Tales From The Back Creek Diary
Revisiting
the .38 S&W in a Classic Colt “Cop Gun”
C.E. “Ed” Harris, Gerrardstown,
West Virginia
Ric Bowman’s experiments in Fouling Shot (FS236-9)
with his British Purchasing Commission S&W 1941 .38
Hand Ejector motivated me to experiment with a classic Colt revolver of the
same period. While well known for being chambered in small, break-open
pocket revolvers, the .38 S&W reached its Zenith
in the 1920s when Colt chambered its six-shot Police Positive and Banker’s
Special revolvers for the .38 Colt New Police. The Colt cartridge differs
from the S&W version in having a flat-, versus a
round-nosed bullet.
The I-frame S&W Regulation Police of the post
WW1-era was a compact 5-shot, built on the .32 Hand Ejector frame, whereas the
Colt Police Positive was dimensioned expressly for the .38 Colt New Police
cartridge and featured “six for sure.” The original Police Positive Colt
with 4” barrel weighed 20 ozs., empty, 23 ozs. when loaded with the more common 146-grain lead round-nosed
ammunition, and 23-1/2 ozs. loaded
with the later 200-grain Super Police. The Police Positive Special
had a longer frame, frame window and cylinder, and held six rounds of .38
Special or .32-20 ammunition.
Of the .38 S&W and Colt New Police, Hatcher wrote in
his Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers (1935):
“
their popularity is deserved, for they are accurate, well designed
cartridges, which have much greater stopping power than the .32 caliber…. The
standard load for the .38 S&W is a 146-grain
bullet with 2.3 grains of Bullseye… giving… about 730 fps with … about 170
foot-pounds….penetrating five 7/8” pine boards….The flat-pointed Colt New
Police bullet is superior to the round-nosed S&W
in stopping power and should always be used in preference to it.”
Elmer Keith wrote in Sixguns,
(1955) that the .38 S&W was “very accurate but… not
powerful enough for a certain man-stopper…must be placed fairly well...a pip
squeak…accuracy was … its only virtue..."
The .38 S&W “Super Police,” introduced by Western
Cartridge Company in 1929, featured a 200-grain, blunt, hemispherical-nosed,
soft lead bullet and 2.5 grains of Hercules Infallible (similar to Unique)
producing 610 fps and 166 ft.-lbs., penetrating four 7/8” pine
boards. The Super Police round is approximated by Lyman’s #358430 when
loaded with 2.5 grains of Alliant’s Unique. For those more historically
inclined, NOE offers molds producing a modern clone of the British Mk1 service
bullet.
After WW1 the British sought a lighter revolver than the .455 Webley MkVI. In 1932 they adopted the .380/200 Revolver Mk1
cartridge and Webley MkIV revolver, which produced
625 fps +/– 25 fps from a 5-inch
barrel at 13,000 psi, max. British Army thinking at the time was that
a slow, heavy .38 bullet would give up little in close range stopping power to
the .455 and would be easier for troops with minimal training to learn to shoot
accurately. In 1937 the lead-bullet Mk1 cartridge was replaced by the
178-grain FMJ MkII, to
comply with the 1899 Hague Declaration.
Remaining Mk1 cartridges were used for marksmanship training and
law enforcement purposes. The Mk2z remains in production where it
still serves with police organizations in India and Hong Kong.
WW2 combat use proved the FMJ Mk.2
bullet’s lethality was less than stellar. Combat users preferred
the 9mm GP Browning, M1911 pistol or older .455 revolvers if they could get
them. While the elongated, 178-grain FMJ
Mk2 bullet reliably tumbled in soft targets, its kinetic energy was only about
154 ft. lbs. The increased bore drag of its FMJ
bullet severely limited velocity potential, within its modest pressure
limitations, enforced by the many top-break revolvers still remained in use.
My experience in testing “India model” Ruger Service Six revolvers in the 1980s
proved that using tighter barrels, cylinder throats and controlling cylinder
gap gave a useful velocity increase with .38 S&W
factory ammunition, compared to typical British service revolvers having a
cylinder gap of 0.008” or larger, .360” cylinder throats and .358-.359 groove
diameter. My Colt Police Positive was made in 1930 and is the exact model
brandished by James Cagney in the 1931 Warner Brother’s gangster flick “The Public Enemy.” It
has a 0.005” cylinder gap, .359” cylinder throats and a typical tight Colt
barrel of .344” bore diameter and .354” groove diameter. These dimensions
are very close to those of French Model 9mm Service Six Rugers,
which were rechambered to .380/200 to produce the earliest guns of the India
order! So, I simply HAD to test my Colt see what it delivered for
velocity, compared to Rick’s S&W Lend-Lease gun.
Current ammunition catalogs of the US makers cite 685 fps for the .38 S&W 146-grain LRN at 150
ft.-lbs. Previous tests in which I fired .38 S&W
factory loads in my Ruger Service Six, 1960s-era Western 146-grain Lubaloy .38 S&W loads gave
727 fps with an extreme spread of only 12 fps and a standard deviation of 5 fps
over a 10-shot string. Recent production Winchester 146-grain un-plated LRN with W-W head stamp produced velocities gave close to
the catalog number, 662 fps with an extreme spread of 75 fps and a standard
deviation of 29 fps. Not having any of the Winchester ammo left to try in
the Colt, I found recent production Fiocchi 146 LRN on GunBroker. This ammo gave
impressive results in my Ruger, producing 809 fps, with a standard deviation of
21 fps, very little different than is expected firing standard pressure
158-grain lead round-nosed .38 Special in a revolver of similar barrel length!
