.38 S&W. Balloon Heads, Headstamps and Black Powder

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Long story short, I've recently picked up a few boxes of .38 S&W ammo at various gunshows, and the "old stuff" shelf at some gunshops.

 

I would not call this "collector" ammo, but perhaps "vintage" is a good word for it. It is in older boxes, but the reason I actually purchased it is that they were all less money than a box of new ammo in this caliber. My thinking was, we'll, I'll get some ammo to shoot, and then cases to reload, and cool boxes to keep it in.

 

But, it's a lot more interessting than that.

 

First of all, about half the stuff is headstamed "Colt New Police," which is just an alternate name for the cartrige. I thought that was pretty cool, as you don't see much of it these days, and I'm thinking that if I wanted to, I could use this differntly marked stuff for a heavier load for use in my Webley revolver. An interesting idea, that may or may not come to pass.

 

Anyway, due to various circumstnaces, I could not go to the shoot I wanted to go to today, so I decided to shoot off some of this ammo, as I was gonna use it at the shoot today.

 

Picked up one of the old boxes, loaded up 6 rounds in my Uberti made '58 Remmie replica with Krist Konverter, and was quite shocked to discover that THIS particular box of ammo was loaded with black powder! Even in this tiny little cartrige, the black stuff makes a big boom, and throws out a lot of smoke. Now, this was simply some informal shooting in my basement, and I quickly realized that I could not keep shooting black powder loads indoors. Fortunately, all of the other ammo was loaded with smokeless, so I could take off a few more shots.

 

Smokeless Box 1. No problems.

Smokeless plastic bag of about 30 cartridges. 6 failures to fire.

Smokeless Box 2. 2 Failures to fire, but they did go off second time around

Smokeless Box 3. 5 Failures to fire, that did not go off second time around.

A few of my reloads: All worked fine, comfimring that there was nothing wrong with my gun.

 

After all of that, I decided to just break down all of this stuff and reload it. (Except for the BP stuff. I'll hold onto that for fun)

 

But, what I also discovered was that about half this stuff, mostly the ones marked Colt NP, are balloon head cases. This adds more fuel to my speculation of useing it for some hotter loads for the Webley.

 

Anywhoo... All of this was interesting to me, and I thought some folks here might find it interesting to read about.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Addendum: Out of the approximately 250 cases, exactly 75 are balloon head type. Only 3 were marked .38S&W. The rest are Colt NP.

 

Interestingly I also had about a dozen Colt NP of the solid head type.

 

Tip: After tumbling said brass to clean, you need to inspect the balloon head stuff to make sure no tumbler debris is lodged in the balloon area. If there is, you need to pick it out with a tiny screwdriver or other device. Very time comsuming!

 

You know, in this particular caliber, I don't think the balloon head case is gonna allow for all that much more powder. At least not more Trail Boss. If I really want to make a hotter load that more resembles .38/200 balistics, I may have to use something else.

 

We shall see...

[Jackson Rose, SASS #45478]

I wouldn't use a balloon head case to make a "hotter" round, there is a reason they invented solid head cases. I wouldn't use balloon head cases to reload at all.

[Ranger Sgt. Jake McCandless #3368]

Just my advise,take it or leave it.

The only loads that go in any of my balloon head 38 S&W cases,that are in good condition is black powder. All smokeless loads go in solid head,modern cases. YMMV Adios Sgt. Jake

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Yeah, since I started all of this, I've done a little research on the suitabilty of balloon head cases for reloading. The more I read, the more convinced I am that they are not a way to stuff more powder in to make a stouter load. If I reuse them for anything, it'll remain the low power stuff I do with the round. Interestingly enough, all of this was factory loaded ammo, and it was all smokless. (aside from those 6 BP's I did. I don't know if they were balloon head or not) If the factory can load with smokeless, I figure I can too, but it won't be for anything special.

 

If I ever do try to recreate some .38/200s, I'll use the solid head stuff.