627x8 Cylinder Swap

[michaels]

Has anybody tried to swap cylinders on their 627x8's?

I was thinking that maybe the 38 super cylinder would slide in place of the 38/357mag cylinder...then you would be able to use 9mm's in the 38 super cylinder in you wanted to...

Right now in my 627x8 38/357 gun, I run the 38 colt short case with 2.8 grains of TG pushing bullets ranging from 95 grain (380) rn up to 158 grain rn. I have it at 126-130 pf, but the price of brass is a little high and sometimes scarce. Since the 9mm is almost the same size as the 38 colt short, that would be easier to work with.

I sometimes play in the other game of shoot & hide (IDPA) and use a s&w m19 4in with the short colts in the Safariland Comp 3 loaders, somebody picked up my brass once and said it's not legal, saying that it had to be 38 special not 38 colt short...so now I had to cut down a bunch of Federal 357 mag cases to the same length to use for the next time I get called for illegal ammo...but being able to swap cylinders would be a workaround to the problem.

mike sousa

[hearthco]

Has anybody tried to swap cylinders on their 627x8's?

I was thinking that maybe the 38 super cylinder would slide in place of the 38/357mag cylinder...then you would be able to use 9mm's in the 38 super cylinder in you wanted to...

Right now in my 627x8 38/357 gun, I run the 38 colt short case with 2.8 grains of TG pushing bullets ranging from 95 grain (380) rn up to 158 grain rn. I have it at 126-130 pf, but the price of brass is a little high and sometimes scarce. Since the 9mm is almost the same size as the 38 colt short, that would be easier to work with.

I sometimes play in the other game of shoot & hide (IDPA) and use a s&w m19 4in with the short colts in the Safariland Comp 3 loaders, somebody picked up my brass once and said it's not legal, saying that it had to be 38 special not 38 colt short...so now I had to cut down a bunch of Federal 357 mag cases to the same length to use for the next time I get called for illegal ammo...but being able to swap cylinders would be a workaround to the problem.

mike sousa

Mike,

If I remember correctly the super cylinder is shorter then the special cylinder. Big barrel to cylinder gap. Dave

[festus1]

Mike, You just have to remember to dump all of your short colt brass in your pockets!!

Where do you find load data for your short colts?

Chris

[DougCarden]

Chris, you can use 9x19 data, but be VERY careful with fast powders and 158gr bullets....Several people have blown up cylinders with those loads...No, not me... Short colt is very prone to case swelling and sticky extraction, so begin with starting loads and work up slowly. Your best accuracy will be with 147gr type loads with .356-.357 projectiles. Good luck, DougC

[festus1]

Thanks Doug. When I get my 627 back from Randy Lee I am going to try out both short and long colts. Thanks, Chris

Mike, I rechecked the IDPA rulebook and it states the SSR must use .38 cliber and larger ammo - so .38 short colt would be legal as long as it made PF.

Edited February 4, 2006 by festus1

[hearthco]

I have used SColts in my 627(38 spec)with great success. 3.2gr of Bullseye with Berrys 151 grain super bullet. In fact Minor pf was made with the SC-151 grain BB with less powder then my standard 38 spec load of Bullseye under the 158 grain JRN. I didnt like the accuracy of that SC load beyond 20 yards. Load them long. Dave

[R112mercer]

After some experimentation with Short Colt brass I was able to get Rainier's 158 gr. Plated Round Nose to group well (under 2") at 25 yards. I load to 1.10" with a tight crimp over 3.0 gr. of W231. Like Doug said, be careful, I had some of the cases stick in the chambers with some of the loads I tried along the way.