Just saw a video called “.38 Shorts”

[imashooter2]

We all view the world through our own knot hole. Cheers!

[bedbugbilly]

As already pointed out, cutting down the casings = increased wall thickness = swaged bullet.

hat this person did was basically "re-invent" 38 Colt Short with a casing with increased wall thickness loaded to 9mm data. "Stupid is as stupid does" and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they are way overloaded.

I load and shoot both 38 Colt Short and Long out of a variety of revolvers - both .358 and .375 "heeled" (for cap and ball Navy caliber .36 cal with conversion cylinders). I oftrn shoot both the 38 Colt Short and Long out of "modern" revolvers - both 38s and 357s and they shoot very well for my needs.

Back to the 38 Colt Short - I use Starline brass with a 120 isn gr. boolit _ Lyman/Ideal 358-242. My load is 2.0 grains of Bulls Eye . It worked very well out of my S & W 3" Model 36 for taking care of critters on the farm.

Now for my 9mm Shield to cycle correctly with that same boolit, I need to use 3.7 gr. of Bulls Eye. Do the math . . . .

The 38 Colt Short was developed to be a black powder cartridge with a .375 heeled noolit to use in converted 1851/61 Colt Navies. I developed into a smokeless powder cartridge with a .358 boolit for 38s. It can be a fun and useful cartridge - but use common sense.

Unfortunately, there are too many fools with video cameras . . . .

[gwpercle]

Yes they did, 9mm Federal IIRC. It went out of fashion once people started using it in less than optimal .38 S&W revolvers.

If a person must trim .38 Special brass short, there are two cartridges that can be safely made. The .38 Short Colt and the .38 Long Colt. I would not use 9mm data.

Robert

38 Long Colt data is easy to find and would be better than 9mm Luger data .
Gary

[dtknowles]

I’m thinking it would be to short to cycle and lock up your carbine.

My buddy tried .38 long colt in his lever gun to increase the mag capacity, it was to short to cycle, shorter will not work better.

Tim

[dtknowles]

If expanding by about .008" is allowed, it can make .38 S&W and/or .38/200. I made a few .38/200s that way when I first had my Webley/Enfield, but soon bought proper Starline brass for it.

I too, used shortened .38 special brass for my first .38 S&W reloads. It worked but like you soon got some proper brass.
Tim

[dtknowles]

I just watched a video, of a fella working with .38 special cases. He had some that had split at the mouth. He cut the cases down, with that little HF chop saw, all of the 300 Blk guys know about. He used the Lee quick trim, for 9mm on them. Then he loaded them up using 9mm load data, and typical 9 mm cast boolits. Looked like PCd Lee 120 TC. Damned if he didn’t haz a 9mm revolver.
What do you guys think of that?

I am taking this as a reminder to be real careful with some of the stuff that makes it on other websites.
Tim

[dtknowles]

ICORE shooters have long used .38 short Colt brass for their competition loads. The shorter cartridges make for faster reloads and more reliable extraction...........

Just occurred to me if you wanted short brass for .38 special chamber you could size down .38 S&W, if you can't find .38 colt brass.

Tim