I have a 3rd Model which is antique at 1898 and not really for nitro powder but has held up to many hundreds of modern standard loads FWIW. The IJs and H&Rs of the turn of the century were not as strong as the Smiths of the same time IMHO. Also condition is everything in the old guns.
.38 S&W is pretty cheap for casual use and all boxer primed :
https://www.luckygunner.com/handgun/38-s-w-ammo as an example. I bought 500 rounds of the new Remington stuff for $19 or 50 . I was buying Fiocchi for about $23 . Both seem comparable to some 50-60s stuff I have .

This is the 32 I had with some of the ammo I loaded for it......

Serial number put it in the "black powder" era, or at least thats what everything I came across was saying. Seems these guns started in that era and crossed over into the smokeless era.

Most also recommended shooting BP out of guns of that era too. Although there were a lot of people saying they shot smokeless loads in them too, with no issue, and some even suggesting 32 auto, which was generally not thought to be a good idea, from most who seem to know these types of guns.

This was the first gun of its type Ive had (Ive had a number given to me by others over the years) that was actually something Id consider shooting.

Most of the others, IJ's, H&R's, H&A's, etc, were all really loose and timing was usually way off, and/or the triggers were screwed up.

Other than this Smith, all the others Ive had also had pretty ugly bores and chambers, and didnt look like they were to well cared for.

This gun seems to have been kept clean and cared for over its life. Its definetly a couple of grades in quality above any of the others Ive had too.

I didnt shoot it a whole lot, but I did usually shoot it a couple of times a year while I had it. Fun stuff getting the old girl back in action too.

I like 38S&W, enjoy how accurate it is, how easy it is to return to POA and in fact the nice old guns that were chambered in 38S&W or 38/200.

I shoot a lot of antique .38 S&Ws, including an Iver Johnson Safety Hammerless 2nd Model. If the gun is safe to fire and you only intend to fire it a few times, standard Remington commercial ammunition is unlikely to be a problem. Remember, ammunition companies don't like being sued, and when they switched from black to smokeless they formulated the load to work in the available revolvers- most of which were made for black powder, and some of which were quite poor quality. Basically the ammunition was formulated not to blow up the worst commercially-produced guns made. Ammunition labels for the new smokeless loads did not carry any warning about shooting the smokeless loads in 'black powder' guns either.

When Iver Johnson came out with their 3rd Model top breaks they made a big deal about these guns being 'made for smokeless powder.' They used stocks of spare parts to continue to make the 2nd model (with slight modifications) under the trade-brand 'US Revolver.' The big deal about these were that they were an economical revolver that was made for smokeless powder. These were the same parts mind you, which to me implies that, in a quality gun at least, the difference between black and smokeless guns was mostly marketing.

All that being said, it would be prudent to have the gun examined by a gunsmith to insure that it is safe to shoot before firing it.

I just saw your post on the revolver in question- it's a .32 S&W, not a .38. Unless this is a different revolver?

mcb said:

OP asked for black powder 38 S&W. The Buffalo Bore 38S&W is loaded pretty hot and would most likely damage if not blow up a black-powder 38 S&W revolver.

I have not seen anyone loading black powder 38 S&W commercially.

I don't necessarily advocate this but I have shot both PPU, Magtech and Remington 38 S&W commercial ammo in my second model Iver Johnson safety automatic that is technically a black-powder revolver without issue. Those three commercial loads are all pretty anemic even by blackpowder standards of the day. YMMV and at your own risk on this for sure.

Matt's bullet makes a few correct diameter (.361) bullet for 38S&W reloading. Most of them are 200gr bullets for creating replicas of the 38/200 used in Webley and Enfield revolvers but his 150gr bullet would work well in black powder reloads if you willing to reload them yourself.

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This is what I was going to recommend, Matt's and the 150 grain bullet in the biggest diameter possible. These top breaks often have big throats, one of mine for my HR .32 is .316"

IDK if it would be safe in a black powder gun, but maybe Trail Boss powder would be okay? It's low velocity, but I have no idea how the pressures are in comparison to BP. I've made .32 S&W Long loads with Trail Boss for the HR and it feels "just right" in power level for the low strength of that gun.

Whatever the case, the OP is NOT going to find commercially loaded black powder .38 S&W ammo and if he does, it's going to cost and arm and a leg. I was thinking of trying some .45 S&W or Colt factory BP ammo years ago, darn stuff cost over a buck a round, but was all out of stock and I never bought any. Given the costs for storage and transportation, the demand was low due to the high price and nobody has bothered to load ammo they can't sell.

If I were the OP and didn't want to reload the ammo, I'd look into someone local who might be willing to do it. Maybe others on here reload .38 S&W BP ammo and would be willing to sell some of their handloads?