Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

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I followed these up with a few of my handloads. The first were 146-grain lead bullets over 2.3 grains of Winchester 231. These turned out to be a disappointment, with a muzzle velocity of only 500 fps despite the fact that some of my manuals listed it as being much more. Groups were fairly ragged and a few inches low.

Next I brought along some loads using the same 146-grain lead bullets with 3.1 grains of Unique. These proved to be very accurate, hitting at nearly point of aim at 15 yards and having a velocity of 640 fps. Of all the loads I shot that day, these were the best overall with a 2-¼ inch group.

I then decided to see what kind of punch the little .38 S&W cartridge had. I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good surplus military helmet, so instead I found an old round metal kid’s sled that appeared to be just as thick. (Sorry for those of you that may be nostalgic over these.) I first decided to shoot some .38 Specials from a 5-inch-barreled Model 27 Smith & Wesson for a comparison. These were nothing more than standard 130-grain FMJ ammunition. The three .38 Specials I fired went right through with little difficulty. For the .38 S&W I used some vintage .380 Mk IIz loads from the same distance out of my 5-inch-barreled Smith & Wesson Military &Police revolver. Again I fired three shots, just to the right of the .38 Specials. Two .38 S&Ws went through, but one only tore the metal as it bounced off of the metal sled. I can see why the little .38 was not exactly seen as a manstopper during World War II.