So me and a friend went desert shooting this week, and he was using his mint nickle 4 inch Smith Model 19.
After shooting some tame .38 loads, he pulled out a box of reloads from 1976. He told me that these were loaded on a SWAT reloading bench (forget which city's SWAT team) as combat loads for their then issued .357s, and yes they were over 30 years old.
The box said they were 158gr SJHPs at 1200 fps, and while they shot nicely, he was talking about them being even hotter, up around 700ft lbs which would be what, more like 1300fps.
Sure enough, the spent cases had to be ejected with a hard knock on the ejector rod, and the primers were completely flattened into the primer pockets on examination.
After about 20 rounds, the cylinder would only lock in place with a firm push, and the trigger pull suddenly jumped about 5 pounds.
The gun would still shoot, but we obviously stopped for the day and switched to other guns.
So what would break in a S&W when you hammer it with super hot loads?
After shooting some tame .38 loads, he pulled out a box of reloads from 1976. He told me that these were loaded on a SWAT reloading bench (forget which city's SWAT team) as combat loads for their then issued .357s, and yes they were over 30 years old.
The box said they were 158gr SJHPs at 1200 fps, and while they shot nicely, he was talking about them being even hotter, up around 700ft lbs which would be what, more like 1300fps.
Sure enough, the spent cases had to be ejected with a hard knock on the ejector rod, and the primers were completely flattened into the primer pockets on examination.
After about 20 rounds, the cylinder would only lock in place with a firm push, and the trigger pull suddenly jumped about 5 pounds.
The gun would still shoot, but we obviously stopped for the day and switched to other guns.
So what would break in a S&W when you hammer it with super hot loads?