38-45 Auto (45-38 Auto Pistol, 45-38 Clarke)

Historical Notes:

Designed by Bo Clarke of Armory Gunshop, Burbank, California, the 38-45 was first announced publicly in the October, 1963 issue of Guns and Ammo magazine in an article by Howard French. The 45-38 Auto is based on the 45 ACP case necked down to accept standard 357 bullets. Super 38 ACP barrels are rechambered to the new caliber and used in the 45 Colt Auto without any other change.

General Comments:

One of the inherent faults of most semi-auto pistols is their inability to digest cast or swaged lead bullets. Much time and effort has been devoted to correcting this so that the individual handloader can effect considerable improvement. The neck design of the 38-45 cartridge eliminated any and all feed and chambering problems with light or standard loads. With a straight case, such things as bullet shape, seating depth, hardness of alloy, etc., are critical. With the necked case they can be ignored. The idea behind the 38-45 was to produce a satisfactory target round that would function with any type bullet and load sufficient to operate the gun mechanism. However, is should also be an excellent field cartridge because it will allow the use of hunting type bullets. There is a definite need for an Improved auto pistol hunting cartridge. Case configuration is the same as the 38-45 Hard Head but loading data is not interchangeable.

Source: Cartridges of the World

38-45 Auto (45-38 Auto Pistol, 45-38 Clarke) Reloading Data
Bullet (grs.)	Powder / (grs.)	MV	ME	Source
130 FMJ	Unique / 7.5	1245	475	N/A

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