British Constabulary Revolver

Couple of you have said....I rightly so

That if the frame is repaired for cosmetic reasons the revolver could fall into the hands of a person who tries to shoot it with whatever cartridge will fit in the chamber. And without resort to having it checked out before shooting it.

This of course is true.

I'll keep this revolver with no intention of ever selling it, but that discounts the possibility that I cross over to the other side and my heirs sell it or shoot it.

I have a decision to make here and I do appreciate all of the input.

I will certainly talk it over with the gunsmith who does the work on it.

But I must confess to you all that I may get the thing fixed (if it is fixable) and just take the additional precautions to reduce the likelihood that it ever gets fired to as near zero as is doable.

Indeed I am now up to five cartridge revolvers which should not be shot. All but one of them are shootable but not safely so. They are wall hangers and conversation pieces, which only a fool would try to shoot.

Problem is, the world is full of fools.
 
Many years ago, Winchester sold bullets for the .38 S&W that were heel type and miked out at .380". I never loaded them for a cartridge revolver but they worked great in a .36 Navy Colt.

Jim
 
but the 38 Smith and Wesson never used a heel type: bullet. it was loaded originally with a . 361 bullet of standard modern type.
 
Right, Mike about the .38 S&W not having heel bullets. Now my problem is to figure out just what those were. They were copper washed Winchester bullets, had the "step" seen on the heel-type, and a bulge at the middle that miked about .377-.380. I certainly remember loading them into a Navy Colt.

Jim
 
There are several fellers that make moulds for the heeled bullets, Old West Bullet Moulds is one that I used, and I also have one from Sweden- I can't pronounce the name or remember it, but they make the nicest moulds I've ever seen.

The problem with heeled bullets isn't finding the bullets themselves- the problem is crimping.

The best way that I know how to is with a Lee FCD (collet style) modified to fit the caliber that you need to crimp. I used one for .35 Remington on my .38 Long Colt- I just made an extension to my shellholder out of some round bar to the correct length and viola- I have crimped "outside lubricated" ammunition for my pair of Lightnings!

Lee can only make these collet crimp dies so short, so you may have to find one in the closest caliber to what you can use and go from there, like I did.
 
The only heeled bullets I fire in my "The British Bulldog" in .44 which is very similar to your BCP are Speer plastic target rounds. I'd be surprised if the .38 caliber ones wouldn't work in yours, Doc. I wouldn't trust these revolvers with much more than a magnum large pistol primer. I almost brought this revolver up in the "cowboys" thread, as there must have been a flood of these cheapies back in the day. I gave fifty bucks for mine. You done well.
 
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