I spent few minutes through the ballistic tables of regular commercial loads of several brands (Winchester, Western, Remington, Norma and Federal) for the 357 and 44 Magnum from the old Italian gun publication (1965) I mentioned in my previous post.
I did the conversion of velocity from m/sec to fps and Kg/m to ft/lb, I checked and re-checked...
Gosh they were screamers....this is what I found....more or less they were all similar across different brands, however here I mention the "tamest" of them.
357 Magnum, 158 gr, barrel lenght 8" Winchester brand
Velocity 1419 fps (430 m/sec), Energy 694 ft/lb (96 kg/m)!!!
44 Magnum, 240 gr, barrel lenght 6,5" Remington brand
Velocity 1479 fps (448 m/sec), Energy 1151 ft/lb (159 kg/m)!!!
Basically the 44 Mag is almost close to a modern day 454 Casull load...
The 357 is basically at the same level of the hottest 10 mm Auto available on the market today, just few dozens of ft/lb shy in some cases (Double Tap)
To make absolutely sure that I didn't make any mistakes with the conversion, I extensively tested my calculation with several other calibers in these old tables (9 mm Luger, 45 ACP, 45 ACP + P, 30-06, 308, 30-30, etc...) and they are basically equivalent to today values for the same ammo...so no calculation errors
Accordingly to this "experiment" 357 and 44 in common commercial loads have been "robbed" of at least 30 if not 40% of their real potential during the years....I ask...Why??? When this happened?? Has been gradual??
Now I understand why when I was kid I heard my dad and his friends talking about how brutal the recoil for the 357 and the 44 Mag was (the 44, I recall, was labeled "monstrous")....now, in recent years, I had the chance to fire for the first time both the 357 and the 44 (I don't know what loads were used) it didn't seem to me too bad at all...it was some sort of disconnect between what I heard then and what I experienced myself...
The revolvers (no autoloaders in these caliber at that time) chambered for this calibers in this old catalog are the usual old pieces we all know....Colt Trooper, Colt Python, Smith & Wesson 29, 27, 28 Highway Patrolman, 19 Combat Magnum, Ruger Blackhawk and Super Blackhawk...I do not recall these old guns blowing up all the time because of such hot loads...
Final curiosity...in Italy the Colt Python price in 1965 was 217 dollars, a S&W Mod 29 $241
I did the conversion of velocity from m/sec to fps and Kg/m to ft/lb, I checked and re-checked...
Gosh they were screamers....this is what I found....more or less they were all similar across different brands, however here I mention the "tamest" of them.
357 Magnum, 158 gr, barrel lenght 8" Winchester brand
Velocity 1419 fps (430 m/sec), Energy 694 ft/lb (96 kg/m)!!!
44 Magnum, 240 gr, barrel lenght 6,5" Remington brand
Velocity 1479 fps (448 m/sec), Energy 1151 ft/lb (159 kg/m)!!!
Basically the 44 Mag is almost close to a modern day 454 Casull load...
The 357 is basically at the same level of the hottest 10 mm Auto available on the market today, just few dozens of ft/lb shy in some cases (Double Tap)
To make absolutely sure that I didn't make any mistakes with the conversion, I extensively tested my calculation with several other calibers in these old tables (9 mm Luger, 45 ACP, 45 ACP + P, 30-06, 308, 30-30, etc...) and they are basically equivalent to today values for the same ammo...so no calculation errors
Accordingly to this "experiment" 357 and 44 in common commercial loads have been "robbed" of at least 30 if not 40% of their real potential during the years....I ask...Why??? When this happened?? Has been gradual??
Now I understand why when I was kid I heard my dad and his friends talking about how brutal the recoil for the 357 and the 44 Mag was (the 44, I recall, was labeled "monstrous")....now, in recent years, I had the chance to fire for the first time both the 357 and the 44 (I don't know what loads were used) it didn't seem to me too bad at all...it was some sort of disconnect between what I heard then and what I experienced myself...
The revolvers (no autoloaders in these caliber at that time) chambered for this calibers in this old catalog are the usual old pieces we all know....Colt Trooper, Colt Python, Smith & Wesson 29, 27, 28 Highway Patrolman, 19 Combat Magnum, Ruger Blackhawk and Super Blackhawk...I do not recall these old guns blowing up all the time because of such hot loads...
Final curiosity...in Italy the Colt Python price in 1965 was 217 dollars, a S&W Mod 29 $241