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The
last of the slopeshouldered trio ------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents *
How I got started with the 38-40 ------------------------------------------------------------------ How
I got started with the 38-40 I
never really intended to buy a 38-40. The
38-40 (38WCF) was born in the late 1870's a few years after the 44-40 and a few
years before the 32-20. It was
chambered, along with the others, in the Winchester 1873 lever action rifle.
The Colt SAA followed shortly afterward.
The 38-40 does not have near the following of the 44-40.
It is similar to the relationship between the 41 Magnum and the 44
Magnum. The two are not a whole lot
different, but the larger one is a lot more popular. The
38-40 is simply a 44-40 necked down 0.026"/0.027".
No one knows for sure why it was created, but there are a lot of other
nearly identical cartridges being produced.
There is some disagreement about the original load for the 38-40.
Some people think it was originally loaded with 38gr of BP making it a
40-38. Others think it was loaded
with 40gr of BP making it a 40-40 (both of these being in the old balloon head
cases). Regardless, everyone agrees
that it actually uses a 40 caliber bullet rather than 38 caliber. Again, nobody seems to know for sure why it was called a .38. One
of the claims to fame for the 38-40 is that the Colt SAA's that John Wayne owned
and carried through many of his cowboy movies were in 38-40 caliber.
Another claim is that America is rediscovering the 38-40 -- in the form
of the 40S&W cartridge. The
40S&W launches the same diameter and weight bullet at the same speed as the
38-40 did over 100 years ago (at least in its original loading).
Good things don't change. In
fact, some 40S&W/10mm bullets can be loaded into the 38-40 case.
The trick is finding ones with a cannelure.
That is pretty rare, but I have run across a few. Like
I said, I was not planning to buy a 38-40.
After all, what could it do that the 32-20 and 44-40 (which I do shoot)
couldn't do just as well, if not better. Another
reason that I did not get a 38-40 sooner is that they are collectors items --
real collectors items. There are
probably only about 1/10 the number of original 38-40's that there are in 44-40.
I could afford the bad looking ones, but did not want to own them. The really nice ones cost more than I was willing to pay.
Although I knew that the clone manufacturers had been producing small
quantities of 38-40 handguns for the last few years, I had not seen any.
My guess is that in clones, there are only 1/100 the number of 38-40's
when compared with 44-40's. A while
back, I came across a Uberti Bisley-clone in 38-40 on a gunshow table.
It was NIB and very reasonably priced.
I can withstand anything except temptation and a good deal.
I bought it. I
was a little wary of the Uberti after my bad experience with a Ruger Vaquero in
44-40. However, it turned out that
the Uberti was no problem at all. The
bore, throats, and chambers are all correctly sized and factory ammunition drops
in and out by gravity alone. More
importantly, it is accurate. I was
a little wary of the grip, too. I
had never shot a Colt-type Bisley before. Compared
to the SAA grip, the Bisley looks downright ugly.
After shooting it, though, I found that for one or two handed,
arms-length, single-action slow-fire, it is actually better than the SAA grip.
All in all, it was not a bad way to get introduced to the 38-40.
Maybe I was just lucky for a change. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reloading
the 38-40 After
I shot my first box of Winchester factory ammo (BTW, that stuff is expensive --
even more expensive than 44-40 ammo), I realized that I had a potential problem.
How was I going to keep my 44-40 cases and 38-40 cases separated without
reading each and every headstamp? With
my eyes nowadays, that is not easy to do. I
already had 600 brass 44-40 cases on hand so I started looking for nickel plated
38-40 brass. That was about as hard
as finding the gun. I found that
Starline produced a short run of nickel plated 38-40 brass a while back, but
does not regularly stock it. I sent
out a lot of e-mails and finally found a guy who still had some on his shelf.
I bought 500 of them. I can
now tell at a glance if the empties are 38-40's or 44-40's.
These cases have thicker walls than my 44-40 cases, and a LOT thicker
walls than my 32-20 cases. I would
say that loading this 38-40 with these cases is just about as easy as loading a
modern, straight-case cartridge. However,
the techniques I use for the harder-to-load 32-20 work great here, too <
guests/32wcf.htm >. Handloading
for the 38-40 IS a breeze. I think
that this is because the nickel plated cases are thicker and stronger than
Winchester brass and there is only ONE bullet size to use instead of the huge
range of sizes used for the 44-40. There
are many recommendations for the type of powder and amounts to use in magazines
and reloading books. I will not try
to repeat them all here. You can
start with Doc Smith's 38-40 page http://www.reloadammo.com/3840.htm
.
I also highly recommend the "Pet Loads" book by Ken Waters, a reprint
of his magazine articles for Handloader magazine.
