if you were going to load one with black, & one smokeless... which ???

[Magnum Wheel Man]

38 Short Colt, & 38 Long Colt...

these are going in my Navy conversions... & I 'm already loading smokeless in the Long Colt, & will likely shoot mostly smokeless, but I'd like to have some black powder loads for fun days at the CAS range...

would you load...

Long Colt only, with both black & smokeless loads...
Long Colt with black, & Short Colt with smokeless...
Short Colt with black, Long Colt with smokeless...

the charges I'm currently running with Long Colt cases are 1/4 or less of available space with the powder charge... ( if that matters in your decision )

 

[rodwhaincamo]

I'd likely load the Long with BP as you generally don't need all of the case capacity for smokeless, but then it may just be that the Short does better with BP. Try 'em both and go from there I say.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I'm also concerned about carbon ring build up... maybe load both in the long to avoid the carbon issue...

I'm assuming the short with black would throw a nasty carbon ring in the chamber ???

 

[Hellgate]

Load everything in the long cases. You will want to fill the case with BP anyway. What I do is mark the primers black with a Sharpie permanent pen so I don't get any surprises from loose ammo. Smokeless rounds are unmarked. You could use any color you want (red, green or black) for other powders like 777 or APP. I use the black pen for the primers on the shotshells too for all powders that make smoke. If you put BP in the shorts then you might not be able to easily chamber a long case after a few rounds.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

that's a great idea... I have several cartridges I've been wanting to load "some" black, but shoot mostly smokeless... black primers is a great way to keep track of them, all the way back to reload...

 

[hartcreek]

A much better way would be to load black into one brand case only.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

well in the case of the 38 Long Colt... that's quite a bit tougher, as Star Line is pretty much the only game in town... I could do it with my Walker conversion though... but marking the cases, would see to be a more "universal" method...

 

[Jim Watson]

Will .38 LC hold the one CC of powder required for black powder category in SASS?
I bet .38 Short won't.