38 Colt conversion cylinder for 1851

[BartSr]

BartSr,

I have the 38 Special listed at .440" Rim Diameter, .379" Base Diameter, .379" Neck Diameter, 1.155" Length.
38 Long Colt listed at .440" Rim Diameter, .3789" Base Diameter, .378" Neck Diameter, 1.035" Length.
38 Short Colt listed at .440" Rim Diameter, .379" Base Diameter, .379" Neck Diameter, .765" Length.
38 Long & Short Colt could be made by trimming either 38 Spl. or .357 Mag cases.
You would need to use either a heeled base bullet, or a hollow base to expand & fill the grooves.

Thanks, those specs are what I needed to see, and the fact that that pile of .38 brass will not go to waste.

[Hawg]

You can probably use the .38 special brass as is. Here's more info on loading heels. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=41633.0 

[ssb73q]

You can probably use the .38 special brass as is. Here's more info on loading heels. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=41633.0

Hi Hawg, .38 Special brass used in a 1851 38 Colt/ 38 Special Howell conversion cylinder can only use hollow based bullets. Heeled bullets will only fit in 38 Short Colt brass, 38 Long Colt brass is also too long for heeled bullets in the Howell conversion cylinder.

Wana buy some 38 Long Colt brass? 

Regards,
Richard

[Hawg]

You can probably use the .38 special brass as is. Here's more info on loading heels. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=41633.0

Hi Hawg, .38 Special brass used in a 1851 38 Colt/ 38 Special Howell conversion cylinder can only use hollow based bullets. Heeled bullets will only fit in 38 Short Colt brass, 38 Long Colt brass is also too long for heeled bullets in the Howell conversion cylinder.

Wana buy some 38 Long Colt brass? 

Regards,

Richard

That's good to know. Nah, don't even have a .38 anymore.

[ssb73q]

Hi, a little update on ammo for the 1851 .36 with conversion cylinder. After reloading 350 rds of Speer 148gr 358" HBWC bullets, I returned to Midway and found out that the Speer bullet was out of stock. I left an email when back in stock request. Wanting to make sure I had some more hollow based wadcutter bullets available, I ordered 500 Magnus HBWC, see:
http://magnusbullets.com/store/page11.html

When the Magnus bullets arrived, I loaded up 200, but have yet to test them.

Since then I went back to Midway to find that they have the Speer HBWC now listed as discontinued. I don't know if it's just Midway or Speer that has discontinued them.

A little searching found some Speer wadcutters in stock at Impact guns, see:
http://www.impactguns.com/speer-handgun-bullets-lead-38-caliber-358-148-gr-hollow-base-wadcutter-500box-076683046185.aspx

I ordered 500 more Speer.

Important to the functioning of the .358 HBWC bullet in the 0.36" 1851 bore is the depth of the hollow base, the deeper the better. I measured the depth of different .357 HBWC bullets:

Speer = 0.34"
Magnus = 0.315"
Sellier and Bellot = 0.309"

Overall HBWC bullet length = ~0.64"

Regards,
Richard

Hi, finally got to test the accuracy of the Magnus hollow bassed bullets using a Howell 38 Colt (38 Special) conversion cylinder and 36 caliber Pietta 1851 Navy. This revolver with cap and ball is extreamly accurate all the way to 50yds. Previous testing of the Speer HBWC produced 3.5" groups at 25yds.

My son-in-law is a new shooter and I took him out to shoot with me. The 1851 Navy with conversion cylinder is a very user friendly firearm to break in new shooters. The 1851 is very accurate, low recoil, and when using conversion cylinders doesn't cap suck. During our shooting I again tested both the Speer and Magnus bullet loads. The Speer produced ~<4" groups at 25yds, The Magnus 2.5". This was a bit of a surprise to me since the hollow base of the Speer is longer than the Magnus bullet. I would have expected the Speer to fill the rifling better than the Magnus. For whatever reason, the Magnus is the more accurate bullet. This is good to know since Speer stopped production of their HBWC .358" bullet. The Magnus is still in production.

BTW, my son-in-law had a blast. He is hooked and will begin working towards his pistol permit.

Regards,
Richard

Hi, well it took over a year for me to accuracy test the 38 Special Sellier & Bellot HBWC bullets using my Pietta 1851 Navy with the Howell .38 Colt/38 Special conversion cylinder. Accuracy was typical of my Speer handloads, ~7" groups @50 yds using a two hand hold.

Bottom line is if someone is interested in using their .36 1851 with a conversion cylinder and doesn't handload, the Sellier & Bellot 148gr Wad Cutter is a good choice.

Regards,
Richard