Hi Everyone - I'm new to the forum and recently acquired a Pre-Model 10 with a serial number of C 75XXX and a 4" barrel.

Are there any recommendations for ammo for general plinking on an outdoor private range? Is any of the modern, over the counter ammo suitable as long as it's not +P?

Also, if anyone can help date the revolver based on the serial number, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks!

I can't help much with the year of manufacture, except to say that the c prefix numbers started in 1948, and model numbers began in 1957, so it is somewhere between those dates. Any standard, non-+P ammo will be safe in the gun, but most were sighted for use with 158gr. bullets at standard .38 special velocities.. Lighter bullets, such as the military M41 ball rounds will shoot low, and heavier, slower bullets will shoot high.

__________________
Tom
1560

I would think with that serial number it would put that pistol in late 1949 or early 1950. I have one with serial number C 134xxx that shipped in December of 1950.

I have shot many different brands of .38 Special through my Pre-10's and they all do fine. Some are cleaner then others but they all shoot fine.

Enjoy.

+P is fine. Really.

I Reload .38 special and make mild loads with 148 grn wad utters.

For carry the .38 Special is rather anemic so choice of load matters little.
I used to always carry the FBI load of 158grn Lswchp's but now think it's a good load, but matters little what load is used. Around here 100 count boxes of Remington +P 125 jhp's are fairly cheap.

My dad once said my favorite beer was "other people's".
When I was a LEO I firmly followed that philosophy with free issue ammo, and that mentality has carried over to retirement.

Target wad cutters VS the FBI load really doesn't make that much difference with the .38.

Emory

For some reason advances in metallurgy led to a lessening of the power of standard loads in .38s. I would bet that any standard .38 special factory ammo would be safe in that gun.

Yeah, I'd definitely stay with standard pressure ammo. Type and brand becomes personal preference... and whatever your individual revolver seems to shoot best.

Still laughing out loud at how so many otherwise intelligent people keep falling for the +P myth. Again (for the 10,000th time) +P is NOT loaded to high pressure. IT IS "standard pressure" ammo.

One more time, here's my 1942 M&P made well before the model numbers were issued and before the post-war period (two benchmarks often used by the uninformed to approve +P use) posed with some of the 500 rounds of factory +P (125@925) and the 600 rounds of my own +P+ (125@1150) that I ran through it on a lark.





Here's a group fired at the end of the test... try to ignore that one I pulled out to 11 o'clock.

__________________
No life story has happy end.

Whatever you want to shoot in it would be OK, so long as it is not +P+. I tend to prefer shooting light full wadcutter (re)loads in all of mine.

So long as it's not +P+? You mean like the 600 rounds I put through mine?

__________________
No life story has happy end.

No! Factories loaded Plus P Plus to LE customer demands and warned that it WOULD lessen gun life. Because there is no SAAMI standard for it, you don't know what's in it.

And it was meant usually for use in .357 Magnum guns!

However, your trials are interesting, and I'm glad that you posted.

BTW, when S&W introduced the L-frame guns, factory reps told me that the reason for the new heavier frame was largely that cops were ruining M-19's, etc . and that Plus P Plus .38 ammo was more destructive to guns than normal .357 loads!

Over the counter ammo-The Federal Lead Round Nose as sold at Walmart prior to the ammo shortage is a very accurate and mild round for older revolvers. Name your brand of .38 wadcutters as sold by many online merchants are also excellent. Walmart also sells a Winchester 125 Flat point load that shoots well in my older guns.

Other than that I reload.Prefer my reloads to factory ammo. 158 grain mastercast round nose over 4 grains of 231 is nice. 148 grain DE wadcutter over 3.1 grains of 231 works well too.

Good shooting sir

STAY AWAY from gun show reloads sold in baggies.

__________________
The American dream is alive

I have always understood that these sights where regulated for 158 gr lead standard loads.

My experience is that they shoot to point of aim with this load.

__________________
ineedannudernewgun

Though I said "Load matters little", this is the one load I'd never have in my locker. Because you just might have to shoot someone. And this load is the worst. I'd rather have Light Target Waddcutters.

Emory

I own a 1954 Pre-Model 10 4 inch. Its picture as my Avatar. I was just at the range and with through 50 rounds of Winchester 125gr +P. I do this quite often. Like Saxon Pig says, +P 38s are what standard pressure used to be back before 1972. My revolver has not had any issues. Many hundreds of this type ammo has been used in my revolver.
Good luck
Howard

I guess that would bring you to price and ammo that shoots poa/poi.

Even though you said plinking I still dislike 158grn round nose as its such a poor performer for killing things. But perhaps you don't care.

Emory

So I'm taking its okay for 125g +p?

"Wikipedia" states a 147g has a muzzle energy of 264 and 900 fps
As we're a 125g +p is 248 and 945 fps

Hey Mikey, this thread is over 4 years old. Yes, you can shoot 125g +P.

__________________
Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Saxon Pig was in rare form on that thread:

"Still laughing out loud at how so many otherwise intelligent people keep falling for the +P myth"

"... for the 10,000th time ..."

"... two benchmarks often used by the uninformed to approve +P use ..."

Ah, the memories ...

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

Lots of old threads resurrected this weekend. Good to see how it was done back in the day.

I have two pre-Model 10 4" barreled S&W. Both shipped in 1950. I use both 130 grain and 158 grain factory reloads and have had no problem to date. But I don't have many rounds through them yet.

__________________
Mike
S&WCA #3065

Very nice shooting, Mike, but tell us --- were you using +P? If yes, when does the cast come off your hand?

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

Bear in mind that a cardinal argument that the USAF made in stating a desire for a 9mm auto prior to adoption of the Beretta M-9 was that Plus P ammo was causing excess wear on their Combat Masterpieces and that std. speed ammo lacked quick lethality in battle.

Now, some of this wear was to heavily used guns employed in training many troops. They were shot a lot. Cylinder endshake, timing, etc. became a problem. Most guns in private hands aren't fired that much.

Plus P won't blow up an older gun, although Buffalo Bore and Underwood offer ammo leaded hotter than most brands.

I'd use standard speed ammo for casual plinking. Target wadcutters perform well on most small game. BB offers a full speed (850 FPS) full wadcutter that I suspect will deliver well on men as well as smaller animals.

Most factories once sold such ammo but I guess sales weren't enough to keep it in production. Modern research suggests that at average handgun ranges, it's pretty effective on animate targets. This means men, raccoons, maybe coyotes. Certainly, rabbits and western grouse, where legal. It does not mean bears, although a lucky shot with it might penetrate enough for even that role.

Keep in mind that guns made before about 1920 didn't have heat treated cylinders and are NOT intended for Plus P ammo.

Saxon Pig and others feel that Plus P ammo is loaded to what used to be standard pressure. The factories didn't load most ammo lighter. What changed was how they measured pressure!

Bear in mind that some European ammo is routinely loaded hotter than US normal pressure standards.

S&W do not recommend Pius P in any but guns with steel frames, made recently enough to bear model numbers. That says something, at least to me.

In older guns, I think I'd look hard at that full speed wadcutter load at, I presume, normal pressure, and at the old FBI load, 158 grain SWC lead HP. It has a good track record. But I'd fire it just occasionally and carry when loaded for business.