I 'm wondering about .38 super reloading ?

I wanted a extra lower for a 1911 .22lr conversion and was going to build something but time/cost stopped that project. Then I bought one of them Taurus .38 supers from CDNN for the lower. The plan was to sell the upper to get some cash back.

After looking the gun over the reloader in me is pushing to try out the caliber ? What's the deal with this caliber is it something that a reloader should get in to ? I have plenty of other pistol calibers .
I need to find out if the barrel is .355 or .356 ? If the 9mm bullets will work all I need is brass and dies .

Please let me know your thoughts ......

Wow I figured someone here would have some to say good or bad about this cartridge? I may just wait on doing anything with it.

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You can look up load date & bullet diameter on line & in loading manuals. Commercially loaded, .38 Super is a hot round.
A bit under .357 Mag using a 124 grain bullet. Just what do you need to know other than that?

I need to try Taurus again about the barrel diameter. Is there a way to messier the diameter to see in it will accept. 355 bullets? Has anyone shot the smaller bullets though the bigger barrel? Is it hard on brass? What bullet weight is optimal ?
There are calibers that are must have calibers and some that have been replaced with more modern designs.
Just looking for opinions and I trust the ones from here.

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38 super is/was one of the most popular rounds in IPSC style shooting due to magazine capacity and how well it makes a compensator work. Due to it's semi-rimmed case it is prone to jamming more often. It never seemed to gain popularity outside of the competition arena so ammo is scarce and expensive.

And is why 38 Super Comp came out (a rimless 38 super).

It is my personal idea that for 38 super you can run .356 or.355 my Lyman book shows .356 on the diagram but they load .355 for load development. Also I run .356 in my 9x19. If I run cast bullets they are always oversized. I run hornady HAP 125 .356 and have amazing accuracy with 3.9 grain of titegroup. Reguardless of what Taurus says about the diameter work up a load cautiously.

Thanks for the replies . I did a search and didn't find any posts on this caliber. For that reason maybe should try some loading and post the results the heck of it ?

I had a Colt and although it was a great smooth gun that somebody had done a wonderfull trigger job on I really could never get it to shoot
better than barely ok . I tried all the normal reloading tricks, different powders,different bullets (and bullet size) .

Could be this particular gun had something going on but who knows.

I guess I am old fashioned but have come to the position that 1911s work just fine in 45acp and there is
no reason to look for another caliber

Been shooting a Super for years and reloading for it all that time also. The main problem has been bore diameter - very inconsistent from maker to maker. I have 3 of them and each one has a different bore diameter, but once I've slugged them and gotten the size figured out, loading has been pretty straightrforward and productive. Have 2 match barrels with a .355 barrel and a .3555 barrel - both of those shoot a 9mm bullet pretty well. A Colt factory 5" barrel mikes out to .3565 and I've had great luck with regular 38 spec bullets and my most accurate load for it has been with a hardcast 160 gr LRN sized at .357. Just finished putting together a nice little Commander Super and it seems to like that load also.

The super has been a dead-on reliable round in all of my guns - thousands of rounds fired without any jams or other problems in IPSC and IDPA shooting - the compensated gun is an absolute pussycat to shoot with major factor loads - just a little loud.

Give it a try - you just might find out that you like it............

Bird

Just be aware that a lot of data around for this caliber is for IPSC shooting in special custom race guns and some of it is very hot. Always start off on the low side and if the data listed says MAJOR it could well be too hot in your pistol. That said, I think it would be a neat caliber and have thought about getting a upper for my Witness Match pistol in that caliber. Good luck and have fun!

Your going to want to load for the Super if your going to keep it. My last box was close to 30 dollars for 50 rounds. But I use mine a bit and I enjoy it. Right now I'm using 4.0 Bullseye 130 grain FMJ.

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