Ut Oh, what do I have here .38 special

[KosmicKrunch]

I posted this at the S&W forum and thought you all would enjoy commenting on this ammunition. I was told there these are .38 Special AMU, although it does not say that on the box or ammo....

Ok I know I am new to all of this, but this has me stumped. I bought these at a gun show over the weekend to shoot in my Vintage S&W M&P. Since the box said .38 Special Super Match, I thought they were just very accurate .38 special rounds.

1. The Rim is smaller by about .035 and is beveled.

2. All else is the same, case length, diameter etc.

3. I have NO Clue what grain size the wad cutter is, not marked on the box. They do seem very heavy though compared to the 158 grain Federal .38 special next to it.

4. The wad-cutter has two crimping lines on the case.

5. The head stamp on the wad cutter is Western - 38 spl - SR

shown with a vintage Federal 158 Gr .38 Special

What I need to know is, can I shoot these out of my .38 special S&W M&P? They seem to fit fine and the ejector will remove them from the cylinder.

If I can't shoot these out of my M&P, would any of you guys want these. I would trade them for 2 boxes reg either wad cutter or SWC or round nose .38 special. Or I would sell them for $35 + $8.00 S&H in the lower 48. BTW there are 45 rounds in the box, the way it came when I bought it.

 

[MrBorland]

I was told there these are .38 Special AMU, although it does not say that on the box or ammo....

I think whoever told you that is correct and that these are .38 AMU wadcutters. The SR on the headstamp refers to it's semi-rimmed design. Supposed to use the same wadcutter as regular .38 spl wadcutters, but the semi-rim design helped it feed more reliably from a mag.

Others ought to chime in as to whether they'd be ok to shoot in your revolver (I'm thinking they ought to be), but it's my impression that this ammo is on the rare side. You might consider hanging on to them, rather than shooting them. You can buy target WC ammo online several places.

 

[ReloaderFred]

The .38 AMU was made for the Army to shoot in their S&W Model 52 target pistols. There were also some Colt 1911's made to shoot this round. The example I had was made by Remington, but other companies made them, too. The round was short lived. It was based on the regular .38 Special case, but with a .38 Super (or .38 acp) rim, which was designed to feed from magazines and do away with the larger rim of the .38 Special.

These would be safe to shoot, but my advice is to hold onto them and sell them to a cartridge collector, since they have gotten rather rare in loaded condition.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Someone loaded a w/c in a .35 winchester self loading case. (semi rimless).

 

[rcmodel]

Then why does it say .38 Spl SR on the box & headstamp?

It's factory loaded .38 AMU, or something very close to it.

Used for target autoloaders in the day.

I agree it is too valuable to cartridge collectors to shoot it.

rc

 

[Doug b]

Some of this Western Super Match stuff was corrosive primed it was considered a better ignition.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Sorry, didn't have my glasses on.

 

[KosmicKrunch]

One of the nice folks at the S&W Forum traded me 2 boxes of standard .38 special wad cutters for these. Good thing because I am just not an ammo collector. Was interesting to read about these though.