Michael Tinker Pearce
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
- Messages
- 1,575
I've been testing a lot of obsolete calibers lately with my new Caldwell Chronograph. It's been interesting. I started the tests using my S&W .38 Safety Hammerless 4th Model and a Harrington and Richardson .38 Hammerless with a 3-1/4" barrel. The H&R turned out to be a 'slow gun,' consistently achieving lower velocities than the S&W, despite having a barrel twice as long.
For this series of tests I replaced the H&R with a S&W .38 Double Action 2nd Model with a 3-1/4" barrel, and this worked as you would expect, with the longer barrel yielding higher velocities.
We’ll start with listing the Winchester factory ammo for comparison.
Winchester 145gr. (modern) factory ammunition
S&W- 1-5/8″ barrel- 535 fps. 92 ft./lbs SD: 39
H&R- 3-1/4″ barrel- 478 fps. 74 ft./lbs SD: 42
Deeply unimpressive, and one of the reasons for this became plain when I pulled several of the bullets to try a different load under them. They are not .361″. They are not .357″. They average .352″! This was consistent across all fifteen bullets that I pulled, and may go a ways towards explaining the results of this first load-
Winchester 145gr RNL, 2.8gr. Unique, CCI500 primer
S&W 3-1/4″ barrel- 540 fps. 94 ft/lbs SD: 28
This performance is similar to the results for firing the factory ammo through the 1-5/8″ gun last time, and the bullets keyholed at 7 yards. I didn’t even bother to test them out of the shorter gun. Next…!
160gr. .361 LSWC, 2.7gr. Unique, CCI500 primer
S&W 3-1/4″ barrel- 754 fps. 202 ft./lbs SD: 24
S&W 1-5/8″ Barrel- 722 fps. 185 ft/lbs SD: 31
This load, while still considered safe for top-break revolvers, doubles the power of the factory load, and is my new defensive load for this caliber. I will restrict this to my S&Ws, though. They are of high enough quality to handle this load, but even they won’t be getting it as a steady diet; there’s simply no need to risk beating up an antique gun when practice and recreational shooting can be accomplished with milder loads.
For this series of tests I replaced the H&R with a S&W .38 Double Action 2nd Model with a 3-1/4" barrel, and this worked as you would expect, with the longer barrel yielding higher velocities.
We’ll start with listing the Winchester factory ammo for comparison.
Winchester 145gr. (modern) factory ammunition
S&W- 1-5/8″ barrel- 535 fps. 92 ft./lbs SD: 39
H&R- 3-1/4″ barrel- 478 fps. 74 ft./lbs SD: 42
Deeply unimpressive, and one of the reasons for this became plain when I pulled several of the bullets to try a different load under them. They are not .361″. They are not .357″. They average .352″! This was consistent across all fifteen bullets that I pulled, and may go a ways towards explaining the results of this first load-
Winchester 145gr RNL, 2.8gr. Unique, CCI500 primer
S&W 3-1/4″ barrel- 540 fps. 94 ft/lbs SD: 28
This performance is similar to the results for firing the factory ammo through the 1-5/8″ gun last time, and the bullets keyholed at 7 yards. I didn’t even bother to test them out of the shorter gun. Next…!
160gr. .361 LSWC, 2.7gr. Unique, CCI500 primer
S&W 3-1/4″ barrel- 754 fps. 202 ft./lbs SD: 24
S&W 1-5/8″ Barrel- 722 fps. 185 ft/lbs SD: 31
This load, while still considered safe for top-break revolvers, doubles the power of the factory load, and is my new defensive load for this caliber. I will restrict this to my S&Ws, though. They are of high enough quality to handle this load, but even they won’t be getting it as a steady diet; there’s simply no need to risk beating up an antique gun when practice and recreational shooting can be accomplished with milder loads.
