Recent content by EnsignJimmy

As I understand it, the double-actions of the day were designed to cope with black powder. The big problem was that primers of the day were pretty insensitive, and needed quite a bit of force to set off. This was easy for a single-action gun, but a double-action, where the trigger finger powered...

That's kinda overkill, especially with a relatively fast powder like Unique. My pet load is 250 - 255 grain SWC over 8.0 grains of Unique, which delivers over 900 ft/sec, penetrates for days, and works in everything from Rugers to Ubertis.

It used to be faster. Something like 925 ft/sec, compared to the 830 ft/sec it develops now. I'm not sure why they slowed it down, it was laser-beam accurate out of all my Colt New Service guns, even my old-model New Service from the dawn of the century. Only real reason I can come up with for...

Nothing wrong with the Federal LSWC, although it used to be loaded to something like 75-100 fps faster. What it has going for it is the fact that it's really consistent and delivers excellent accuracy (also, the cases are good for reloading, if you care about that.) Also, it's very easy to find...

The Ruger Bisley offers better control of heavy ("Ruger-only") .45 Colt loads. At least, that's how it feels in my hands. However the .45 Colt is certainly no recoil pushover with proper (i.e. a 250-255 grain bullet going ~900-950 ft/sec) standard-pressure loads. The standard plow-handle grip...

I have an SP101, and I love it. It's a bit heavy for pocket carry, but guns light enough for pocket carry are amazingly unpleasant to shoot full .357 Magnum loads out of. What I can say about the LCR is that it makes a dandy .38 Special gun, and I imagine that'd be especially true for the ones...

My "worst" was a Taurus 7-shot .357 Magnum with a 6" barrel. It wasn't actually a bad revolver, mind you ... though there was one load where it kept piercing the primers; but that was the load and not the revolver. Why was it my worst? Well, I didn't keep it long because I decided I liked .45...

Colt made something like 54,000 Model 1878s. What you have was probably a late-run 1878 made with leftover parts from the Philippine Constabulary contract. And yeah "super strong spring" was the default condition for these guns. And it wasn't just for military primers. They were always like...

Yes, it's safe. The pressure curve on black powder and its equivalents is less-abusive to the gun than an equivalent smokeless load. Yes, it's a volume measurement. 35 grains of Pyrodex will just about fill a modern solid-head case, and a 255 grain lead bullet will provide all the compression...

.45 Colt is an interesting animal, mostly because almost everyone (Ruger included) likes to cut the chambers really loose (as if we were still driving .454" lead slugs with balloon-head cases stuffed with FFFg) and the barrels really tight (because most 45-caliber bullets these days are sized to...

Yes, 40 grains of FFFg under a 255 grain lead is a hoot. Modern brass only holds 37 grains of powder, but the difference between 37 and 40 grains of black or black substitute seems pretty negligible. Out of the 5.5" barrel of an actual Colt 1878 double-action revolver (manufactured in 1889,)...

For home defense, a double-action like a good used Smith and Wesson 25-5 would be better (or, if you can afford one, a new Smith and Wesson 625.) Sure, there's nothing that gets a first shot off faster than a single-action revolver, but shots two through six come a lot slower, and reloading...

The absolute oldest revolver I've taken to the range was a Colt 1877 "Lightning" double-action revolver that was manufactured in 1883. I did this once, just so I could say that I've shot an 1877. It survived the experience. I've also fired two Colt 1878 Double Action revolvers...

As has been said, your old stuff is fine to shoot. Just clean the cases and inspect for pitting before reloading them. Magtech cases are just dandy for reloading.

Which Double Tap load are you talking about? They appear to have a number of them, and a full three of them are hardcast lead. If anything, the sort of penetration 'problem' I'd expect out of a 335 - 360 grain hardcast slug exceeding 1200 ft/sec is that it's got a good chance of zipping right...