38 Long Colt loading ??

[Ivan]

Just picked up a couple modern conversion of cap and ball Colts in 38Spl/38 Colt.
To avoid mixing ammo and to keep the loads seperate,decided to use STARLINE 38 Long Colt brass.
Anyone here have any experience loading 38 LC for these converted Colts ? Was going to use my Progessive STAR and see if the seat/crimp die will go down far enough. Any thoughts or advise are appreciated.

[fc60]

Greetings,

Looking at the SAAMI spec sheets, the 38 Long Colt is about 0.100" shorter than the 38 Special. The rim and outside dimensions are almost the same.

You have nothing to loose by loosening the lock nut and screwing the die down to see if it will work.

Cheers,

Dave

[Ivan]

OK,set up STAR progressive to load 38 Long Colt. Am using 122gr RNFP w/ crimp groove. 2.7gr BULLSEYE. Had to remove expander plug nut from top of head to bottom to get enough reach. The powder drop tube is just long enough.The seat/crimp die bottoms out before a satisfactory crimp can be obtained.It takes the flare out of case ,but does not really crimp it. Tho it is a light load,I wanted a good crimp on it. Am using a LEE 38Spl roll crimp die as seperate operation.
 Worked fine,loaded 300 rounds and took the revolvers to range. Much fun shooting them,the Colt conversions are neat pieces. Accurate enough and have always thought the open top Colts handled nicely.

[fc60]

Greetings Ivan,

You have made great progress!

Providing you have a #68 plug installed in the last station, I could machine either a Roll or Taper Crimp die that would allow proper crimping at the 10 o'clock station.

You would probably be the only person in the USA with a 38 Long Colt crimping die.

Cheers,

Dave Wilson