Questions for .38 Super owners

[Yondering]

On 8/2/2019 at 8:03 PM, shabodah said:

I need more people on board to get 22 tcm barrels made. Any interest?

 

Yeah, I'm interested; I bet these guns would be great with the TCM.

 

Can you share any details? How many do you need to buy?

[shabodah]

Hadn't shot enough of it to really tune for it, as I was going back to 38 super two boxes after. It was just a 16#.

[FALAR]

18 hours ago, shabodah said:

Hadn't shot enough of it to really tune for it, as I was going back to 38 super two boxes after. It was just a 16#.

 

Yeah, I'm leaning towards 16 or 18.

 

I know most people here go light as possible for more of a competition feel but my concern is more long-term durability with hot loads.  The only factory .38 Super ammo I have (or will buy) is the Geco load that is supposed to be 124 gr @ 1411fps.  Other than that I'll throw in some 9x23 and when I get set up for it some handloads in starline brass that are at or above 9x23 levels.

 

I know the harsher springs can prematurely wear the gun too (closing "hard" wearing lugs/slide stop) and ejection can't really be a good judge since large frame guns have a "universal" ejector that is longer than it should be for the full length cases like .38 Super, 10mm, and .45 ACP.

[FALAR]

And now I come full circle.......they are off to PD for the works!

 

Goodbye for now.......

 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by FALAR

[RGC]

On 10/27/2019 at 7:18 PM, FALAR said:

And now I come full circle.......they are off to PD for the works!

 

Goodbye for now.......

 

 

 

 

How did these end up turning out?  I am considering a Limited 38 Super and tuning the extractor to fire off 38 Super comp.  Its the only round I reload, and have a lot of components.  Also was thinking it would be a good defense pistol as I am sitting on thousands of 38 SC anyway.....not a lot of info on that thought though...

[FALAR]

So far I've only used factory .38 Super ammo, specifically the GECO 124 gr @1411 FPS load.

 

They will chamber a 9mm but I haven't attempted to fire any 9mm rounds nor anything utilizing SC brass.  When I had them tuned by PD they did install extra strength extractor springs.

[FALAR]

Has anyone ever experienced rimlock with a Tanfolgio in .38 Super?

 

I haven't yet, nor have I started loading my own yet but I'm kind of torn on sticking with what's working or buying SC brass.

[zombywoof]

I'm shooting a Gold Custom V8 in 38 super. I'm in a ban state and only load 10 rounds. I don't have any problems with mixed supers. With the round limit I might not see a problem.

[kneelingatlas]

33 minutes ago, FALAR said:

Has anyone ever experienced rimlock with a Tanfolgio in .38 Super?

 

I haven't yet, nor have I started loading my own yet but I'm kind of torn on sticking with what's working or buying SC brass.

 

It shouldn't be a problem shooting 38SC in a 38Super Gold Team; I've shot a 9mm barrel in a .40 slide without issue

[FF112173]

So if I am reading this thread correctly, some of you are running both 38sc and/or 9mm through your 38sa? I just got my hands on two Gold Team’s and I’m finding these options very interesting with ammunition the way it is currently. 

[MikeBurgess]

On 3/13/2021 at 6:05 AM, FF112173 said:

So if I am reading this thread correctly, some of you are running both 38sc and/or 9mm through your 38sa? I just got my hands on two Gold Team’s and I’m finding these options very interesting with ammunition the way it is currently. 

I would do some testing with your gun and mags before I bought a pile of anything. on my Gold Team I had issues with 9mm rounds getting in front of the extractor and not firing or ejecting when racked, but on my non competition 38, 9 minor ran fine.  So its not 100% with every combination of guns barrels slides and magazines. 

 

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

I have a bunch of 38 Super Comp ammo from my open days and sold the gun a few years ago.  I'm not looking to getting back into open and there is a Stock 2 in 38 Super a few hours away.  I'm thinking about picking it up so that I can shoot what I have loaded.  When I was finished shooting what I have loaded, would I be able to change a barrel and mags and shoot 9x19 through it?  I've never even looked at the Tanfoglio, but it seems like it might be the most economical route to shoot up my 38 super comp ammo

[zombywoof]

9 hours ago, Jeremyc_1999 said:

I have a bunch of 38 Super Comp ammo from my open days and sold the gun a few years ago.  I'm not looking to getting back into open and there is a Stock 2 in 38 Super a few hours away.  I'm thinking about picking it up so that I can shoot what I have loaded.  When I was finished shooting what I have loaded, would I be able to change a barrel and mags and shoot 9x19 through it?  I've never even looked at the Tanfoglio, but it seems like it might be the most economical route to shoot up my 38 super comp ammo

Is your ammo in a major power factor? Not sure the S2 in it's stock configuration is meant to take major ammo.

 

A barrel switch should be easy. I can tell you I ran 9mm in my S2 with 38 super mags with no problem.

[Jeremyc_1999]

7 hours ago, zombywoof said:

Is your ammo in a major power factor? Not sure the S2 in it's stock configuration is meant to take major ammo.

 

A barrel switch should be easy. I can tell you I ran 9mm in my S2 with 38 super mags with no problem.

It is major power factor. I guess I had better check that out. Any idea where I might be able to find out? I’ve loaded 10.8 grains of accurate #7 with a Winchester small rifle primer and a 115gr Montana gold jhp 

[BeerBaron]

I personally wouldn’t be that keen on running major (~170pf) ammo out of a 38 super stock 2 or stock 3 but if you read above there’s a guy shooting a 38 super stock 3 and limited custom and he’s using geco factory 38 super. He says it’s the 124gn advertised at 1411fps stuff which is 175pf. If it’s the geco ‘ipsc spec’ ammo it’s about 10.5gn of 3n38 with a 124gn fmj. He hasn’t reported any issues.......

 

yes you can buy a new 9mm barrel and people also have varied success just shooting 9mm out of the 38 super top end without any changes. 

[FALAR]

14 hours ago, BeerBaron said:

I personally wouldn’t be that keen on running major (~170pf) ammo out of a 38 super stock 2 or stock 3 but if you read above there’s a guy shooting a 38 super stock 3 and limited custom and he’s using geco factory 38 super. He says it’s the 124gn advertised at 1411fps stuff which is 175pf. If it’s the geco ‘ipsc spec’ ammo it’s about 10.5gn of 3n38 with a 124gn fmj. He hasn’t reported any issues.......

 

yes you can buy a new 9mm barrel and people also have varied success just shooting 9mm out of the 38 super top end without any changes. 

 

Why?  So guns that are built to handle 10mm and .45 ACP can't handle full power .38 Super loads?

 

If you're just going to run the weak 9mm level .38 Super factory loads just get a 9mm.

[BeerBaron]

On 4/15/2021 at 2:52 AM, FALAR said:

 

Why?  So guns that are built to handle 10mm and .45 ACP can't handle full power .38 Super loads?

 

If you're just going to run the weak 9mm level .38 Super factory loads just get a 9mm.

 

You seem to be answering a point that I didn’t make... I didn’t say that the gun ‘can’t handle’ ‘full power 38 loads’. I said I wouldn’t be that keen on running 170+pf loads out of a 38 super stock 2 or stock 3. 

 

He (and I) are talking about ammo loaded with slow burning powder and relatively light bullets for the purpose of making lots of gas to work effectively in a ported + compensated barrel. In a normal barrel without ports and comp it’s just going to be fairly unpleasant to shoot. I don’t think the gun will have any mechanical problems with it and I have no idea if it would effect wear on the gun. It just wouldn’t by my preference, it’ll have a fair chunk of recoil and pressure will be pretty spicy too.