But I would like to know if people think I am completely insane or treading dangerous ground.
.38 S&W Project
The purpose of this project is to convert and load .38 S&W cases to .38SPL diameter for use in a Rossi .357Mag lever action M92 Puma carbine.
The reasoning for this is to explore the possibility of expanding magazine capacity for defensive reasons.
The current capacity of the gun is nine .38 SPL rounds in the magazine, one in the chamber.
Nine .38 SPL rounds loaded to an OAL of 1.55 is a total of 13.95", loaded to a cartridge OAL of 1.55"
A .38 S&W case can be loaded to the OAL equal to an empty .38 SPL case, that is, 1.15"
This means in the same length for nine .38 SPL rounds, twelve .38 S&W's can be loaded.
This is an increase of 3 rounds in the magazine for a total loaded gun of 14.
That is not an insignificant increase.
Load data shows 4 grains of Unique behind a 158gr bullet @ around 900fps. Out of the longer rifle barrel this will be in the range of 1200fps, very very nice for self defense.
Producing the rounds is planned as follows:
1. Resize/decap with .38SPL die.
2. Prime
3. Expand case with .380 or .38 Super LEE thru die powder die.
4. Seat/crimp with .380 or .38 Super die.