I just received back from John Taylor the .38 S&W barrel fitted to my pre-war H&R .44/.410 shotgun frame. Barrel is 20" long, and 0.70" diameter at the muzzle. Overall length of gun is 34-1/2" and it weighs 4-1/2 pounds. Barrel is a Green Mountain 9mm Parabellum blank in 1:10" twist, because I wanted to stabilize the 36-190T bullet at the lowest velocity which would reliably exit the barrel. Chamber reamer which John now has is a custom from Dave Manson which has a .363 major diameter to the forcing cone and 3 degrees, Basic throat with no cylindrical ball seat.
Photo of breech seated 36-190T bullet shows engraving on forepart of bullet as breech is closed.
When seated and crimped in the crimp groove nose will still be engraved, but not as forcefully.
The .38 S&W cartridge is an ideal choice for use in old blackpowder actions as the factory rounds don't exceed 14,000 psi, and unlike .38 Special, there are no +Ps to worry about accidentally getting into the rifle. I haven't had a chance to shoot this yet, as it just arrived today, but I will be testing a variety of factory .38 S&W loads in this rifle, as well as my S&W Victory Model with 5" barrel and S&W Model 32-1 with 2" barrel. I will also work up handloads in the Ruger India Model with 4" barrel and try those in the rifle when the weather gets warmer.
Objective is NOT to see how much velocity I can get, but to see how low and slow I can get with the 190-grain bullet for minimum noise. My reasoning is that an ordinary revolver load which gets 600 fps. should exit the rifle barrel, but with the tiny powder charge and 20 inch barrel, velocity gain should be modest and muzzle exit pressure very low. I don't expect rifle velocities with standard-pressure 190-grain loads to exceed 750 fps. A mild "Lettuce Defender" which won't disturb the neighbors.
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Originally Posted by Outpost75
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