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Old 10-04-2012, 04:47 PM
shawn mccarver shawn mccarver is offline
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Originally Posted by David LaPell View Post
This might be beating a dead horse but Elmer isn't the only one who used or still uses these .38-44 loads. Phil Sharpe did a lot of work with these guns and loads as did many handgun hunters of the day. I think it's a pretty good testament of how popular the .38-44 loads were when the .357 Magnum came out in 1935 and Smith & Wesson did not stop making the Heavy Duty or the Outdoorsman (Models 20 and 23 respectively) until 1966, more than thirty years later and eleven after the .44 Magnum showed up. Brian Pearce did an excellent article on the .38-44 back in the October 2006 Handloader and his loads were the same hot loads of 2400 in a pre-war Outdoorsman. It was even mentioned some of the tests that were done in the 1930's that the Outdoorsman and the Registered Magnum were the same gun except for the checkering on the barrel and top strap, the recessed cylinders and the finish. They were identical in their heat treating and strength. You have to also remember, the .357 loads in those days were pushing 1,500 fps plus from a 8 3/8 inch barrel Registered Magnum. The factory loads today for the .357 are about what those .38-44 handloads are. Sure Elmer might have blown up a few guns, but Elmer and Phil Sharpe with this load got it right and they fired something like 40,000 that were even hotter through ONE gun to prove it.
Just remember that when the FBI first selected fire arms the committee recommended the Colt Police Positive with 4 inch barrel (which is the same D frame as the 2 inch Detective Special, Cobra and Agent models) on the condition that the ammo would be the 158 grain Keith bullet at 1125 feet per second. In other words, they used the .38/44 load in their Police Positives. As one friend says, "You don't have to get in front of that revolver to figure out that it just went off."

That certainly started a Federal Government trend of using .38 Special loads that were really just low end .357 Magnums in small or medium frame revovlers. Anyone remember the so-called Treasury Load? The more or less identical round is now sold in Winchester's White Box as the 110 grain .357 Magnum.

The point is that neither the .38/44 (158 gr. at 1125) nor the Treasury Load were easy on the shooter or the equipment, but they weren't unsafe either.
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