Old Cartridge:

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Bisley45LC

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I am looking for a lite load for a 100yr old H&R 38 S&W short top break revolver. I did find new brass from Midway, but unable to locate loading data, nor a case gage for this old round. I have four popular powders on hand but will certainly buy a powder to put this pistol to work again.

Thanks for the help.
 
Those guns were mostly black powder. You can reload'm with .38 Spl dies. Neck size'm and then after seating a bullet,apply a tapper crimp by running the round back into the sizing die about 1/4". Use an unsized .38 Spl lead bullet, I used 140 gr, and just enough BP that the bullet compresses the powder about 1/10". They are neat old guns but not strong. I was able to hold 5 rounds into 5" at about 15' and that was enough for a plinking gun.
 
I never worried about case4 gauges or such just make sue the first round you load will fit in the chamber, especially that it's not too long.
I actually killed a rabbit with one and wish I had a good old pocket breaktop now.
 
I got a 38 Webley for my father a LONG time ago, it's a 38short. There is reloading data on hodgdon.com. Light hs6 or hs7 does the trick... I'm not sure though so look it up.
 
Just to be clear, the .38 Short is a Colt cartridge. It was never very popular, and died out fairly quickly when confronted with the .38 Smith & Wesson.

The .38 S&W was almost a universal cartridge in small frame guns by H&R, Iver Johnson, and others.

The .38 S&W was also the cartridge adopted by the British as the .380-200 in the 1920s.
 
Both my Lee and Lyman loading manuals have data for .38 S&W, but neither recommends using said data in old top-breaks like your H&R due to their relative weakness as compared to solid frame guns from S&W and Colt as well as the stronger British top-breaks like Webleys and Enfields.

Magnum Wheel Man, another member here, has experience loading cartridges for guns like the one you describe. You might send him a PM and see if he has any insight to offer.
 
From what I've read you're going to want to keep loads down to ~600fps.
A .360 121gr LRN with 3gr of Unique might give you that.
But check that with you own reloading manual.

That's for the older Hopkins and Allens, H&R, S&W, and similar.
 
From what I've read you're going to want to keep loads down to ~600fps.
Click to expand...

I would add that you want to keep bullets under 150gr at that velocity. One can fairly easily drive a 200gr bullet to 600fps or more in a strong gun like a S&W, Colt, Webley, or Enfield, but trying to do so in an old H&R would not likely have a favorable outcome.
 
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