Antique Loading Tools - .38 Colt SHort

[Andylit]

Greetings,

I recently acquired a very nice Smoot #3 in .38 Centerfire.

Does anyone know if any manufacture made the tool for this caliber? I prefer the early Ideal, second choice is the Winchester. Or perhaps Lyman made the dies for the 310 tongs?

Any help here would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Andy Litkowiak
Eagle WI

[EDG]

The 310 shop

https://the310shop.net/products/

[Mk42gunner]

Dad had one of those back when I was a kid; we ever shot it, but I always wanted to. I have been sort of looking for an affordable one for years.

The first step is to make sure just what .38 CF round your gun is chambered for, going from how Dad's looked and forty plus years of memory; I think they were .38 S&W, not Short Colt.

Robert

[Oyeboten]

It'd be for .38 Colt Short, Outside Lube 'Heeled' Bullet, so likely a .375 Bore...Bullet is same diameter as the Cartridge case.

Not sure how people crimped those with any of the Tong Tools of the day.

.38 S&W or .38 Colt New Police, were/are inside Lube, Bullet fits in the Cartridge Case like Modern Cartridges, these one can crimp easily with the Hand Tools of back when.

[Green Frog]

If you go way back into the early Ideal Loading Manuals you should be able to find a listing for a combination tool that casts the correct heeled bullet the sizes it and loads the case. Finding a usable example of such a beast will be a bit more difficult. Watching e-Bay listings and trolling various websites where antique reloading tool enthusiasts gather are my only suggestions. When I get to my main computer I’ll try to find the code numbers on my lists for the changeable dies and the bullet mould for your Colt.

Froggie

[Green Frog]

ADDENDUM TO LAST: I went into the oldest Ideal manual I had at hand and there was no listing for the Short 38 Colt, but the 151 die set is listed for 38 Long Colt, but they don’t list a bullet #. Whatever you find will have to pre-date the mid-30s.

Froggie

[jrmartin1964]

I found listings for ".38 Short, O.L."... aka .38 Colt's, Short...(outside lubricated, or heel-base bullet) in Handbook No. 28 (1927), 29 (1929), & 30 (1931), and lists published in 1933 & 1935. Die serial was No.38, and standard bullet was No.358159. Although apparently available in the No.3 tool (no mould, interchangeable dies), its usual home was the No.4 tool with attached mould and a fixed seating chamber. The No.4 tool for outside lubricated cartridges... .38 Short & Long, and .41 Short & Long... will not have a bullet sizing station. Old Handbooks state the bullets were intended to be loaded unsized, as cast.

Jim

[gunther]

A friend had a 38 long colt, the one that didn't work in the Philippines. The barrel was pitted. We got it shooting with commercial hollow-based wadcutters. The manuals referenced by jrmartin1964 should get your powder charges.

[Wayne Smith]

For all things heeled boolits look at Old West Bullet Molds. Bernie modifies Lee Crimp dies to crimp the heeled boolits. I shoot a 41Colt.