38LC ammo hard to come by

[TTv2]

Good point. The funny thing is that if they would have just held on to the 38 Colt a little longer until smokeless powder came along it could have been loaded to the same speed and power of the 38 Special if the guns would have took the added pressure. If not they could have just heat treated the cylinders and loaded up with new smokeless ammo. But then a worry would have been someone getting ahold of the new smokeless load and firing it in a gun not able to take the pressure.

They would have went with a longer case anyway because that allows a heavier bullet to be used. That's one reason I like the .327 so much, it allows the use of 125gr bullets in a .31" diameter. I doubt the .38 LC could handle a 158gr at .38+P pressures.

 

[walnut1704]

The.38Special is a more powerful .38Long Colt lengthened so it will not chamber in lower pressure designs.

The .38 Special and the .38 Long Colt don't have the same relationship as the .357 magnum and the .38 Special.

1. The .38 Long Colt revolvers have chambers that are bored straight through, there is no "step" in the forward part of the chamber. The Colt revolvers will chamber a .38 Special, and a .357 Magnum for that matter. Lord help you if you fire a .357 in one of those revolvers. The chambers were bored straight through because it was a holdover from the .38 Short Colt, which was the older outside lubricated design which was changed to inside lubricated with the .38 Long Colt. This all happened at the dawn of that switchover, and the conversion to smokeless powder.

2. While Colt developed the .38 Short and Long Colt cartridges, S&W developed the .38 Special. Given the competition between the two I doubt S&W cared much if "their" cartridge was too much for the Colt guns. Both loved to name new cartridges with their company name, both were loath to put a competitors name on their revolvers. So Colt put a flat point bullet in the .38 S&W Special and voila! the .38 Colt Special was born.