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Recently I decided to take an original .38 S&W Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver to the range with some factory ammunition as well as some handloads to see what I could make of the old warhorse and the cartridge. This particular Military & Police was part of the first batch of pre-Victory Model revolvers in 1940. It was shipped to the U.S. Government Hartford Ordnance Depot in Springfield, Massachusetts, but somehow ended up here in the states for the duration of the war.

I managed to scrounge up some original military ball ammunition, which was the 178-grain jacketed round-nose .380 Mk IIz loads. Velocity was less than what I expected, averaging only 560 fps from the Smith’s 5-inch barrel. Shot from a rest at 15 yards, the shots grouped at 2-½ inches but were a couple inches high with one flyer skewing off to the right.

Next I decided to try a vintage box of Remington factory ammo. These were the same 146-grain lead round-nose bullets that are still offered to this day. Velocities with these were much better, running about 650 fps from the muzzle. From the same range of 15 yards, these also grouped at 2-½ inches but hit a bit low and off to the right.