Accurate 36-155D
Loads
In working up loads for my Colt I had best results with the Accurate
36-155D, which shoots to the sights and approximates the 790 fps velocity of Fiocchi factory ammo from the Colt with 2.7 grains of
Bullseye, using its 146-grain hollow-pointed version. My practice load
uses the same bullet in its original solid version, with 2.5 grains of Bullseye
giving 720 fps. The 36-155D is based on the profile of the 31-114D .32
revolver bullet, simply increasing diameters for the .38 Special.
Accurate
36-155D-Hollow Point
Erik Ohlen
converted two cavities of my mold to drop hollow-points weighing 146 grains in
1:40 tin/lead alloy, which expand in water jugs at about 800 fps from my 2-inch
Colt Detective Special in .38 Special. My reasoning is that the 4” .38
Colt New Police should approximate 2-inch, .38 Special snubby ballistics, and I have proven that it does,
but it is more accurate, easier to shoot well and 3 ozs.
lighter, a sturdy 20-oz. classic Colt cop gun from
1930.
I had Tom at Accurate cut molds for heavier bullets of correct diameter for the
.380/200 British, which should shoot to point of aim in Webley or S&W revolvers sights for Mk.1 or Mk2z ammunition.
These shoot somewhat high at 7
yards and 6-8” high at 26 yards from my Colt, but I worked up loads, so that Ric Bowman and others to whom I sent samples, would have
starting data for their British revolvers.
Accurate 36-178D is the same profile as 31-134D, with its
diameters increased to suit the .38 S&W
cartridge. My intent was that its 178-grain weight should shoot to the
sights of revolvers sighted for the British .380 Mk2 service round, but that
its blunt flat-nosed shape and more parallel-sided nose would encourage
straight-through penetration with good crush characteristics.
Accurate’s 36-201D is a heavy .38 S&W
or Special ogival wadcutter
having a simply huge 0.3” meplat, as large as the one
on my favorite 43-230G bullet I use in my .44s! Its long, slightly
tapered nose permits the bullet to be seated well out, to fit the cylinder
length of the .38 S&W, maximizing powder
capacity, yet still entering tight cylinder throats. Its .362 front
band is sized and tapered to .359 by my RCBS seater
die. It should offer outstanding penetration and crush characteristics,
even at low velocities.
Acuurate 37-125T
An afterthought was to try a lighter bullet with
similar blunt shape and large meplat. Accurate’s 37-125T is based upon its well proven 31-087T
bullet for the .32 ACP, simply increasing its
diameters to fit the 9x18mm Makarov PM pistol, then adding a slight 0.030 bevel
base. I ordered my mold to drop .360+ for the .38 S&W
instead of the usual .365 diameter needed for the Polish P64s, etc.
Benchmarking Fiocchi factory loads in my Colt, a
146-grain bullet needs 785 fps for 200 ft.-lbs. Using this parameter, and
having established that it is safely attainable, I calculated the velocity
needed with the various Accurate bullets to reach 200
ft.-lbs. The intent of my testing would be to determine charges required
with suitable powders to “get there,” and to determine where they hit in
relation to the Colt’s fixed sights. I
expected the fixed sights on the commercial Colt would be correct for 146-grain
bullets at velocities approximating factory ammunition and they were. The heavier bullets were tested in the Colt
only to develop safe charges as starting data for Ric
Bowman and others testing the British guns.
My target velocity for the Accurate 37-125T for 200-ft.-lbs. was 850 fps. This
was obtained in the Ruger with 2.7 grains of Bullseye, and gave 803 fps. in the Colt. Accuracy was OK, but not as good as
36-155D. While a slight increase in charge to 3 grains is probably safe in a
sturdy gun. I stopped there because the 146-grain HP version of 36-155D is most
accurate and its solid version is adequate for practice with lighter
charges. The 125T is included for
academic curiosity and for the benefit of those interested.
My target velocity range to match Fiocchi 146-grain
ammunition, with the 146-grain 36-155D-HP is 785-800 fps, and this was met
precisely with 2.7 grains of Bullseye, it shoots to the sights and is my most
accurate load. The same charge with the solid 36-155D gave 789 fps in the
Colt, and also breaks the 200-ft.-lbs. threshold, but for practice I am
reducing the charge to 2.5 grains, which agrees better with published loading
data and gave 720 fps with a velocity standard deviation of only 6 fps over 12
rounds!
The target velocity with Accurate 36-178D to reach 200-ft.-lbs. is 712
fps. This was approached closely with either 2.5 grains of Bullseye or
5.6 grains of Alliant #2400, giving 705 fps in the Colt and 748 in the
Ruger. Because they shot high in my Colt I did not experiment further,
leaving that task to Ric Bowman and Joe Gifford to
give them a try in their British revolvers which prefer heavier bullets.
The target velocity with Accurate 36-201D to reach 200 ft.-lbs. is 670 fps.
This was met handily using 5.6 grains of Alliant #2400, giving 710 fps in the
Colt with a velocity standard deviation of only 11 fps, and 769 fps in the
Ruger. The heavy bullet aids ignition and provides uniform velocities
with a clean burn using Federal 200 small pistol magnum primers. Ejection
was easy and the load is safe in my Colt, but it must not be exceeded or used
in top-break guns. Recoil was sharp and raised a blister on my thumb
firing the revolver with its tiny service stocks. A Tyler T-Grip to fit
the old Colt frame is on order! I think
that Col. Rex Applegate would have liked that load. Gee, I wonder how it would do with a
cavernous hollowpoint, reducing its weight to about
185 grains, when cast in 1:40 alloy? Stay tuned!
Back to the Back
Creek Diary Page – Ed Harris