38 Super revolver

[BullfrogKen]

I was wondering if anyone here has ever fired 38 Super rounds in a .38 caliber chambered revolver? Not one of Smith & Wesson's revolvers set up for 38 Super, mind you, but a .38 Special or .357 magnum chambered revolver.

Reason for asking: I carry a 1911 Commander that's been worked on to chamber 9x23, 38 Super, and 9mm with a barrel and recoil spring change. I'd kinda like to have a snubby revolver chambered for 38 Super. S&W did a short run of .356TSW in the 940; the steel J frame will take it. I've contacted a local smith here who will do the conversion, too. Not a big deal, really.

One afternoon while having a conversation with a fella in the criminal justice arena, we were on the topic of what are some of the strange/unusual/stupid things he's seen taken off of the local thuggery. One was a .38 caliber revolver loaded with 38 Super ammunition. Curious about it, last month I slipped some of my 38 Super loads into my K frame, and he was right, they fit fine. The smallish rim of the 38 Super actually caught on the cylinder nicely, and of course the extractor requires a lot less throw to eject them.

Again, curiousity got the best of me, and the last trip I made to the range I put a cylinder full of 38 Super rounds thru the model 66. Accuracy was less than what I get from my .38 Special wadcutters, but it wasn't too terrible.

The more I think about this system, the more I wonder why it hasn't been done already. A couple of the complaints of the J frame are:
- it won't kick out spent cases all the way with that short throw
- the .38 Special is a bit anemic for some folks' tastes
- reloads are clumbsy and awkward to carry, speedloaders take up too much room, speed strips are slow, etc.

Taurus has come out with nearly every caliber in small packages. Hell, they've even come out with small 5 shot .41 magnums. Talk about niche . . . 38 Super has got to be one of the few mainstream cartridges that they've passed on. The fella I've contacted about doing the work says he'll set it up to take 9mm moonclips, but it can still be loaded and used without them.

Has anyone besides me given this any thought?

 

[Croyance]

I've only known competition shooters to have .38 Super, so I don't know how mainstream it is.

I turn the gun upside-down when ejecting, so I'm not all that concerned about the short throw of a J-frame.

I don't know about short-barrelled guns, but .357 Magnum seems like it is more powerful than a .38 Super.
It is a unfair to compare using speed strips to a moon-clip. A moon-clip won't lay flat. While perhaps slower, a speed loader is a more fair comparison.

 

[Radagast]

S&W made a couple of short runs of the 627 in 38 super with a 5.5 inch barrel and a single port comp. These were 8 shot, moonclipped guns.

IIRC there was also a short run of the 686 in 38 super.

The main market for a .38 super gun is in ICORE competition, where the shorter cases help with reloads.

 

[Standing Wolf]

If you're going to go to all the trouble to build a revolver in .38 super, why not go the whole distance and chamber it in .357 magnum?

I've been thinking about a model 1911 in .38 super, where it actually has a place; in a revolver, however, I think it's at best redundant, and probably doomed to fail in the market.

 

[Radagast]

I just read BullfrogKens post fully through. Doh!

I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I don't see any benefit over a 9mm conversion in a j frame. The 9mm would have less muzzle blast, probably obtain the same velocity, and being shorter, tapered cases, would be quicker to reload.

Of course, you could probably use 9mm in the .38 super if you were using moon clips, assuming you reamed out a 9mm cylinder to start with.

 

[TonyT]

S&W Revolvers in 38 Super

In addition to the 627 in 38 Super (8 shot), they also made the 686 in 38 Suiper as a 6 shot with no comp. A very sweet revolver to shoot.
Tony

 

[GPappy]

I purchased a 4" 686 with a seperate cylinder set up for 9x23 using moon clips. Now I can easily switch between 357 and auto cartridges. It shoots fine with 9x23, 38 super and 9mm although I do see a slight degradation in accuracy with the 38 super, of course that could be operator error . I purchased it for IDPA before they changed the rules on revolvers and now all moon clip revolvers need to hit 165K PF so I went back to my 625 shooting 625 gap length rounds.

I also have two S&W 940 J frames that were chambered for 9mm from the factory. I had one of them reamed out to 38 super and now not only can I shoot the hotter .38 super load but the 9mm rounds seem to eject better.

I realize that you said you were not interested in moon clips but they work great for me.

Greg

 

[BullfrogKen]

Greg,

Yeah, the plan was to get a 940 cylinder from S&W (along with crane, extractor) and have it fit to my 649. I would use the moon clips, and it would take 9mm, too, just like yours. I do have the option of using them without moonclips, though.

Again, the only reason I am pursuing this concept is to have a back up to my commander chambered for the same caliber. Dane Burns converted some J frames to 9x23, but has stopped due to concerns with the integrity of the cylinder wall with that high pressure round. I am fine with 38 Super in a J frame size; 9x23 is too much. Even .357 mags thru it is too much for my liking. My 38 Supers fall nicely somewhere right in between .38 Special and .357 magnum levels, or at least that's how they feel.

Radagast, the only benefit for me is ammo uniformity. There is a slight increase in power, but I'm not doing it for that reason.

Greg, that 9x23 4" 686 sounds like a great gun. I continue to be impressed with the accuracy and flat shooting 9x23 out of the 1/2 dozen guns I've encountered. Its really a hidden gem.

I'm glad to see at least one other fella has thought about my idea and pursued it. I guess no one is gonna fess up to putting 38 Supers thru a .357 magnum revolver. I know shooting rounds thru something its not chambered for is verbotten. But hell, I just had to find out how much .002" affected accuracy before I went thru with it.

Thanks for the responses fellas.

 

[GPappy]

Bullfrogken,

I was actually not the first to rechamber my 940 for .38 super. A local Chamber Reamer manufacturer did his first and now there are 4 or 5 of us that have had the coversion completed. Makes a great combination for BUG matches and is my main carry gun.

My 686 was rechambered but is still using the 357 barrel. There is not enough difference in accuracy between the 9x23 to notice. I think that the .38 super degradation is due to the shorter length cartridge and the extra length the bullet has to travel before it gets to the forcing cone.

Greg

 

[IndianaDean]

So, can it be done?

So, bottom line, can .38 Super be fired in .38 Specials and/or .357 revolvers?

I've read the super is larger in diameter than the special, so maybe super could only be fired in a .357.