Originally Posted by
GoodOlBoy
I've got a single 38 case (wish I had a loaded round because people don't believe me that it isn't just a cut case) that is about 1/4-3/8 inches long. It came from an uncle who had a 38 detective (don't remember the brand) that had the shortest cylinder on it I ever remember seeing on a pistol except maybe an old 22 short revolver, the rounds he got with the gun way back when were all that length brass with a bullet that was probably double the length of a "normal" 38 bullet sticking out of them. I want to say he got it when he was stationed in Vietnam or maybe the Philippines, but I can't remember for certain where he said he got it. He almost never shot it, but when I was a kid he used it to dispatch a rowdy racoon that entered a camp house uninvited and decided to run everybody else out. Hence how I got the single piece of brass as a kid. As far as I know that pistol is long long gone and so is the ammo for it. That uncle is very elderly now, and barely knows who he is, much less remembers that old pistol. If I ever find that piece of brass again, and have a working camera (which should be soon as parts get here) I'll try to remember to post a pic of it.
As for boo boo rounds Once upon a squirrel hunt I had a 20 gauge shotgun shell that didn't go off, then had to be pried loose with a pocket knife out of my old single shot. When we got home I cut open the bulged case to find no powder, and shot on both sides of the fiber wad. IE somebody loaded shot twice but never had powder in it. It was an old factory load, a peters shell that was older than me if I remember correctly. Back then we didn't save stuff like that so the shot went in the lead bucket for fishing weight melt down and the shell went in the garbage.
God Bless, and One Love
GoodOlBoy