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Haven't been to the range since last fall so decided to bring my 3 38 Spl's and shoot up a couple hundred rounds of lead handloads. When my day passed away in 95 I inherited two of the 38's. One is a Smith and Wesson M&P (before they became Model 10's) 4" that his brother gave him and was mfg in 1956 and has a trigger from the 50's before the lawyers started designing them. The other has a lot of memories it's a Colt Police Positive Special 6" that was mfg in 1927. I remember when we went accross country in 1956 my father had it in the glove box of our 56 Pontiac. It was the only handgun I can remember him with for many years. The other 38 is a Taurus 3" that I bought in the 90's and thought it was a model eighty something but there is no model on it and a serial number search on the Taurus web site comes up with mfg date of 92 but no model #.
I started with 148 gr DEWC's loaded over 4.6 to 5.0 gr of Power Pistol. The loads were erratic in all and at 4.8 gr in the Colt I started showing pressure signs with sticky extraction and flat primers. I put the Colt away and finished with the Smith and Taurus with no problems. That load isn't even +P rated but the Colt didn't like the WC's . I then went to SWC's and got the best grouping of any with the Colt. It really surprised me as 3.2 gr of Red Dot under the 158 gr LSWC gave me a 1 1/2" at 25 yards. I now know why dad hung on to that old Colt all those years. Its a shooter. The bore is still perfect but when I got it it had rusted on the outside and had some pitting so I had it reblued. I did so because I knew I'd never sell it and wanted to see it back in decent shape.
I started with 148 gr DEWC's loaded over 4.6 to 5.0 gr of Power Pistol. The loads were erratic in all and at 4.8 gr in the Colt I started showing pressure signs with sticky extraction and flat primers. I put the Colt away and finished with the Smith and Taurus with no problems. That load isn't even +P rated but the Colt didn't like the WC's . I then went to SWC's and got the best grouping of any with the Colt. It really surprised me as 3.2 gr of Red Dot under the 158 gr LSWC gave me a 1 1/2" at 25 yards. I now know why dad hung on to that old Colt all those years. Its a shooter. The bore is still perfect but when I got it it had rusted on the outside and had some pitting so I had it reblued. I did so because I knew I'd never sell it and wanted to see it back in decent shape.
