Quote:
Originally Posted by DWalt
Some of these revolvers have chambers bored straight through, and therefore .38 Special cartridge cases can be chambered and fired. You can easily check to see if yours is one of those by seeing if a .38 Special case or cartridge will fit.
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I had a case where the suspect was shooting .38 Super +P ammunition in his revolver. From the serial number, the revolver had been made in 1896, and the chambers were bored straight through. You would expect that the cylinder would have at least bulged, or there would have been a catastrophic failure. Nope. The cylinder was fine, but the barrel was split. In case anyone is interested, the suspect died with the Colt revolver in one hand and a sawed-off shotgun in the other. Apparently, he didn't notice that as he got out of his car to rob a gas station, a police car pulled in right behind him.
I have heard of catastrophic failures from shooting .357 Magnum cartridges in the early black powder guns with the straight chambers.