.38 Short Colt

.38 Short Colt
Type	Revolver
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Colt
Manufacturer	Colt
Specifications
Bullet diameter	.375 for original heeled bullets, .358 for some modern loads
Neck diameter	.379 in (9.6 mm)
Base diameter	.379 in (9.6 mm)
Rim diameter	.445 in (11.3 mm)
Rim thickness	.060 in (1.5 mm)
Case length	.765 in (19.4 mm)
Ballistic performance
Bullet weight/type Velocity Energy 93 gr (6 g) LRN 791 ft/s (241 m/s) 165 ft⋅lbf (224 J) 129 gr (8 g) LRN 777 ft/s (237 m/s) 181 ft⋅lbf (245 J)
Source(s): Hodgdon Online reloading data

The .38 Short Colt (.38 SC) / .38 Short Center Fire (.38 SCF) was a heeled bullet cartridge intended for metallic cartridge conversions of the .36 cal cap & ball Colt 1851 Navy Revolver from the American Civil War era.

Later, this cartridge was fitted with a 0.359" diameter inside-lubricated bullet in the 125–135 grain range.

Case

Visually, it resembles a .38 S&W but the case dimensions are slightly different. The .38 Short Colt case is the parent to .38 Long Colt and .38 Special. The round was produced in two lengths. The classic .38 Short Colt M1874 is ?mm. It is the original and standard .38 Short Colt cartridge and was designed for use in the Colt New Line revolver. The shorter .38 Short Colt M1919 was ?mm. The .38 Short Colt M1919 was designed for the .38 Colt Police revolver; it was discontinued in the 1920s due to its unpopularity.

Remington is one of the few producers of this cartridge today with a 125grs LRN bullet. Magtech produces this grain weight and Ten-x manufactures a 95gr load, as well as blanks.

There is no problem firing this cartridge in .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolvers, but some shooters worry that the long bullet jump might make accuracy difficult. The "bullet jump" has not, however, been proven to have any effect on accuracy.