K38 target masterpiece

[mustanggt]

Hey fellas I have a 6" pre m14 (1952) on its way and was wondering since these are one of the most accurate revolvers I thought I'd ask how consistent are the chambers and barrels on these fine revolvers? I'd like to shoot wadcutters in it and want the proper size mould.

[Green Frog]

You will probably find .357" sized wadcutters will work quite well in your K-38. Mine is a year or so older and although I don't shoot it as much as some of my other revolvers, that's what I would unhesitatingly use (along with a light charge of Bullseye™, W231™, or HP-38™) and have fun! 8-)

Froggie

[dubber123]

I have a fair pile of S&W revolvers, many in .38/.357 Magnum calibers, and .358" is a pretty standard cylinder throat size on most of them. My K-38 is a 60's vintage, and after a little tinkering, (trigger and firelapping), it is very accurate and a joy to shoot.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have two .38 Revolvers. One is a circa '68 Ruger BH Flat Top with a 4 5/8" bbl and a 9 MM spare cylinder. Slow to reload but a blast to shoot. Quite accurate and very nice field gun in a good holster and belt.

The other is a Smith 686 w/6" bbl. I have had to replace the rear sight blade a couple of times over the years and I had Blake Stephenson (forum member) perform his magic on the trigger. Other than my CZ 527 FS .223 Remington this is the best trigger I have ever fired a round from. Smooth as a hot knife thru butter and breaks like a pane of glass as I never can figure out when the hammer will drop.

Loaded with DEWC over a small charge of Unique or Bullseye it makes a great revolver to teach a newbie on. Excellent sights, fantastic trigger and will put 5 rounds thru paper or whatever in a very small group. I have gotten groups of 3/4 " at 25 yds from a rest and with a full house 357 loading it will hammer steel at 200 yds all day long.....

I like that gun so much that I had it reblued a few years ago and it looks brand new.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have a 6" and a 8-3/8" and both are amazingly accurate guns using an H&G #50 WC. The shorter barrel likes the classic load of 2.7 grains of Bullseye while the longer barreled version prefers 2.9 grains of BE. Both will shoot into 1" at 25 yards off the bench, but the longer barrel does better out to 50 yards. Both guns appear to be late sixties vintage and I bought them in virtually new condition; nave not altered them in any way. LLS

[kartooo]

i have a 6" model 14 that does very well with .358 sized 148gr wadcutters and 2.9gr of clays.
bench rested with my ultradot matchdot it's amazing !!!
i must have the right combo of hardness,powder,lube because after a 150 rd range session the barrel has no leading at all.
love them .38's
my carry gun is a ol model 36 and my do all gun is a 4" model 15

[rintinglen]

.358 works for my 1980's model 14, very accurate with 3.1 grains of WW-231 or 2.8 grains of Bullseye.

[mustanggt]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I'm getting excited to get my hands on this revolver. I'll post up pictures when she shows.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I can`t begin to guess the untold thousands of #358495 Lyman wadcutters I shot thru my very old M14 using straight WW alloy with NRA Alox lube charged with 3.3 gr. of either HP-38 or W-231 powder and Fed. std. primers. I sized all the WC boolets .357". I must have done something right now and then to win a few trophies using this load.Robert

[fecmech]

I shot PPC with my model 14-3 in the 70's and early 80's and a conservative guess as to round count was 60K+. My gun never had a gas ring installed in the cylinder and was a PITA to keep the crane clean. I sent the gun to S&W in the early 90's to get the gas ring installed and had them turn the barrel in one turn and recut the forcing cone. Total cost about $40. Have put at least another 30K through it since then and it is actually more accurate now than when I bought it. The fellow who worked on it at S&W knew his stuff! I haven't cleaned the inside of the barrel in literally years, there is no reason to. I clean the cylinder when it gunks up and wipe down the outside of the barrel, that's it. I shoot Hunters Pistol with it now and if the target doesn't go down with the shot it's operator error, period.

[TXGunNut]

I had a pretty sweet Model 14 for awhile, can't recall why I sold it. :confused: I was shooting PPC at the time and my Open and Stock guns were all L-Frames, guess I just wanted to stay with one size speedloader and loading tray. On top of that I had a very nice 6" 586 that had a trigger pull identical to my Open gun.
I wasn't casting in those days but a swaged lead boolit of about .358 was pretty awesome in any S&W I owned, including the 14. I think you'll find your new K38 simply awesome, they truly were a Masterpiece.