It is not cheap, but it is worth every penny. I
started out with Lee 38-40 dies. There
were no problems with sizing the case, neck expanding, or crimping.
The reloads made with them worked great.
A short while after I started loading for this caliber I just happened to
be driving through Valentine Nebraska (check the map) and "Lock, Stock, and
Barrel" just happened to be open. The
owner invited me to look around the warehouse and I found that he had Redding
dies in all my Cowboy calibers right there on the shelf.
I really like Redding dies even though they are more expensive than most
other dies, but they are usually on back order when I try to buy them (at least
in the calibers I shoot). They just
feel right. I bought one in each
caliber and started loading with the Redding dies.
I would like to say that this made a tremendous difference, but it
didn't. Both sets of dies turned
out equally good reloads. And
regardless of the dies I use to load the cartridge, I use a Lee 38-40 Factory
Crimp die to finish it off. I still
like Redding dies, though. I
bought some swaged (dead-soft) Hornady 180gr 0.400"OD truncated cone
bullets. For some reason they are
not labeled as 38-40 bullets. They
have the trendy "10mm" label on them instead.
However, other than the size, the bullets are identical to the ones I use
for my 44-40. The bullets do not
have conventional lube grooves. They
have a knurled appearance and are dusted with a light coating of a dry white
lube. Luckily, the bore of the
Uberti was smooth enough so that I did not have to add additional Alox lube like
I had to for the 44-40 Ruger. Remember
to crimp. The Lee Factory Crimp die
works great for this. I loaded them
up with 7.5gr of Unique and got close to 900fps out of the gun.
Since this is my newest caliber, I have not experimented much from there.
Unique works extremely well in both the 38-40 and 44-40 handguns. I
used black powder in a .45LC Hy-Hunter SAA clone over 30 years ago.
Because of that, I have pretty much stayed away from BP since then.
However, I recently started using BP in a .41 Long Colt revolver <
guests/41longcolt.htm >. Things have changed for the better. It is still just as dirty as ever, but it is easier to clean,
more consistent, and even smells better. I
will undoubtedly try BP in my 44-40's and 38-40 soon.
I
realize that this lack of problems may not be the same with everyone.
I have talked with, and read about, a few people who have had bad
tolerances in original 38-40's. At
least some have barrels larger than the cylinder throats.
I found out from my 44-40 Ruger that this combination is death for
accuracy. If you have a problem
like that, how the Ruger was fixed may interest you <
guests/4440.htm >.
I sometimes wonder if the people with this problem in 38-40 actually have
41 Long Colt barrel on their gun. It
seems that the Colt factory sometimes may have made both the 41LC and the 38-40
with whatever barrel they had on hand at times (maybe poor workmanship is not a
new thing). They were not the same bore, though. The 41LC had bigger groove size at about
0.406"/0.408"OD. The
38-40 was 0.400"/0.401"OD. A
38-40 barrel on a 41LC will work just fine, but a 41LC barrel on a 38-40 will
give poor accuracy. It does seem
that the new Uberti's are made with the correct dimensions, though.
I cannot vouch for other manufacturers, but i have heard that the new
38-40 Ruger has questionable dimensions.
I
am currently looking for a 38-40 rifle. I
hope that Marlin will get around to making a short run of them like they did the
44-40. One
caution: I would imagine that I
will have to find bullets that have a crimping groove in order to use them in a
rifle. I have to with the 44-40 and
Lyman/Ideal 427098 bullets or the bullets will press down into the cases.
Not good. The classic
Lyman/Ideal 401043 (for the 38-40) is a scaled down version of the 427098 (for
the 44-40) with a couple of lube grooves, but no crimping groove.
The original Lyman bullet depended on a compressed load of black powder
to keep the bullet from pushing down into the case.
No smokeless powder fills the 38-40 case enough to do this.
I notice that the new Hornady Cowboy Action bullet molds have only have
one lube groove (although it is wider than the earlier bullet), but there is a
narrow crimping groove. That should
work better in lever actions. For
the time being, though, the bullets are no problem in a handgun. I
realize that this is not much of a gun or a caliber test.
There were no problems for me to overcome or little known tricks to pass
on. It just came too easy.
With the ease of loading, accuracy, and lack of problems with this gun,
the 38-40 might just become one of my new favorites. Unfortunately,
I sacrificed this particular gun. After
shooting a few bulk boxes of Hornady 10mm bullets, I sent it to a gunsmith
(without the cylinder) to have a .357 Magnum cylinder fitted and then bored out
for the 41 Long Colt cartridge. I
am also looking for another handgun in 38-40 now.
I hope I am as lucky with the next one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Harry O at lowen@phonet.com
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