Recently purchased a Frank Wesson rifle, which should be back from the gunsmiths in a couple of weeks.  I have fired black powder revolvers, but not single shots before.

I have purchased some .38 rimfire cases from Dixie, which use .22 blanks for primers.  I've followed the good discussion on reloading .32 rimfires, and learned a lot.  Just not enough.

My plan is to start with the brown Duo-Fast power loads (as are used in powder actuated tools).  Measure the velocity with a chronograph.  If the velocity is significantly below 1000 fps, increase to the next  level of power load.  If it is somewhat below 1000 fps, to add black powder.

An alternative would be to use only the primer of the 22 blank, and only use black powder.

Also intend to use .375 round balls, the same as I use in the Colt navies.

I have too many questions, but if anyone is willing to hand out advice, I'd appreciate it.

The questions I have right now are:
1. At what speed can I decide to bump up to the next level of power load?  600 fps, 700 fps, ??
2. If you had to use black powder, would you do it in addition to the power load, or would you open the blank, remove it's powder, and use black powder only?
3. If I use the power load and black powder, how much black powder should I start with?
4. Should I be using something (like floral foam) on the end of the case, to hold the powder in?  (If I breech seat, I don't know if the Dixie cases will hold the ball well by themselves, though the one I pushed on seemed to hold).
5. If I use floral foam, I've heard it should be about 1/8 inch off the powder.  Does that sound correct?
6. The primer is about .6 inches long.  What if the powder only fills up .3 (for example) of the casing.  Do I push the floral foam to the end of the casing, and let the powder rest where it will?

As I told someone at work, my ignorance is unlimited, so thanks for any advice you can give.  I've attached a file showing roughly the expected position of the ball, cases and foam.

I would say that unless the Dixie rimfire shells have changed significantly since I got mine, you should not use any of those nail driver blanks, at any power level, in this application.  The shells are turned, the rims and walls are thin, and the hole for the rimfire primer leaves little metal on the edge.  I used pulled-bullet .22 shorts with the powder dumped and the Dixie case half full of black powder with Ideal 37583 (~145 gr) in my Remington #2.  Even at this load level the shell rims did not last long, and there was considerable leakage out the breech, enough for an occasional hot particle on my face.  Even with safety glasses, I developed a flinch shooting my .38 rimfire.

Blackpowder starter pistol blanks or RWS "Platzpatronen" would be about the max I would consider trying in those shells, and I would try them first without any other powder charge.  I would not load the shells with anything but black powder in any case.

ndnchf wrote on May 23^rd, 2014 at 10:31am:


Did a chamber cast using crayon, was 1.1" long.  I am assuming this is a .38 long.  The .38 long case is .866 long, but the bullets were heeled.  Am assuming that the .38 diameter portion of the bullet filled in part of that distance to the 1.1 inches.

ndnchf wrote on May 23^rd, 2014 at 10:31am:

I haven't slugged the barrel yet, but will when it returns from the gunsmith.  I did drop a ball in the breech, just to get a rough idea of the fit.  Also put one of the Dixie cases in, to check length.  The drawing above was to scale for the 38 long.  The Dixie case (as you mentioned) is about .080 shorter.

Thanks for the help,
Navy

ndnchf wrote on May 23^rd, 2014 at 4:33pm:


The .38 long is a straight case, with no neck.  I assume there is no value in annealing these, is that correct?

Thanks,
Navy

As far as making reloadable .38 rimfire cases from .38 special, I don't see why you couldn't do it.  In my .32 reloadable cases I have the .22 blank chamber centered in the case and the rimfire firing pin just hits the .22 rim, so it works well. I have not made any measurements on a .38, but a .27 cal Ramset rim might be wide enough to allow the .38 rimfire firing pin to hit the .27 rim when it is centered in a .38 Special based case. This would be essentially the same thing that many of us are doing with our .32s, but on a slightly larger scale. If not, you would have to offset the hole a little.

bisaacson wrote on May 23^rd, 2014 at 9:10pm:


If I understand on the .44, you plan to fill the primer pocket with Force 44, then drill.  Is that to keep the drill bit from wandering, or will some solder be left on the finished casing, when it is complete?  I have a bench press, and was wondering if I would need to fill the pocket before drilling.

Thanks,
Navy

Geez, it's late - press rue is pressure, and although we have some fiends at the range, I usually hang out with my friends, most of them aren't fiends, just gun cranks.

There's an advantage to using drawn shells, even if you have to calculate an offset and get the rimfire seat just right.  They have more tensile strength, they are harder on the bottom, and they have a web at the bottom of the shell so the rimfire priming device has a "chamber" of sorts to sit in.

If you are going to shorten .38 shells anyway for this application, the .357 Magnum shells would have heavier webs at the bottom and might last longer.

I lucked out on a half carton of .22 Short Gallery Splatter rounds.  The bullets crumble to powder when pinched with pliers and the shells fit right into the .38 Dixie shells.  If you can find them, Aguila Kolibris might be almost as good.  They have a short lead bullet and no powder in them at all, although the shell is the .22 Long size.