.38/45 questions

[sgt.mike]

never mind sorry for bothering

[ReloaderFred]

I've never done the old .38/45 conversion, but have done the 9 x 25 Dillon conversion, which is the 10mm necked down to 9mm. I used a .38 Super barrel for mine and it worked just fine.

As for your question concerning the 148 gr. HBWC bullet in the .38/45, I would think that bullet would be way too long, with the hollow base and skirt below the neck of the case. In similar cases, this has caused the skirt to expand inside the case, before it leaves the neck, causing extreme spikes in pressure.

For your intended purpose of mid-range loads, I would think there are many other options that would work better, such as down loading the .38 Super, etc.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Reg]

A 9 m/m Colt barrel worked good for me.

[ReloaderFred]

I did do a .400 Cor-Bon conversion for one of my 1911's, but that just involved a new barrel and a set of dies. I found that necking down once fired brass was better than sizing down new brass for some reason. I got fewer wrinkled necks with the once fired brass. I also found that Winchester and Federal made the best brass to size down for the .400 Cor-Bon. The guys who used to do the .38/.45 conversions back in the 1970's used to complain about losing a lot of brass to wrinkled shoulders and necks while necking down the .45 brass to .38 caliber.

I think for your purpose I'd just think about another pistol in a caliber that could be down loaded easily, or if you wanted to go full power, just change the recoil spring.

You can always down load the .45 acp, too. It was the king of Bullseye Matches for a lot of years shooting SWC bullets and light charges of either Bullseye powder or Winchester 231 with a lighter recoil spring.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Mohillbilly]

I aquired a Barsto 38/45 barrel and a 38AMU but alass no die set yet for me . I do like the 400 Corbon .

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Dean Grennell in his series"The ABC's or Reloading" did at least one extensive write up and included loads. I do not remember which book in the series contained the info and data, but a search could turn it up. Another leade (mentioned by Grennell) was the name Bo Clerke who was associated with "The Armory" and had s lot to do with the early development of the cartrridge. LLS

[mortre]

I did look at a Star Super in 9mm LARGO a while ago the pistol was reasonably priced (lightbulb- which started the .38/45 urges) which would work (?) using 38 acp power and below level of pressure of the LARGO CAse.


I have a AA manual at the house with 38 Automatic (Not Super Auto) load data. I will double check but I believe it says you can use their data in 9mm Largo and another caliber I can't remember off the top of my head. It only covers 115, 124 and 130 grain data.

I only remember that because I was looking at loading up some light rounds to let the kids shoot through my 686P 38 Super last night.