Range Report: Fail! Hopkins & Allen 38 S&W

[FatJackDurham]

I got my Hopkins and Allen rifle back from the gunsmith finally. It took about 4 months for PTG to make a custom 38 S&W reamer to re-chamber after my over loading debacle last year. I drove down to my arms dealer to see if he had any ammo. He had some FN .380, which is supposed to be the same round, just for a Webley. I went to the range and for safety, I loaded the first round and fired it well away from my face, aiming at the dirt hill. Remember, the last time I shot, I overloaded a cartridge accidentally and the firing ping came out to say hello to my glasses.

Anyway, the rifle made a subdued crack and I ejected the round. I saw some smoke hanging out around the chamber, so I decided to blow through the barrel to clear it. This, probably saved my life. No smoke came out.

I held the rifle up and looked, through, but I couldn't see daylight. The bullet had gotten stuck.

I was a little mystified. The shot hadn't sounded like a dud, nor had there been any back blast which I would expect from a stuck round.

I took the rifle home and pushed a dowel into the muzzle. Sure enough, the bullet was stuck about 5 inches from the muzzle, a good 16 or so inches in from the chamber. However, I barely had to tap and the bullet came slide out backwards. So, what had happened? Was it an underloaded bullet? The ammo looks a little sketchy. It has berden primers, jacketed round nose, hollow base 180 grain bullets and about 2.3 grains of powder.

I decided to slug my bore and measure the bullets. The bore initially slugged out at an astonishing .352/.347 (grooves/lands). This is WAY tighter than the .38 S&W bullet diameter of .361. After a few more slugs, I discovered that my bore tapers suddenly and significantly about 5 inches from the end. From the chamber to that point (coincidentally, where the bullet got stuck), it measures .356/.350. Then, it abruptly tightens up, just before wiggling loose at the end.

Now, when I first fired the rifle with some Magtech 38 S&W ammo, it shot a great 1 inch at 50 yards, which I was pretty excited about since it was such an odd and old rifle. So, no doubt the taper doesn't hurt things and the slight runout at the end also didn't hurt.

However, these FN jacketed (or coated maybe) bullets only measure .355. Combine that with possibly old powder and the under powered round itself, I am guessing that most of the gasses blew by the first round before it got to the tight bore, and there wasn't enough pressure at that point to drive it out.

I am pretty glad I didn't load a second round.

I slugged my 38 Lemonsqueezer revolver, but that has an odd number of rifling, so one groove + one land equaled .355. By fudging it a little and measuring the grooves on edge, I determined that the bore on that gun is probably .360, which makes sense for a .38 S&W .361 soft lead bullet.

I am going to load up some Hornady Cowboy .358 140 grain bullets and try them in the rifle to see how it likes them. Someday, maybe I will lap out the bore to try to get it closer to proper diameter.

[gamekeeper]

Yup, it always pays to check the bore when suspicious of a less than normal discharge. I hope you get it sorted, that Hopkins & Allen sounds like a fun gun...

[cas]

I'm surprised there's any of that FN ammo still out there. In little plastic packs of 20-25 rounds of so?
I bought some 20 years ago and it was old then.

[Barcelona Rick]

Is the FN 380 the .380 Rimmed ? Ruger made a run of Speed Six Revolvers in .380 Rimmed for India and Northern Ireland several years back...

rick

[FatJackDurham]

Yep. That is the stuff. I started to knock the bullets out so I cold through them away.

[44shooter]

The jacket and heavy weight combined with the low velocity, tight bore and long barrel set up the stuck bullet scenario. I prefer soft lead for the real slow movers for that reason.

FWIW I have seen an empty quart plastic oil bottle stop a 38 S&W round. Can't believe this was a self defense/police standard once.

[FatJackDurham]

I know, crazy, right?

I plan to load the rifle rounds with Black Powder to try to give a longer pressure wave all the way down the barrel.

The 38 S&W revolver I have seems to shoot pretty well. Also, I have a book on trick shooting, and he does all that with a 38.

However, you are right. it seems odd that this became a police round considering there were more powerful rounds available. Must have been a cost/size decision.