repairing an old .38 revolver

[Requiem ex Inferni]

Supposedly, there are two hundred-something year old revolvers somewhere in my house. One's a .25, the other's a .38. My grandpa obtained them after stopping a fight.

Now, the .25 I don't care about (the revolving mechanism's broken, anyways), but the .38 intrigues me. Supposedly, all it needs is a cleaning, and it'll work. However, according to my dad, it's so old that if you fired a modern .38 round from it, it would blow in your hand.

Now, my question is, if I ever find it (which, so far, seems unlikely), is it worth upgrading it to fire modern .38 Specials, or should I just keep it as an antique?  

[Freak_090]

Requiem6661

Supposedly, there are two hundred-something year old revolvers somewhere in my house. One's a .25, the other's a .38. My grandpa obtained them after stopping a fight.

Now, the .25 I don't care about (the revolving mechanism's broken, anyways), but the .38 intrigues me. Supposedly, all it needs is a cleaning, and it'll work. However, according to my dad, it's so old that if you fired a modern .38 round from it, it would blow in your hand.

Now, my question is, if I ever find it (which, so far, seems unlikely), is it worth upgrading it to fire modern .38 Specials, or should I just keep it as an antique?

Just be sure to use regular power ammo (base of the brass should be marked with an "RP"). They started to make more powerful ammo around the 80s, if I'm not mistaken, so any revolvers made before then shouldn't be used with stronger modern ammo.  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

According to what my dad said, he's talked to people who hand-load their ammo, and they've told him not to put any bullet off the shelf into that gun; it's just that old. If I reduced the powder level in the casing, would that work? Or would I have to make my own bullets?  

[Freak_090]

Requiem6661

According to what my dad said, he's talked to people who hand-load their ammo, and they've told him not to put any bullet off the shelf into that gun; it's just that old. If I reduced the powder level in the casing, would that work? Or would I have to make my own bullets?

I just recently received a 30+ year-old S&W .38 snub-nosed from my grandmother. I went out and shot it, no problems. I would look at the barrel and see how much rifling is left. If you can barely see it, then I would let it be. Steel's strength is not affected by age or repeated stress. It breaks by too much force, and wear. As long as the barrel looks ok, then there shouldn't be a problem.

However, if you do decide that the pistol is ok in that regard, be sure to check the timing. All you have to do is make sure that the cylinder lines up with the barrel and hammer before the hammer falls.

I'm sure that by, "Bullets" he was reffering to ammo in general. There is nothing wrong with modern ammo, just stay away from the +P ammo. Old revolvers were made to deal with old ammo. +P didn't come around untill the 80s, if I'm not mistaken, so don't mess with it. Stick to regular power.  

[Inquisitor Brock]

He said two hundred something year old pistols. So, without pictures of said pistols, we cannot really help you. Because we don't know if they're percussion, or modern cartridge revolvers.

My advice, don't shoot them. Take them to someone who knows what the ******** they're doing, and possibly donate them to a museum.  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

Inquisitor Brock

He said two hundred something year old pistols. So, without pictures of said pistols, we cannot really help you. Because we don't know if they're percussion, or modern cartridge revolvers.

My advice, don't shoot them. Take them to someone who knows what the ******** they're doing, and possibly donate them to a museum.

I wasn't going to fire them without getting them inspected first. Even then, there's a high possibility I'd just keep them as antiques, or sell them to a collector and use that money to buy a REAL gun, like a .45 Colt.

And they're only about a hundred years old or so, not TWO hundred. Plus, the .25's useless- the revolving mechanism's busted.