Venturing Into .38 S&W

[otisrush]

I recently inherited a Colt Police Positive Revolver. It's marked simply as ".38" - which I'm concluding is .38 S&W based on what I've read as well as the reloads that came with the pistol.

I think I've got line of sight for getting ammo loaded for this cool pistol. I'd be interested if others have any words of wisdom or things I should look out for with this cartridge.

• I'll pull the reloads and use the brass. (The family member I got this from got ammo from *his* friend who loaded for him. There's good documentation with the ammo - but I'm going to pull it all.)
• There's load data at hodgdon.com. (My Speer and Hornady manuals don't have it - which kind of surprised me.). I'll be using HP-38 - which I have and have used in .38 Spcl and 9mm loads.
• Bullets are available at Missouri Bullet Company. (145gr) https://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=223&category=5&secondary=29

Any and all input on getting into loading this I'd greatly appreciate.

Thanks!

OR

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Nothing special you need to do to load for the 38 S&W. I use W231/HP-38 too and it works well as will the bullets from the Missouri Bullet Company.
Just don't try to hot rod this cartridge.

 

[mcb]

I load it but primarily for my Webley Mark IV. So I am replicating the old 38/200 MkI cartridge which is a 200gr bullet in a 38 S&W case doing a blazing 600 fps. A very similar cartridge was also market as the 38 S&W Super Police.

Remember 38 S&W (38 Colt New Police) is a .361 not .357 diameter bullet. You can certainly safely load the smaller bullets but the proper bullet diameter for most 38S&W is .361. Matt's bullets sells a few sized correctly, I am sure there are few others. I use Matt's 200gr Hemispherical round nose for my MkI replicas. Fun little cartridge.

Buffalo Bore does hot rod the cartridge if you need speed and I suspect your revolver could handle them. They load a 125gr hardcast at over 900 fps from a 4-inch revolver.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I too have an old Police Positive. I reload using WW 231 with .357 158 gr LSWC. Accuracy is about 2" at 25 yards which is good enough for me with the fixed sights on the gun.

 

[Rodfac]

I also load for a Police Positive in .38 S&W. Mine's a 1920 gun and it's good to remember that that little Colt is not up to heavy loads. I've used the listed loads in Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook with good success using Lyman's 358156 GC without the GC. I lube them with 50-50, and load them at the 'as cast' dia. ~0.359". Lee Liquid Alox works well with two coats of they swirl lubing method too Accuracy from my 1920 Colt runs to 7/8" at 9 yds from a Weaver Stance and with virtually zero leading issues. At 20 oz., the Police Positive is no weight whatsoever on the belt and makes a good dog walking piece. I estimate my 2.2 gr of Bullseye load, at ~720 fps from the gun's 4" bbl. YMMv, Rod
Pic below is a target shot with ~75 ammunition. My handloads do as well. That's a 5-shot group, two in the lowest hole...I mis-marked the target at the time, but still pretty good for an ancient revolver!

 

[otisrush]

Great info. Thanks.

My primary shooting and reloading interests are very mainstream. However I have a less-than-handful of older guns that I've acquired from family that I get a tremendous amount of pleasure out of loading for and simply making them go bang.

Thanks!

OR