Some of us are easily amused...
by Paul 
, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 08:28 (10 days ago)
I'll be stateside for a few weeks. Yesterday I managed to find some time to use some brass Mic sent me. Only needed a box or so, have enough for a lifetime supply of Saturday Night Special loads... got a box worth loaded yesterday. These dinky little cases are entertaining, sort of. 75 gr RNF over a pinch of HP-38. Need to get busy and load more practical stuff.
![[image]](images/uploaded/202605271326046a16f0ec70209.jpg)
.32 S&W Short?
Those sure are cute.
Otony
.32 S&W Short?
by Paul , Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 20:46 (9 days ago) @ Otony
Yes indeed. Working with original 32 S&W beats trimming down 32 S&WL brass or using 32 ACP for mock 32 short loads. 
Now to find time to try them out for function.
I have a BUNCH of .38 Short Colt brass….
….and if you compare it to 9mm brass, the length and diameter is very, very similar.
I forget which speed shooting game it is used in, but those fellows are loading the cases with 125 grain cast bullets and a powder charge that basically gives stiff 9mm velocities. They get excellent, positive extraction because the cases are so short, and plenty of power to meet their requirements.
I don’t do anything so extreme with mine. I use powder coated, cast slugs, again 125 grain, and mild charges. Mine are reserved for use in a Uberti 1851 cartridge conversion, which keeps any nuclear .38 Special rounds away from that open top design,
But I have been thinking some stiffer loads in the same brass would be perfect for use in J-frame snubbies, to insure positive extraction with the stubby ejection rod
I have a BUNCH of .38 Short Colt brass….
by Bob Hatfield 
, Wednesday, June 03, 2026, 06:32 (3 days ago) @ Otony
I have a 51 conversion also and tried the 38 short brass with the 140-grain heeled bullet from Bear creek. I used the Old West heel crimping tool. Using bullseye. (cannot remember the load).
It was a disaster with smokeless. Must not have been enough backpressure from the little crimp on the heeled bullet to burn the bullseye.
They exited but went "Plop". Sounded like a silenced 9mm. With as much 3f Swiss as I could get under that bullet it had a good loud bang. It's just they splattered all over the target.
I then used hollow based wadcutters loaded with about 3/16 inch out past the end of a 38 special case with 3.5 grains of bullseye and they were very accurate and chronographed about 750fps.
I now have some 38 long colt cases I will experiment with using that heeled bullet again.
I have a BUNCH of .38 Short Colt brass….
I can see where some of those loads didn’t work out so well, because I’m assuming your Navy had the original barrel on it, which of course would be a larger bore than modern 38/357 revolvers. Those heeled bullets must have been a real pain to deal with!
In my case, the Navy was originally built as a cartridge gun by Uberti, not converted. So it has a bore sized such that I can use common 38/357 cast bullets. Your solution of using the hollow base bullets sounds great, although honestly it is a bit of a surprise that they expanded enough to work.
So much of this stuff is simply (NOT!) a matter of patience, plus educated trial and error. I guess I cheated by buying a Navy that I knew had modern bore dimensions, lol!
I have a BUNCH of .38 Short Colt brass….
by Bob Hatfield , Thursday, June 04, 2026, 08:15 (2 days ago) @ Otony
Yes, I installed the Kirst cylinder in a Pietta Navy about 5 years ago. The "Everything Black Powder" guy on YouTube uses 357 brass and hollow based wadcutters in his Navy conversion with the .375-inch barrel but he must use a different brand of cylinder. My Kirst cylinder has a step in the chamber that will allow a 38 special case to fit, but not a .357 case.
I thought that my cylinder was for a conversion that was to be used with a sleeved barrel as I thought the cylinders used with the larger barrel were bored through. But my chamber mouths are still .371 or so. The step is not a normal step. It is just slight enough to prevent a .357 case from entering.
The things we tinker with to the wonder of a normal human being LOL.
My guess...
by Paul , Thursday, June 04, 2026, 08:44 (2 days ago) @ Bob Hatfield
My guess is that the step is there to keep folks from loading a full power 357 mag load in it. Trying to keep the idjits alive.
Some of us are easily amused...
by Slow Hand , Indiana, Thursday, May 28, 2026, 04:12 (9 days ago) @ Paul
Those are challenging to load, especially with my fat fingers! I have a Wells Fargo .31 revolver with a .32 S&W short conversion setup I got from Hoot years ago. I had a very limited supply of short brass but I did have a 32 mag reamer so I lengthened the chambers enough so that 32 longs would chamber. All of my 32 bullet molds are heavie but I have one with a fairly short nose so it will still chamber without searing super deep. I ended up making three dippers out of .22 long rifle cases to dip out powders because my measures didn’t want to go down that low!
Some of us are easily amused...
by Fivegunner , LOWELL Mi., Saturday, May 30, 2026, 11:59 (7 days ago) @ Paul
Looks like fun