WARNING: All technical data in this publication, especially for handloading, reflect the limited experience of individuals using specific tools, products, equipment and components under specific conditions and circumstances not necessarily reported in the article and over which the National Rifle Association (NRA) has no control. The data has not otherwise been tested or verified by the NRA. The NRA, its agents, officers and employees accept no responsibility for the results obtained by persons using such data and disclaim all liability for any consequential injuries or damages.
Introduced in 1899 as a blackpowder cartridge, the .38 Special (Spl.) not only survived the shift to smokeless powder but prospered, especially among competition shooters.
Inherently accurate, the current crop of .357 Mag. double-action revolvers that modern competitors favor commonly produce groups in the two-inch range at 25 yards. It’s also simple to reload the straight wall case. Plus, the case capacity allows shooters to tailor their loads to any power factor (PF) they will encounter in the various games, which vary greatly.
IDPA Stock Revolver requires a rather anemic 105 PF. Using a 158-grain bullet as an example, that PF needs only 675 f.p.s. velocity. Steel Challenge has no PF, but the “mouse puff” IDPA load would be a poor choice. My experiments have shown that a velocity of 720 f.p.s., with any bullet weight, is required to get an immediate bang-ting instead of a bang-pause-ting. Many Steel Challenge shooters have found a 125-grain or lighter bullet at 730 f.p.s. to be a soft and effective load. Both the above loads produce pressures below 17,000 p.s.i. rating of the .38 Spl.
ICORE and NRA Action Pistol require a 120 PF, which matches the traditional .38 Spl. load of a 158-grain slug at 760 f.p.s. USPSA ups the ante in Minor with a 125 PF requirement. A 158-grain bullet at 795 f.p.s. makes this at the low side of the .38 Spl. +P pressure levels of 20,000 p.s.i.
While most shooters consider the .38 Spl. to be a Minor caliber, there’s no reason it can’t shoot Major. The .357 Mag. revolvers in common use are rated at 35,000 p.s.i., and modern .38 Spl. brass is just as strong as .357 Mag. brass. Shooting Major is of little value for shooters in most games but can be a plus in USPSA, where Revolver is divided into Minor and Major. Six- and eight-shot guns are allowed in both divisions. But when shooting Major, a shooter is only allowed to fire six rounds before a reload is required. A six-shot revolver is not competitive in Minor when shooting against eight-shot guns. But it certainly is in Major with the six-shot rule. A 158-grain slug at 1,050 f.p.s. or a 180-grain at 925 f.p.s. will make the 165 Major PF. Carefully working up loads with medium burn powders like Universal, Unique, Long Shot and others will not reach the 35,000 p.s.i. the gun is rated for. Using coated lead bullets will help reduce pressure further.
The only real drawback to the .38 Spl. is its 1.115-inch case length. A full ejector rod stroke on a .357 revolver will not completely clear an empty case from the chamber. A small bit remains. Gravity and momentum must assist and sometimes they don’t. Rough chambers, dirty powders or a case neck split will guarantee a hang up. This leaves the shooter with the gun in one hand and a speedloader in the other while trying to jiggle out empties that didn’t want to leave. This throws a wrench into a speedy reload while the clock ticks on.
Cutting the gun for moon clips will help, since you’re now ejecting one solid mass instead of six or eight lightweight pieces. Unfortunately, moon clips are not allowed in some revolver divisions.
Experienced revolver shooters in those divisions requiring loading with other than moon clips will polish their chambers and brush them out every few stages. This helps, but doesn’t always work. At the 2011 IDPA World Championship, I was shooting in the Stock Service Revolver division (which at the time required a 125 PF) and I made a poor choice in powders. It left sticky residue and despite my best efforts, my reloading misadventures cost me enough time to drop from first to second in the Stock Service Revolver Expert Class.
Another option used by some shooters is to trim .38 Spl. brass to a shorter length of one or 0.9 inch. This is not legal in IDPA, but acceptable in ICORE, USPSA and Steel Challenge. It’s also a tedious affair, and lost brass means it’s a continuing endeavor.
Recently, many shooters have decided to eschew the above methods and just buy shorter brass. That leads us to the .38 Short Colt (.38 SC), and .38 Long Colt (.38 LC) cartridges. Both predate the .38 Spl. by several decades, but are identical to the .38 Spl. in all respects except for case length and will function perfectly in any .357/.38 revolver. Modern brass for both is made by Starline. They are not legal in IDPA, but good for the other above matches.
The .38 SC measures 0.761 inch. The 9 mm measures 0.754 inch, making the .38 SC nothing more than a rimmed 9 mm with virtually identical case capacity. Reloading dies are available for the .38 SC, but shooters already loading .38 Spl. and 9 mm can deprime and size with .38 dies and finish with 9 mm dies if they use a tapered crimp. If a roll crimp is desired, Lee Precision has an inexpensive .38 SC roll crimp die.
Handloading the .38 SC for competition is hampered by the fact that published loading data is restricted to the low pressure levels of the obsolete guns chambered for it. The heaviest load I have found is a 135-grain bullet at 777 f.p.s. for a 104 PF. This would be an effective Steel Challenge load with modest pressure levels.
Given that the .38 SC and 9 mm have almost identical case capacities, 9 mm load data is needed to reach 120 and 125 PFs. The 9 mm pressure is 35,000 f.p.s.—the same as the .357 Mag. A 120 PF will come in slightly below that but a 125 is right there. That’s no different from a gun wear perspective than running a steady diet of .357 rounds, which history has shown accelerates gun wear and cause flame cutting of the top strap, throat erosion and forcing cone cracking. In fact, Starline does not recommend loading its brass to these levels, and warns shooters to watch for high pressure signs like sticking extraction and flattened or flowing primers. As for making Major PF, loads have would be considerably more than the 9 mm +P level of 38,000 p.s.i. and create a serious over-pressure situation.
Another drawback to the .38 SC is in any division that prohibits moon clips. The short length leaves little bullet in front of a speedloader, and the speedloader body will even block that view. That makes it tough to get things aligned for a fast reload.
An eight-shot, moon-clip-fed .38 SC revolver is ideal for Steel Challenge and ICORE Limited or Open divisions. But the pressure levels at 125 PF, inability to make Major and incompatibility with speedloaders are reasons that growing numbers of shooters are using the .38 Long Colt.
The .38 LC is identical to the .38 Spl. in all respects except for a case length of 1.031 inches. That’s .084-inch shorter than the .38 Spl. That may not sound like much, but it’s just about the amount of case that the .38 Spl. leaves in the chamber on ejection. I have used the .38 LC extensively in ICORE Classic division and cannot remember a single time that a proper stroke on the ejector rod didn’t shoot all six cases out of the gun.
The .38 LC can be handloaded with .38 Spl. dies, with the exception of belling. My Hornady dies won’t dial down enough for that, but Lee Precision makes an inexpensive .38 LC powder through belling die.
Published load data, like that for the .38 SC, is useless. The heaviest load I have found is a 150-grain at 777 f.p.s. for a 116 PF. Instead, take .38 Spl. load data and reduce if by 0.4 grains. Chrono and go from there. It won’t take much adjustment to make any Minor of Major PF, and at pressures below 35,000 p.s.i.
The .38 LC works well with moon clips, but it’s a perfect fit for any shooter in a division that prohibits moon clips or for those that favor speedloaders. It gives up nothing to the .38 Spl. in terms of performance and ease of handloading.
The .38 Spl. is still a top choice for competition revolver shooters. But, for certain specific applications, it’s not quite as “special” as it used to be.
