.38 Short Colt Revolvers?

T

TruthTellers

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Just wondering because the cartridge interests me, but since the beggining of cartridge guns, has there ever been a revolver chambered solely for the .38 Short Colt?

I know there have been several revolvers in history chambered for .38 Long Colt.
 
Yes, I believe Colt chambered/advertised several revolvers as being for the .38 SC round.

The ones that come specifically to mind are the Colt New Line and New House revolvers.

Not 100% sure, but I believe that the cylinder on the New Line was too short to take a .38 Long Colt round.
 
As I recall, there were several Colt Open Top, spur trigger pocket revolvers both in .38 Short Colt and .41 Short Colt chamberings.

Bob Wright
 
"As I recall, there were several Colt Open Top, spur trigger pocket revolvers both in .38 Short Colt and .41 Short Colt chamberings."

The only one I know of that comes close to fitting that bill is the Colt 1872 Open Top, and I THINK that one was chambered in .38 Long Colt, and used .38 Short Colt because of the LC chambering.

Not 100% certain, but I THINK the spur trigger open tops were all chambered in .22 and possible .32 rimfires.

The spur triggers chambered for .38 LC were closed tops like the New Line and New House.
 
Mike,

You're right. I spoke (typed) without thinking. I was thinking of the cloverleaf revolvers, which were .41 R.F. and certainly not open topped.

Thanks for the correction!

Bob Wright
 
Yes. The Ivar Johnson company made many models of top breaks in 32 and 38 short umongst others. I had a 5 shot (I think) top break Ivar Johnson that I blew the top strap off of when I was young and dumber by using inappropriate ammo. Shooters can be had a gun shows still relatively inexpensively but expect poor finishes.
 
I did a quick search online and on gunbroker and I can't find anything confirming that the Iver Johnsons were .38 Short Colt or .38 S&W.

I've no interest in .38 S&W.
 
I've never heard of Iver Johnsons in .38 Short Colt, only .38 S&W.

Other than the .45 Colt, that company's cartridges gained almost no acceptance while S&W cartridges became almost the universal standard.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
The way he got set for that first shot, it looked as if he was expecting something like a .600 Nitro! The actual recoil must have been a bit of a disappointment.

Jim
 
Even so, it seemed as if that round was FAR more powerful than the other 3 rounds (especially the last one).

I'm wondering what he was shooting, and if he should have been running it through an original Cloverleaf House Revolver in the first place.
 
You know a thread's been hijacked when moderators are the one's doing it.

Oh well, I guess nobody ever made a .38 Short Colt revolver. That sucks, cuz I think it's way better than .38 S&W
 
Well, I pointed out to you that it appears that Colt chambered at least two revolvers specifically for the .38 Short Colt.

Additionally, the Colt New Police "Cop & Thug" may have been chambered in .38 SC, but I'm not sure about that.

In addition, any revolver chambered for the .38 Long Colt (like the Model 1877 Lightning) will also fire the .38 Short Colt.

It's really hard to say, though, what some of these early centerfire Colts are chambered for, as R.L. Wilson doesn't even specify, just saying that they were chambered in .38 centerfire...

And, I'm not sure why you think it's a better cartridge. It uses the old style externally lubricated heeled bullet, which makes it difficult to reload, and it was never known for its accuracy.

In power it is pretty much identical to the .38 S&W.
 
Ah ha. I did not catch that you ment short COLT, my mind went straight to the s&w. My apologies. This is why my wife doesnt allow me to think.
 
Ass far as "solely" - the birth of the 38 Colt Short was for the cartridge conversions such as the Richards and Mason done on 1851 Colt Navies.

Starling still makes 38 Colt Short brass. I reload quite a bit of it and shoot it in my 38 Specials - S & W Model 36 3" as well as others.

I usually use a 120 ish grain cast slug such as from the Lyman/Ideal 358-242. I also have several molds that produce around a 105 grain slug in .358.

It is a fun round to shoot and cheap to reload. Normally I use a load of either Bulls Eye or Red Dot - around 1.6 to 1.8 grains.

The 38 Colt Short was the father of the 38 Colt Long - which I also reload. The Long was the father of the 38 Special.

For general planning, small critters and killing tin cans, the 38 Colt Short is a lot of fun to shoot as well as reload.
 
Wikipedia says that there were actually two versions of the Short Colt, the original with the heeled bullet, introduced in the 1870s for conversion revolvers, and a version with a modern bullet and slightly shorter case, apparently intended for use with smokeless powder, and introduced apparently in 1919.

The information in Wikipedia apparently comes from Holloway's "A Guide to Handgun Cartridges."

It also says that the round was intended for use in the "Colt Police Revolver," which I'm interpreting to mean the Colt Police Positive, which at the same time was chambered in .38 Colt New Police (Colt's analog of the .38 S&W).
 
Yeah, what appeals to me about the Short Colt is that it can be shot in .38 revolvers and I think the .38 SC has an advantage in snub revolvers because the short length means they'll fully eject from the cylinder. Load up some .38 Short's with XTP JHP bullets and you have a good load to keep in a revolver.
 
I think the .38 SC has an advantage in snub revolvers because the short length means they'll fully eject from the cylinder. Load up some .38 Short's with XTP JHP bullets and you have a good load to keep in a revolver.
Click to expand...

I have dabbled with 38 Short Colt for my 38 & 357 revolvers. The load pictured is a 100 grain DEWC, w/ 1.8 grains of Bullseye under. 499 f/s through a 3" bbl; and 548 f/s through a 4" bbl. I also loaded a 105 grain truncated cone bullet with 2.7 grains of Bullseye (considerably more propellant because the bullet doesn't {didn't} sit nearly as deep in the case). They ran 673 f/s 3"; and 730 f/s 4".

I never loaded 38 SC with XTP's all pumped up (my intended purpose was not defense; like yours). I will advise you this: The SC being such a small case, burn rates will be very fast relative to the generally accepted burn rate for a given propellant. i.e. Unique may behave more like Bullseye. Or AA#5 will behave more like AA#2- that sort of thing. Approach your work up(s) with great caution.

I do like the concept of the brass ejection you mentioned. With that, how come you aren't considering 38 Long Colt? I would think moving to LC would solve your problem, and deliver a much less persnickity round (behaving more like 38 Spl).

Dies: I sized/de-capped with a regular 38/357 die - nothing different there. I flaired with a 9mm die. And I seated/crimped (separate operations) with a 9mm die too. That delivered a tapered crimp. Since I wanted a roll crimp (pictured), I sprung for a dedicated RCBS 38 SC die that roll crimped (not cheap - I think I paid like $120 for the darn thing). I also purchased 500 new Starline SC cases. So my investment was considerable - all for a project that ended up being scrapped (long story).
(Picture removed so the thread is easier to read.)
 
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I do like the concept of the brass ejection you mentioned. With that, how come you aren't considering 38 Long Colt? I would think moving to LC would solve your problem, and deliver a much less persnickity round (behaving more like 38 Spl).
Click to expand...
I figure that I'll start off short and work my way up. If I don't like the Short Colt's results, I'll move up to the Long Colt if needed.
 
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