Redsetter wrote on Aug 11
th, 2016 at 8:57pm:
This cartridge may be marginally OK in a revolver, but I wonder what all these rifles were being used for. Cartridges of the World describes it as "a good short range small game load, but accuracy was only fair." Accuracy no better than fair sure seems to me to exclude it as any kind of acceptable small game load, aside from shooting possums in your chicken coop.
The original factory load was about 950 fps, with a 145 grain bullet. More than adequate to take any small game, and deer at close range. I've had plenty of shots across a chronograph that measure in the 1200-1250 fps range with a 150 gr. bullet, and wouldn't hesitate to take deer at 100 yds. with.
As for accuracy, there's a lot of tales that have sprung up from people shooting .38 Long Colt loads in their .38 Long Ballard. The .38 Long in a Ballard is a .375" bullet, while the Colt is a .357" bullet. The Colt bullet rattles down the bore, and gave the .38 Long a bad reputation for accuracy. In a properly loaded, and sized bullet, the accuracy of a Ballard #2 in .38 Long is exceptional! I've got a DST #2 in .38 Long that shoots extremely tight groups.
As for COTW, my copy doesn't mention accuracy of the .38 Long. And for COTW to mention a particular caliber isn't accurate seems almost silly. It really depends on too many variables to make that statement carry any weight.