Iver Johnson .38 cadet

[michael.birdsley]

GONRA reminds ya'll that .38 S&W cases hava larger head diameter than .38 Special cases.
Use .38 S&W resizing dies.....

I bought the lee .38 s&w dye set


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[michael.birdsley]

So I just got done the a slugging this gun for the second time tonight. The best I can the grooves at is .353 Which seems small for a .38 s&w. The only caliber markings are on the side and just say .38 caliber.

The serial number has a G in it which, according to this guns.com article
http://www.guns.com/2012/03/07/fathe...old-revolvers/ denotes it as a .38 S&W. I can not find anything on the internet that tells me how big the grooves or bore should be.


My calipers back up my mic. Any thoughts?


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[Pistolero49]

michael.birdsley,

PM with info sent.

[michael.birdsley]

After thinking about this. I went from the muzzle side. Could the muzzle have swaged down my slug?


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[dubber123]

As long as you are reasonably sure the cylinder throats are bigger than the bore, size to fit the throats and forget about the bore size would be my suggestion

I also think you are measuring the small, (bore) part of the slug, you want the groove, (deepest) part of the barrel. Spin the slug in your calipers and find the highest spot, I bet it is .360" or so.

[michael.birdsley]

As long as you are reasonably sure the cylinder throats are bigger than the bore, size to fit the throats and forget about the bore size would be my suggestion

I also think you are measuring the small, (bore) part of the slug, you want the groove, (deepest) part of the barrel. Spin the slug in your calipers and find the highest spot, I bet it is .360" or so.

Highest spot I can find is .3539 on the digital mitutoy's at work. I have double checked with blade mics, optical comparator, and cmm. The bore is about .349. Maybe it is leaded really bad in the barrel. I used certified gage pins for the cylinders 4 of the 5 came in at .360, one was at .361. Maybe it has lead in the grooves. I know it's a cheap gun but, I can't believe the would let it out the door .008 under sized. If my company did that we would be in a world of hurt.


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[Virginia John]

Outpost75 has the right idea. Lee also has a 9mm die for the Makarov that drops about .362.

[dubber123]

Highest spot I can find is .3539 on the digital mitutoy's at work. I have double checked with blade mics, optical comparator, and cmm. The bore is about .349. Maybe it is leaded really bad in the barrel. I used certified gage pins for the cylinders 4 of the 5 came in at .360, one was at .361. Maybe it has lead in the grooves. I know it's a cheap gun but, I can't believe the would let it out the door .008 under sized. If my company did that we would be in a world of hurt.


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VERY surprised it is that tight. The IJ's I had experience with were older, and were much more "generous" with their bores I would still just size to throats and not worry. Start low and work up. I have shot .006" over bore with zero issues before.

[michael.birdsley]

VERY surprised it is that tight. The IJ's I had experience with were older, and were much more "generous" with their bores I would still just size to throats and not worry. Start low and work up. I have shot .006" over bore with zero issues before.

I mean the factory Remington ammo shot fine. Maybe I'll pull one to see what that diameter is. It's just a fun gun. I think max load of unique from the books is like 2.6


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[dubber123]

I mean the factory Remington ammo shot fine. Maybe I'll pull one to see what that diameter is. It's just a fun gun. I think max load of unique from the books is like 2.6


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Your solid frame gun is much stronger than the old top breaks I have. It had a bunch of fun tinkering with one in just plain awful condition, just to see how well I could get it to shoot. Have fun with yours

[michael.birdsley]

It has 5 grooves. Is that a normal number of groove?


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[dubber123]

It has 5 grooves. Is that a normal number of groove?


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I believe S&W uses the 5 groove system, and it makes it very hard to measure. You have to hit the very peak of an opposing land/groove. Some use a specialized V block to measure these slugs. This also makes me think your barrel may be a bit larger than you think. At any rate, I would still size to the throats and have some fun shooting it.