38 Dardick Tround (DC .38) - Bullet weight and style

#1

I have a .38 Dardick Tround, light green, head stamped DC .38. It appears at most cartridge shows as a typical round. Has anyone pulled one a part and weighted the bullet? I would just like to have the information to enter in my collection notes, but don’t want to pull the round. Any information on bullet weight and style would be appreciated. Inside lubricated, RN, etc.?

I can find a lot of general information on this round, but not specific information other than it used a “standard” .38 cartridge. Standard .38 cartridges cover a lot of territory!!

Also, does should the bullet protrude past the plastic tround? Most pictures show that it doesn’t, but I have seen a few with the bullet protruding past the end of the “tround”.

Thanks,

Joe

#2

To my knowledge, the bullet should not protrude past the end of the plastic casing. I have seen a lot of trounds and have one that uses a standard 9mm cartridge in the tround and one that uses a standard .45 auto cartridge in a tround, and have never seen one where the bullet stuck out the front of the plastic portion - the tround itself. I don’t know for sure about some of the very big calibers that were experimented with, but I am sure this is true of the pistol ones.

#3

Standard loading for the .38 Special Tround, according to the box(s) in my collection, is an 158 Grain lead bullet. (2 grease grooves as I remember, but could be 3). These were also known with a jacketed bullet but those are uncomon.
These are not to be confused with what I think Mr. Moss is talking about which is the Tround case with a “normal or conventional” case type inserted into a Tround case, and thus acts as a holder. Those are also known (in addition to those he mentions) in .38 Spl, .30 Mauser, .38 AUTO, the .22 LR rim fire, & perhaps others). The DC 38 headstamp on your case would indicate it is not this “holder” type ammo but a conventional Tround round.
I agree that the bullet should not protrude past the case, I’ve never seen one that did ( & have seen variations up to 30mm).
Hope this is of help.

#4

John and Pete,

Thank you both for your replies, as usual they have been most helpful.

Regarding the bullet protruding past the end of the “tround”. I had never seen one like that, until I noticed the following picture on a webpage.

I’ve written the owner of the web page for additional information, we’ll see what he says.

Thanks again,

Joe

#5

I thank Pete Decoux for clarifying my entry about the Dardick. I do know the difference between the true Dardick cartridge case, and the Dardick adaptor cartridges that act only to convert a full round of normal ammunition to the Dardick system, but as usual for me, I did not articulate that well. By the way Pete, “Mr. Moss” was my father - I am “John.,” especially to good friends like you. I thank the original poster of the question for the pictures of the tround with extended bullet - I had not known that they existed (I know nothing of the big trounds at all, hence my comment excluding them from my opinion). A good addition to my Dardick files. One of my original documents from Dardick mentions that the “reusable adaptors” were available for .38 Special Wadcutter; .38 Super automatic; .38 S&W; 9mm (as I mentioned, I have this one, although it is cracked from tension), .22 Short, Long, Long rifle; and WRF of standard make. It does not mention the .45 Adaptor, which I have and believe to be rare. It is black plastic. A letter from David Dardick in my files helps delineate the time line of these guns, at least at their beginning. The letter is dated November 25, 1957, in response to a letter of November 20th (try to get that quick an answer these days from a gun company!) and in part, says “We expect these guns to be avialable for public sale the early part of 1958.” There have been a number of good articles on this gun, but not much showing all the variations. Is anyone listening? IAA Journal would love to publish one, I’ll bet!

#6

The illustrated Tround which is in question is quite supisious to me. The revolvers were very much like a standard revolver but for feed & only having three chambers. A round with a proj. extending past the front on the revolver cylnder would encounter the same problems a convential revolver would. It wouldn’t turn!
An Ohio collector, a number of years ago, once came to a bullet show with a number of “Trounds”. They were different colored plastic triangular pencil holders, in which, he had inserted a shotshell primer & bullet. He was asking a great price for these “experimentals”, but when you pulled out money he wouldn’t take it as it was all being done as a joke. Point is that stuff gets done once it’s out of the box / shop.
PS
John I feel the same way when someone calls me Mr.

#7

The illustrated Tround which is in question is quite supisious to me. The revolvers were very much like a standard revolver but for feed & only having three chambers. A round with a proj. extending past the front on the revolver cylnder would encounter the same problems a convential revolver would. It wouldn’t turn!
An Ohio collector, a number of years ago, once came to a bullet show with a number of “Trounds”. They were different colored plastic triangular pencil holders, in which, he had inserted a shotshell primer & bullet. He was asking a great price for these “experimentals”, but when you pulled out money he wouldn’t take it as it was all being done as a joke. Point is that stuff gets done once it’s out of the box / shop.
PS
John I feel the same way when someone calls me Mr.

Not sure how this got on twice, but sorry bout that

#8

It is quite possible the bullet has become unseated and just needs to be pushed back into the case with your finger. This isn’t that uncommon, as the bullet is held in place only by friction. If you are unable to seat it in the proper position, then either the powder charge is incorrect or a longer than standard bullet has been reloaded into the case.