Iver Johnson 38

[Lakehouse2012]

Driving over to meet with a buddy and pick up my new 5 shot wheelgun. Who already has one and are you carrying it regularly?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[smkummer]

Remember many are chambered in the less common and less powerful 38 S&W which isn’t interchangeable with the much more common and popular 38 special.

[Outpost75]

There is nothing wrong with the .38 S&W cartridge. Prior to WW2 it was very popular as a defense and police round. I have several revolvers and a rook rifle in that caliber. My favorite is the Colt pictured, built in 1930 and the same model of revolver wielded by Jimmie Cagney in gangster movies of that era. I load 2.5 grains of Bullseye with the Accurate 36-155D bullet, which approximates the velocity of factory ammo and is appropriate for your H&R. Payload and velocity of factory .38 S&W loads approximate those of a .38 Special wadcutter.

216166216169

Velocity Data of Factory .38 S&W Loads vs. Cylinder Gap and Barrel length:

Firearm____________S&W 32-1_____Colt_______Ruger______W&S Mk4____S&W Victory___Rook Rifle
Barrel length__________2”___________4”_________4”________ __4”_________5”______________20”
Cyl. Gap_pass 0.004/hold 0.005____0.005/.006__.004/.005___.005/.006_____.008/.009_____Solid bbl.

Vintage Ammunition________________________________________ ____________________________
FN Mk2z__________577,8 Sd_____616, 10_____618,19 _____616, 10_____571,22_____Bullet Stuck in Rook Rifle Bbl!
Kynoch 146LRN____623,26 ______649, 31_____650,22______695, 7 _______685, 22____848, 7 prewar
WRA 146LRN (WW2)_659, 10______701, 13_____727, 5______702, 22______681, 14____787, 14
Rem-UMC 150 LFN__668, 22______768, 14_____765, 15______n/f_________754, 10____920, 14 WW2 Dogbone box

Modern Commercial Ammunition
Fiocchi 146 LRN_____706, 12______809, 21______820, 23_____794,14_____709, 24______985, 9
R-P 146 LRN________603, 14______674, 12______697,18_____668, 190____627,22______790,10
W-W 146 LRN_______586, 18______593, 36______662, 29____643, 15_____620, 19______801, 12

All Factory ammos:
Column Mean_______631_________687_________705_________686 ________664________855

Handloads with Accurate 36-155D
216168
6.3#2400___________696, 26_____n/f_________854, 32_______n/f________n/f_____1058, 23 +P Postwar revolvers only
2.5 Bullseye________629, 8_____727, 12______735, 16_______n/f______680, 25_____856, 22_ Fact.dup.load

[bob208]

nothing wrong with the .38 s&w if you can load it up a little as in colt police positive or a s&w victory. but to even consider carrying a old break top i.j. is fool hardy at best. the old break tops are week at best and the internals are small soft and prone to wear.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The British adopted a 200gr., 625ft./sec. for the .38 Enfield revolver which Webley designed and had pirated by the government's own factory. The army of 1914 had been an entirely volunteer one (if you except the occasional magistrate offering a firm alternative, and that was only enlisted men, mostly.) The logic was that in a future war, with conscripts or new recruits and complex training demands, the .38 was easier to use well, and was about as effective anyway. The last was surely an exaggeration, but it wasn't at all bad - at least until international law provoked a change to a jacketed 178gr.

Even nowadays the notion finds much support that no easily worn and used pistol guarantees expansion in soft tissues, unless it is so hollow as not to guarantee penetration. Numerous authorities, including Col. La Garde of the Chicago stockyard trials which led to the .45ACP, thought that the best chance of stopping power lay in breaking a major bone, preferably with a large, lead bullet, which was less likely to skid off than an FMJ one. Velocity was relatively unimportant. I believe one shot with the original British .38 round wouid have been superior to a FMJ Luger. What actually happened was a war with the Geneva-compliant version, in which international law was treated as more flexible than the less legislated among the Ten Commandments.

This picture shows 66 shots fired by government inspectors from 22 different "war finish" revolvers in 1942. But they were from Webley's own factory, and some though not all, of the Enfields, contracted out to firms unusused to firearm production, were quite dreadful.

216172

There are various Iver Johnson revolvers, ranging from the most basic of solid-frame models, though better quality than some, to break-open ones which were actually rather good. Here is one of my favourite drawings, which shows how it has Webley's extractor mechanism at the front, but the lockwork is a copy of the French 1873 ordnance revolver, designed by a Captain Delvigne, who was born in 1798. They have improved on it, though, by extending the mentonnet or chin-piece which raises the hammer in double action, to form a transfer bar which permits firing only when the trigger is pulled. Its worst feature, probably, is what I think is no more than Smith and Wesson's latch mechanism, in which the pin bears the load. Webley had long since turned to one in which the stress was born principally by mating inclined surfaces on the frame and inside a mortise in the topstrap.

216173

[Thumbcocker]

I love the fact that Webley put "war finish" on their revolvers. Lest some enemy capture on e and think that was the finish they normally put on their guns.

[rintinglen]

My FIL has an IJ solid frame 38 S&W that I load a box or so for every few years. It is his home defense gun and despite his 98 years. I would not care to stand in front of him whilst he was shooting. He was a Marine on Guadalcanal and spent 26 months overseas during WWII.

[Thin Man]

I started handloading in 1970 and already owned a S&W Terrier that came to me new-in-the-box. Factory ammo did little to impress me so I opened the pages of the only handloading manual I owned at that time, a Speer #8. The loading data in that manual told me I could go much faster with a 125 grain bullet, and we did. Looking back it was a good thing the Terrier was solid frame as those loads would have destroyed a hinged-frame revolver. I doubt those load charges would ever get published at this time. Now I am loading traditional ammo levels and enjoying them much more than those earlier hot-rod loads.

I had a close friend who worked in drug enforcement making "buys" and carried a Terrier as his only firearm. One night 3 guys drove up beside his car and opened up on him with a sawed-off shotgun. The shot went high and took the vinyl top off his car. My friend replied with his Terrier. One thug was killed outright, another was paralyzed for life (still had the use of his arms) and the last one only had the dirt scared out of him. All this was done with factory lead RN boolits. Shot placement makes all the difference. In it''s original configuration the 38 S&W cartridge can do as well as the shooter can ask for.