Anyone own a 38 Casull?

[Peter M. Eick]

What do you think about it? Good gun? Is it going to hold up or will the round tear it apart? How have you liked it?

Thanks

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I do not own one, but a friend does and I got to shoot it a bit. The gun's accurate and reliable and has a very, very good trigger. Workmanship on the pistol was first rate in my opinion.
I have no long-term experience with it, but suspect it might burn out bbls pretty quickly compared to other calibers.

Best.

 

[Gewehr98]

Sounds intriguing.

But, so did the 9x25 Dillon. I would indeed be interested in seeing how folks have fared over the long term with the .38 Casull.

 

[okeydoke]

You can always do most of your practice

with milder reloads, with a 9mm slide group on it, or a spare, 9mm gun, you know. My problem with it is it being a 6" longslide, full lenght stock, and steel frame. Way too heavy and bulky for CCW, and why bother with such a round, except for defense?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

My interest is purely for the range, just a fun gun to shoot. I am slowly converging on the idea of getting a big powerful autoloader and the casull 38 looks interesting. My other thought is a shooter 44 automag (I already have a safe queen).

I am basically looking for more then a 10mm.

 

[okeydoke]

If all I wanted was fun, I'd stick to a .22

probably the reworked M21 Beretta. There's a reason why you prefer rapid fire to slowfire,and powerful guns to .22's, and why you like to shoot guns instead of pool. There's nothing to be ashamed of about desiring to be able to fight well. Why not just get maximal enjoyment, and build real fighting ability, with a real carry pistol, and then compete and hunt with same?

 

[Sean Smith]

Peter,

If you want "more than 10mm" in an autoloader you might want to consider a .460 Rowland conversion for a .45 ACP 1911. .38 Casull really doesn't give you "more" than 10mm handloads anyway (or much more than 9x25 or 9x23 for that matter).

 

[Kahr carrier]

Havent seen one.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Necked down

The 38 Casull is a necked-down .45 ACP, so why not have Casull ship you a fitted .45 barrel along with your new gun? Swap out the barrel & spring, and you can blaze away with (relatively) cheap .45 ACP unstead of the horrendously expense .38 Casull loads.

Brad

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Basically because I am interested in the power of the Casull, not the 45acp. I am a reloader, so once the brass is bought from starline, it will actually be cheaper to shoot the 9mm bullets over the 45 bullets.

My big question is how well will a 1911 frame, even with the 6" barrel hold up to the power of the Casull?

I have a 10mm Baer heavyweight monolith, which seems to take a pretty good pounding from hot loads. I am worried if I just pick up a cheap 1911 and dump a Casull barrel in it, it will self destruct.

Also I am curious about the costs and the overall performance from an owner.

 

[Porter Rockwell]

Interesting Thread Peter!

I stumbled in on a search for info on the neferious 9x25 Dillon.
What are the ballistics on the .38 Casull and are they above the 9x25 Dillon?
In speaking with an older IPSC competitor he mentioned a certain warm load from his 9x25 of 115s@2400fps! If my recall is correct that's about the same speed we got from a 40gn in the old .22 Jet!?

 

[Sean Smith]

.38 Casull ballistics:

124 grain @ 1,800 ft/sec / 892 ft-lbs
147 grain @ 1600 ft/sec / 836 ft-lbs

... which is pretty impressive, until you realize that that those ballistics are from a 6" barrel.

With 10mm you can get a 135gr bullet at 1,600 ft/sec or a 165gr bullet at 1,425 ft/sec from a 4.6" barrel. Account for the barrel length difference, and suddenly .38 Casull doesn't offer much (if anything) over 10mm except a smaller bullet, added expense and faster barrel erosion.

Ballistics from http://www.doubletapammo.com/

Now don't get me wrong, getting a neato oddball caliber for the fun of it is cool. I just don't think it objectively offers anything once you subject it to closer scrutiny.

 

[BigG]

Peter, did you ever see a L.A.R. Grizzly? Available in 44 Magnum revo ctg. Tons of fun, well made, exciting, like a big ol burly premium quality 1911 with a terrific trigger. Costs oh a grand or so. Excellent bang for the buck. JMHO

BTW, ditto what Sean said re: ballistics. A 9mm is a 9mm is a 9mm. Whether Luger, Super, 9X23, 38 Casull, the performance will not provide the punch of a larger, heavier caliber. Too small, light a pill. The 10mm will actually be a stronger performing round than the 38 Casull when properly stoked.

 

[Porter Rockwell]

Thanks Gentlemen~

I do have a couple 10mms as well as an LAR .45 Win Mag and some .45 Super under my belt.
The .38 Casull and the 9x23 looked like interesting new toys!
Using McNetts data I duplicated the 135gn 10mm at over 1800fps chronographed from a 5" 1911.
Since the base case for the .38 Casull is the .45acp/.45Super it oughta hold more powder than the 10mm which gives it the potential of more power.
Speaking of which, wasn't there a .40 Avenger or something?

 

[Rogelio]

I would just love if we could get those ones down here in Peru..it would be really REALLY REALLY super duper hiper cool!

Well...I maybe should stop dreaming and go shoot my Glock 25! (stupid .380 acp...)

 

[Porter Rockwell]

.380acp Hot Rod!

Hello Peru!
Rogelio, tho the economics ain't that great I once opened the chamber up on a .380 Colt Mustang for a gent that just had to have the 9X18 Ultra instead of the sedate .380acp.

 

[Poohgyrr]

.41 Avenger ? Revolver .41 bullets in a .45 ACP case IIRC.

 

[Brad Johnson]

.41 Avenger ? Revolver .41 bullets in a .45 ACP case IIRC.

Sounds a lot like the .400 Cor-Bon. A .45 ACP case necked down to .400. I used to have a Ruger P90 with a .400 Cor-Bon barrel. Aside from the high ammo price, it was a nice cartridge with plenty "oomph".

Brad