Yesterday, exchanging PMs with a fellow forum member, I mentioned that I hadn't shot my British service revolvrs in several years. This worked on my mind all day; today I took them out and shot them. It was a great day for shooting; a light breeze, temperature around 65 and not a cloud in the sky.
I drive out in the desert about 8 miles and wind up on a trail that consists of two wheel ruts with weeds in between. I stop at a spot that has a sizable hill for a backstop. For targets, I use beer cans; they're in plentiful supply along roadsides all over Texas. I start them at about 10 yards, double action, and when I've bounced them far enough, about 15 yards, I go to single action. Afterwards the shredded remains go into recycle.
First up was a S&W Victory. The butt bore an 800,000 serial number, no 'V', and the WB initials of Colonel Waldemar Broberg, Chief of the Hartford/Springfield Odnance district, July 1, 1941 - June 16, 1942. It's already in the Victory database. On the hump above the grips are the letters NZ, /l\ and a property number. It lives in a web holster stamped Finnegans, 1945, which I think is a British maker. It's been reparked over pitting and the frame under the grips is heavily pitted; apparently it got soaked in rain and was given little care. My Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military history shows that Kiwi forces were used in Vella Lavella; Mona and Stirling in the Treasury Islands, and Nissan in the Green Islands, and this revolver probably saw service in at least one of these. However the lockup is tight and the bore pristine.
Initially I had a FTF but inspection showed the mainspring strain screw wasn't all the way in. After I got that fixed, there were no more FTFs. Both single action and double action pulls were quite good and the old girl shot to the point of aim. I bounced the beer can out to about 25 yds before I couldn't hit it regularly.
Next up was an Enfield No 2, Mk 1 dating from 1936. It had good sights; a square notch rear and post front, and it shot to the point of aim. It had a little lighter trigger pull both DA and SA, than the Smith. it was harder to hang onto; it had a tendency to slip down in my grasp despite the grooving on the backstrap. Its holser is a drop down, open top design with loops for six rounds and a cleaning rod pouch. The New Zealand Army Personal Equipment, 1910-1945 book calls it the Holster (case) Pistol, R.T.R. (Royal Tank Regiment), Mk II.
I reload both the 38 S&W and .455 Webley. My 38 load consists of 4 grs of Winchester 231 powder behind the Lyman 170 gr SWC bulelt # 35849. This bullet is fairly close to the 178 grs that the 38/200 wound up with after the lead bullet had been jacketed to conform to the Geneva Convention. DON'T SHOOT THIS LOAD IN S&W BREAKTOPS! However it is fairly mild when used in modern service revolvers.
Last I broke out the big Webley MK VI, dated 1916. With my load: 3.0 grs of Bullseye in Hornady MK II (Short) cases behind Lyman's 452474 SWC sized .454" it shot to the point of aim at short ranges with the front sight even with the top of the notch below the wide 'V' of the rear sight. The single action trigger pull was quite light, perhaps the lightest of the three, but the double action pull was very heavy. I had no trouble connecting with cans out to about 25 yds. Aluminum cans are very thin, but even so they jumped a lot higher when hit with the heavy, 45 bullet. This revolver inhabits a web holster stamped ZLAT Ltd, 1945, which I think is Canadian.
And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed my outing, and I think the guns did too.
Gone shootin'
Linear Mode
