38 Super Centerfire Gun

First topic message reminder :

Who wants to own up to shooting a 38 Super in the centerfire match?   I have one Dan Norwood built for me back in the 90s.  Pre Series 70 commercial Colt with a Kart barrel.  Load it like a 38 Auto.  Best I remember it was an inside the X ring 50 yard gun.   Haven't fooled with mine in 15 years.  Just about to drag it out and play with it some more.  I'll post loads when I get it working..

Enjoy your GSP-C Life is too short.

No doubt!  =:-)    We'll talk Super more when I shoot it a bit...

I have both a 38spec and 38 super both set up on 1911 frames. My super in order to get accuracy @50yds I found needed to be loaded to about 1050fps. I use a 115grHP  Montana Gold bullet with 5.1gr of W231. This load shoots Xring @ 50yds. Since the gun is setup for Action Pistol it has a comp, barricade wings and the whole lot. Its pretty heavy to shoot one handed. Recoil is how can I say different than my bullseye guns. The impulse is totally different. The recoil is straight back and the muzzle blast is pretty intense and loud. It does annoy people standing aside me. The .38spec is your classic bullseye gun. With 2.9gr bullesye with 148g HBWC its my staple for CF.

My experience with the .38 Spl (Colts) is much the same as most of you mention, nice accurate shooter, pleasant to shoot , but hard to out score the .45 with. Guys like Fulford and Terry of Magnus Bullets are in a different class!

Consider this: I purchased 2 1911's to shoot in my dotage. Now that time has is here and shooting them makes me wonder if when a shooter was in his prime and were just to use one for a training aid it would help his .22 & .45 scores due to the .38's requirements of attention to the fundamentals?

Larry, what do you think?

Ron

Not to get in the way of your conversation, but just an interesting point. A  master shooter is just that. He has proven he can shoot the .45 extremely well. Us meaning myself and many others cannot shoot the .45 as well and probably never reach the master level. Not a crime, no matter how many matches we shoot or how many 1000's of rounds in practice, just not going to happen. The .38 or .32 becomes a viable tool to reach the winning ranks in the expert class, where I've been for 25 years. Shooting 820+ with the .45 doesn't cut it. The big guys you mentioned will gain little from shooting other calibers, aside from a few points here or there, because frankly numbers wise you have such little to go. Years ago a friend of mine was hellbent to shoot 2650. Wore out friends and fellow shooters going to every match he could so he could break it. Shot every combo 2640 you can think of. Never reached his goal. Haven't seen him in 15 years, I always wished him the best. Either you have it or you don't.

No argument here about Labbe and Fulford's shooting ability.  In their prime they were shooters the equal of anyone out there.  Terry's back shooting and the way Allen shot I'd almost bet that we could dig him up, prop him up on the firing line, and he could show us a thing or two about shooting a bullseye gun.     On a serous note my drivers are cost (powder and bullets) and trying to take care of my elbows.  My shoulders are fine but learning to draw and shoot in the mid 80s made my right elbow hurt and it has never been the same.

For a shooter who has progressed to expert with a .22 and hopes to do the same with a .45, any mid-range gun is a diversion. A lighter trigger and recoil may seem desirable, but eventually you'll have to learn to control the heavier trigger and recoil of the .45. That and the fact that the holes are bigger will increase your AGG scores more quickly.

From a personal standpoint as a seventy-something aged shooter my scores are not as high or even as consistent as they once were. I've worked on 1911s for 30 years, tuning a few and setting up lowers for .22 conversion. I have time to play around so I have a .38SPL. Knowing the velocities necessary to get accuracy from either a .38S or a .40SW will keep me messin' with my .38SPL wad-gun.

Note quite that old at 61 but I did get my distinguished badge, master classifcation, and 2600 club the same year some 30 years ago.  My 45 scores have never been the problem.  Brought through the military system where I was required to shoot double hardball (45 no less) until I was shooting an expert  aggregate score. Started bullseye when I was 27.   My goal was to make distinguished by the time I was 30.  As it worked out I was 31.  Beat on those old bones all you want.  Me, I'm hoping to start back next spring after a 19 year lay off.    Pulled out my, built for bullseye, 38 Super and I just bought a Walther 32....

Axe & Larry my experience tells me the same as what you have said. IShooting the .45 well is very satisfying also. Maybe because so many of us shot so poorly with it when starting made for the sense of accomplishment when .45 scores were equal or better than the .22.
 
I can only dabble at shooting now due to extremely bad shoulders which @ 71 aren't likely to improve. The .38 allows me to shoot CF a few rds.

Ron

Axe,
 Did you ever find the perfect load for you? I am going to turn a R.O. into a 38 super. I think that would be a much better round then the 9mm. I think all I need to do is pick up a Kart barrel and some magazines. And I am not sure I even need to change magazines.
 
Len      ( apologies for resurrecting old thread)

Currently loading the Zero 115 JHP over 5 grains of 231.  Should be making a good 1000 FPS.    Haven't shot it at 50 yards yet.  Just picked up a Dillon SDB to speed up my 38 Super loading.  Planning to have the gun up and running in the spring.


Shot a few matches this year.  Mostly 850ish with the 22 and 830-840 with the 45.   Been afraid to shoot slow fire and been shooting timed fire for slow.  Today I think I have acquired enough endurance to really shoot slow.  Looking forward to spring 2015!

Rodger Barthlow wrote:I had to do a lot of work to find a load that was super accurate for mine but was easy after Kart replaced the first barrel for free but I still had to have it fitted. A 150 gr.semi wad cutter that I cast shoots into 1 inch at 50 yds out of a rest. I have my dot mounted on the slide.

Hey Roger... Hope you are doing well

Jerry