38 special in rifles

[Frank46]

Just curious, is there a significant velocity increase with the 38 special when fired in a rifle? Has anyone used a chronograph to check velocities let's say a 4" smith and a lever gun?. Thanks, Frank

[dnepr]

I would say that you get a decent jump in velocity out of a rifle , from a 20 inch barrel on my rossi I get 1180 fps with a 160 gr semiwadcutter pushed by 6.5 gr of HS-6 the Lyman manual claims 894 fps from 6.7 grs with a 4 inch barrel,

[rhead]

You will get significantly larger percentage increase in velocity using the slower appropriate powders over the faster powders. (2400 vs. unique)

You will get at least some increase with almost any loading.

[Screwbolts]

3.3 gr. of BE and a 358495 WC leaves my 17.25" barrel at 975 FPS and is deadly accurate out to 100 yards and beyond. 6.5gr of 800X drives a 180 gr WFL @ 1275 and is just perfect for deer out to 150 yards, from the same Rook Rifle. :-)

Ken

[StrawHat]

3.3 gr. of BE and a 358495 WC leaves my 17.25" barrel at 975 FPS and is deadly accurate out to 100 yards and beyond. 6.5gr of 800X drives a 180 gr WFL @ 1275 and is just perfect for deer out to 150 yards, from the same Rook Rifle. :-)

Ken

Ken,

I, for one, would enjoy seeing a picture of your rook rifle. (Maybe a separate thread)

[fecmech]

Unique and bullseye loads that do 900 fps out of a 6" .38 spl do 1100 fps out of a 20-24" rifle. .357 mag loads using 296/2400 that do 1300 fps out of a 6" pistol do 1630-1670 fps out of 20-24" rifles.

[lathesmith]

Velocity from my target wadcutter loads using minimal charges of bullseye are virtually the same from my 4"+ revolvers and my 23" T/C carbine barrel--around 700fps or so. As others have noted, this is not really the norm, but I threw this one out there to show that it does depend on the load you are talking about. Also, this load is very quiet from the carbine, and deadly accurate to 50-75 yards or so.

lathesmith

[Frank46]

Thanks all for the info. Been pondering getting the bbl on my martini cadet relined and caliber. Was a toss up between 32-20 and the 38 special. thanks again, Frank

[JIMinPHX]

I haven't done side by side comparisons with the same ammo in rifle & pistol, but I've clocked some 180-grain .357 mag ammo at around 1700fps out of a rifle. I'm pretty sure that I can't get that out of a pistol.

[w30wcf]

Last year I was curious as to what the average velocity of factory Rem .38+P ammo would be in a rifle as compared to my handgun. A dissected cartridge contained 5 grs. of a fine disc powder.

.357 Ruger 6" - ...971 f.p.s.
.357 Rossi 20" - 1,135 f.p.s.
.357 Marlin 24"- 1,128 f.p.s.

w30wcf

[looseprojectile]

This is .357 magnum.
If you have a Rossi rifle you need to know this stuf.

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/357_magnum_and_the_literature.htm

There are days when I just want to plink and hit what I am shooting at. That is when I shoot 38 special ammo in my Rossi rifle. The girls and children like it too.

Life is good

[Harter66]

So far load for load I get 400fps incresses going from my 6" Security Six to my 18" Marlin 1894C. I'm burning Unique under 140 JHPs,plated 158 SWCs and a cast 160RNFP.