Open Top's in .38 Spl.

[PJ Hardtack]

Who's shooting BP in their .38 Spl. Open Tops?

I've got a pair of them and I don't enjoy shooting them with smokeless. Am I going to happier with them using BP?

[Pettifogger]

Depends.  First, why aren't you happy shooting them with smokeless?  If you are having gun problems the first thing to do is adjust the barrel/arbor fit and give them a tune-up.  BP won't fix gun problems.  Once they are tuned they have cylinder bushings and work fine for BP.

[Daniel Dodge]

He's unhappy because Open Tops are supposed to be 44's and that small hole just don't seem right.... 

[PJ Hardtack]

Shooting them with smokeless is like kissing your sister .....

I like the size of the guns. They fit my small hand. Shooting 30+ grs BP .44's (brass or cap & ball) at 16'' targets just 7 yds away is an overkill in anybody's book. The .38's would be less so.

They won't have bushings as there is no one I know who can do it. 

[Gus Walker]

   I shoot Goex in my 38 72 Uberti opentop and my Armi san Marco 38 1860 conversion. Its a blast literaly. I shoot a 158 grain RNFP Lubed with SPG on top of a case of 3f Goex......  pure fun....speaks with authority too.

[Abilene]

...They won't have bushings as there is no one I know who can do it. 

When Pettifogger said bushings I think he meant the gas collar these have on the front of the cylinder, saying that the collar helps keep fouling away from the arbor and helps them run good with BP.

[Pettifogger]

When Pettifogger said bushings I think he meant the gas collar these have on the front of the cylinder, saying that the collar helps keep fouling away from the arbor and helps them run good with BP.

Right.  I have put bushings in C&B .36 cylinders.  Isn't worth the time or effort.  But the collar on the front of the open top cartridge guns is just like the collar/bushing on the front of a Ruger cylinder or a third gen Colt with a pressed in bushing.  Makes shooting BP a little easier.

[PJ Hardtack]

Looking forward to it!

I shot smokeless .44 Spl. at the recent SASS event I went to and it was booooo - ring .....

[Coffinmaker]

I AM!!  Call Me!!  Call Me!!  I have the answer!!!  Call Me!!   

As Pettifogger said, Once your Open Tops have good Barrel/Arbor fit and are well set up, you'll find .38 Open Tops to be real FUN!!  My Open Tops have Barrel/Cylinder sets for .45 Schofield, .44 Colt (Russian) and .38  My 38s also have several different barrel lengths.  3", 4 7/16 and 5 1/2.  My fav is 4 7/16.  I just fill the case to the bottom of a 125Gr Truncated Cone bullet (shoot em inna rifle too) and let em rip.  Fire and Brimstone.  Well ..... as much Fire and Brimstone as you can get with a 38.  For more flambe, load 2f.  Really fun. 
Good idea to wipe the cylinder face down between stages.  Keeps em smooooth.

Coffinmaker

[Major 2]

I don't have a ballistic bone in my body ...just dumb luck this time.

This Pietta ( not a Open Top,  sorry for the hijack ) will shoot over the 16" plate @ 8 Yards with  2.8 gr Red dot
& 158 Grain

same gun , same sights, same distance,  same POA (holding on center steel )

will hit center of the 16" Steel  with a full case of 3FFF  & 125 Grain (lubed with my friend Dakota Ike's lube)

No Chronograph for either  , figure it's bullet weight , but it works    

I should add..the barrel is sleeved  also the BP is KIK brand

[PJ Hardtack]

Thanks all for the input.

I have to find a way to put the fun back into CAS or I'm going to have to take a break - again. I did once before when the transition to two pistols came about.

At our club we value "style" over speed. We only have one speed demon who we rarely see these days. This guy is wired for it and if he slows down, he screws up.

At our recent Canadian SASS Champs, all possees had a mix of shooters - speedsters with pop guns and short stroke rifles, someone shooting a Spencer (he also shot Gunfighter rather well), Classic Cowboys shooting BP .45's, etc.

While I admire the skill of the speedsters, it just ain't Cowboy and I wish these guys would discover IPSC where there is at least a power factor that is enforced.

I come from the era of one gun which was most often a .45/.44 and we prided ourselves on shooting a pretty skookum load.
Once the .38 took over, the game devolved into IPSC in Cowboy clothes.

Gee, I sound like one of the "Old Guard", resentful of change to the old ways. Yep - c'est moi. I miss the time when it was said in the Rule Book- "If John Wayne would use it, it's OK."

[Fingers McGee]

Who's shooting BP in their .38 Spl. Open Tops?

I've got a pair of them and I don't enjoy shooting them with smokeless. Am I going to happier with them using BP?

Absolutely !  I've got a pair of Man With No Name Conversions in .38 spcl that are almost as much fun to shoot as my 1861 Navies

[45 Dragoon]

Major 2,
  If that isn't an open top, then I need to take a break!!! Lol

Do you mean a '72 (specifically) ?

Nice looking open top though! I'm quite fond of the conversions myself. All mine are 45C though, just to keep it simple.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

[Coffinmaker]

Maj 2,

Does sorta mime the Open Top design??  Lack of a top strap.  Hold the contraption together with a wedge (Flintstones??)  Create Fire and Brimstone??  Yea, Mike's right.  It's an open top.  Just not a '72 Open Top.  Um .. Ah ... So what??

PJ,

I hear ya.  I usta waz one of those "wind it up - see how fast it'll go" shooters.  Then I had a medical problem just about take me out (slowed me down some), then, for some untold reason, I got "old(er) and that impacted my "speed" (slowed me down some more).
So, I made the switch to Cap Guns.  Really short barrel Cap Guns.  Anything more than 3 inches is waisted.  I now shoot Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter ........ With Cap Gun Snubbies.  Whole bunch of fun yepper.

So, hyou wanna pudda funna back inna??  Think Cap Guns!!  Once you've played with a sweet running pair of Cap Guns, you'll wonder why you ever stayed with suppository shooters so long

Coffinmaker 

[Major 2]

"...Just not a '72 Open Top".... I figured that's what the OP was speaking about  


So yeah .... Ok   Thanks

[PJ Hardtack]

My .38's are '71's, one 5-1/2", t'other 7-1/2". The shorter I wear x-draw.

I shot a pal's 5-1/'2" 'cap gun' and liked it save for the need to use a rammer extension to seat the ball. I like the long levers on my Rem .44's.

[Coffinmaker]

PJ,
I don't use the OEM rammers for loading.  They look really funny on a gun with a 3 inch barrel     On the two pair of guns I have with
intact rammers (5 1/2 inch Sheriffs), I found the "on gun" rammers to be a real nuisance.  I realize, full well, say back in the way back,
our fore fathers didn't lug a table around with a "Tower of Power" cylinder loader.  Their loss     
So ...... I like to be able to take the gun down between stages, wipe the cylinder face and barrel breach then use the Tower of Power to
load.  I have also modified my Tower to seat the ball at exactly the same depth every time.  Unnecessary precision I know, but .....
sometimes I'm anal.  Oh, my point, an "off-gun" cylinder loader is soooooooo much easier.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming 

Coffinmaker

[PJ Hardtack]

I find the work of loading a cap & ball gun sufficient without removing the cylinder to reload it, especially a Colt "wedgie" type.

[Montana Slim]

I find the work of loading a cap & ball gun sufficient without removing the cylinder to reload it, especially a Colt "wedgie" type.

Amen...... 

Slim

[Lefty Dude]

I find the work of loading a cap & ball gun sufficient without removing the cylinder to reload it, especially a Colt "wedgie" type.

Yep; works for me, also.