Posted on 04/28/2018 6:35:49 PM PDT by Simon Green
“I have an Iver Johnson Owlhead .38. It was made in 1894 so it is a black powder cartridge and .38 S&W to boot, a cartridge not to be found on store shelves anywhere today.”
visit ammoseek.com. Many manufacturers still load 38 S&W. Probably won’t find it on hardware store shelves though.
Thanks, but I reload .38 S&W myself with black powder. My pistol was not made for smokeless rounds.
“...I reload the .38 S&W brass cases, which are still available, with 12 grains of black powder topped off with a .361 lead bullet. ...”
Very smart safety practice.
No original gun made to fire black powder should be fired using smokeless powder cartridges, no matter how gentle the load. Pressure curves are quite different.
Break-top revolvers with the American-style barrel catch (mounted on top strap) are prone to wear. They can appear tight but may unlatch themselves with no warning, tossing the fired case and hot gases back at the shooter. Parts are not available and cannot be repaired readily.
Revolvers with the Webley-style catch mounted on the standing breech are less prone to wear problems. But please bear in mind that the British cartridges fired from these revolvers (principally 455 and 380 in various Mks) develop low velocity and modest pressures.
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