Author Topic: Heel based bullets in a rifle?  (Read 1154 times)

Offline SPJ

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Heel based bullets in a rifle?
« on: November 07, 2019, 04:27:33 AM »
Are there any lever action reproductions that I can safely use heel based 38 Long Colt ammo in? I would like to assume I could safely use it in any gun chambered for 38 special/357 magnum, as long as I use soft lead bullets. But I'm not sure, and would like to know if anyone else has tried.

Offline Coffinmaker

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Re: Heel based bullets in a rifle?
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2019, 09:38:40 AM »

Maybe.  Maybe not.  First problem is finding a rifle that will cycle with the shorter round.  Next problem is the bullet.  Modern chambered 38 Long Colt is loaded with .358 bullets.  Those bullets run as normal in anything chambered in 38/357.

Heel Base 38 Long Colt bullets will nominally be .380 or .381.  Perhaps .378 or some such.  Even with dead soft lead, that much of an oversize may well act as a Barrel Obstruction and cause nasty things to happen.

I don't actually know or know of anyone who has tried it.  I can't recommend it.

And then we come to the key question ..... WHY??  Stuffing a .380 bullet into a 357 Bore makes absolutely no sense.  No real practical reason to do it.

 

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