Possibilities For The 38 Short Colt Today With 777 Powder 

I just made up a batch 38 S&W (short Colt) but I didn't have any 38 short brass to use so I made my own by shortening up some 38 Special brass. I watched some some crazy videos where guys had used a file to accomplish this task by hand, but I had a Lee cutter and lock stud. After chucking the the 38 Special brass in a cordless drill with the lock stud, I used a mini tubing cutter to cut most of the extra length off. Then I could use the cutter and my Lee case gage to quickly get all the cases to exactly .775" length. There are some people on forums that suggest that using 38 Special brass, which is .356" diameter whereas 38 S&W is .361", may lead to split cases but my testing showed this to be a non-issue. I completed the loads using powder coated home cast bullets from the Lee TL358 dia - 158 grain bullet mold (the powder coating helps get the bullet diameter up to the .361" dia) and about 2.5 grains of Unique using the Lee 0.3 cc dipper. I experimented with different bullet seating depths, but don't have any observational data yet on what depth gave will give the best balance between pressures and accuracy.

What kind of Velocity are you getting from this particular load?

Woohoo! .38 SC, a favourite cal. of mine. Even bought .38 SC dies specifically to take advantage of the option to load it on your recommendation. Have only used the die set for .38 spl so far but need to try the SC for better acceleration in 3" long 12 gauge adapter. Also got the .44 russian & .45 schofield. Thanks FC, Mike.

Back to reloading…yes!!

Some cowboy action shooters who load black powder (like the 777 shown here) use the .38 Short Colt to create pistol ammo with a little less recoil than a .38 Special case filled to capacity. A different bullet would be necessary since SASS rules prohibit hollowpoint bullets.

Another excellent load session, I ALWAYS learn something here. I already make 44 Russians from my retired mouth-split 44 cases and now if my 38/357 dies can do the expand and crimp, there’s yet another round on my possibility menu.

I like the .38 SC in my reproduction colt conversation copy... The .38 long are nice but the short are a lot of fun... Thanks for making more people aware of this cartridge... Take care...

Tripple 7s says right on the container label do not load in cartridges. That always seemed a bit silly to me, but i guess the egg heads at Hodgdon came up with a reason for it.

Awsome video, Fortunecookie! I really ought to give .38 SC a try. I wish the shortages would end, already. I wonder what its gonna take to put an end to the craziness we are seeing in our country today.

Yes this is another day of learning about reloads for me as well. My favorite round is.44 Russian for many reasons but today I learned of another interesting round that is worth investigating. FC I love your videos because I always learn something new. You do an excellent job! The.38 Short Colt? Yeah I’m gonna check this baby out; my.44 Russian may have a new “friend “ at the reloading table!

FC, thanks for another day of learning...........

Wow l’ve never heard of this thanks for filling us in!

Hope the summer ain't too ferocious down there.... Colt or S&W short cases for GUARANTEED ejection in J-frames and OLD cheap euro-guns chambered in 38 Special... load them up to 38 special +P and keep them AWAY from old break tops....

:) Love the 105 grain swc and a 115 Pentagon hollow points, in both SC and LC. Tried them with the Universal 4 grain load.

I use a 38lc using 20 gr of BP 150gr lead cast bullets. 38sp BP rounds work but must use filler to prevent empty space btw bullet and powder

Could you please do a video on primers? Question can I use small pistol primers in small rifle cartridges?

what mold did you use for the bullets ? i just bought a colt police positive in 38 short colt would love to start reloading for it

When I first saw the bullets you were using, I said to myself "I don't remember making and giving those to Steve" thinking they were Lyman 358311 158 gr RN. I saw the Red magma lube and that threw me off. btw, one of these days, you are going to have to spend some time in my bullet shop and make some of those RN Lymans with the star sizer and automatic bullet feeder. Nice Video Steve. -Dave

Thanks for the information

I would have liked to write to you offline, my friend. Enjoy your always pleasant commentary. When I first saw you and you spoke you reminded me of Michael Paul Chan. Very knowledgeable. FYI I wrote around 1980 to the wax seal manufacturer, ,they replied that the composition was microcrystalline , not beeswax. Getting scrap range lead from an indoor range I found over 50 misfired rounds, so sorting is very important! VernfromVancouver

Glad to see you are getting back into the 38 cartridge family! I actually got inspired to get into 38 short colt because of you. I use Bullseye and 158 gr berrys plated bullet and push them to about 700 fps. Extremely fun and accurate out of my snub nose 357!

So when my 357 brass splits at the mouth i trim to 38 special and load accordingly. When they split can i trim them to 38 short colt and again load accordingly?

Very nice

What is the purpose of paper on top of powder? I understand there shouldn't be air space between powder and bullet. If BP is used in any pistol/rifle loads is paper always added?

You guys must have a good supply of small pistol primers

Nicely done

Good Video.

8:08 I was under the impression that Lee dies could be set up to seat and crimp in the one go, although I can understand why you would want to separate these operations. I am assuming that there is no Lee Factory Crimp Die for this cartridge.