Took some revolvers to the range this morning.

My gun accumulation has grown to close to 60 pieces, and I want to shoot them all, no safe queens in my house.

As a consequence, I end up with half a dozen guns when I go shooting, and my range bag weighs a ton. I try to go by theme, i.e. 9 mm, or big bore magnums, or pocket guns etc..

Anyway, from left to right :

Colt Diamondback .22 lr, Colt Python .357 Mag, Colt Diamondback .38 spl Ni (needs nicer grips), S&W 586 .357 Mag, S&W 66-3 (.38 spl only now)























Also tried some double action at the same distance, 25 meters off hand, but except for the .22lr, results were pretty bad.

Finished by emptying a few cylinders with each gun in DA rapid fire at 10 meters. Also tried a few CCI shot shells at 6 meters; huge dispersion, guess they’re good for 2-3 meters max.

Looks like you had a "BLAST"!!!!

Every time I read one of your posts, iit makes me happy that the residents at least one European country get to enjoy the fun of sport shooting and gun collecting!! I love the guns that you have posted, and your obvious enjoyment of them.

Great shooting, and some really nice "shootin' irons"!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Looks like a nice day at the range shooting some fine revolvers. It must have been fun plus you kept all your shots in the black.

Wow that is a great collection of shootin' iron!

I assume you reload to feed all those hungry cylinders??

That is some high end iron you are sporting ! Love the combats on the 586.

After all that shooting, it's only half a ton on the way home.

I got rolling luggage for a range bag, to deal with the weight.

No room for any more holes.

And you didn’t have to hunt for a single piece of brass!

Yep, left a lot of lead and copper at the range

I must admit, that’s a huge benefit. I shoot .45 ACP, 10 mm auto, .357 Sig and some other auto calibers, and chasing that brass is annoying.

I do when I find time. Also my RCBS 4X4 is giving me trouble with the indexing. Thinking of buying a Dillon.

Why is the M-66-3 a .38 only now?

There were M-68 versions for Los Angeles and California Highway Patrol departments, but I've never seen a true M66 in any but .357 Magnum caliber, which makes the gun much more versatile. I don't shoot a lot of .357 ammo in my M-66, but want the capability when needed.

The M-68 was made purely because police administrators in a very liberal state didn't want their cops carrying .357 ammo. The guns were never sold to the general public.

I know some M-586 and perhaps other models have been made for .38 only, for sale in Mexico, Brazil, and maybe other nations where most people can't own guns more powerful than .38 Special. But you live in Switzerland...

I see that you used some .22 shot cartridges. I'm surprised they sell those there. For what? Shooting rats in a garage? Here, they're usually used on snakes at very close range. But I think Switzerland has only Vipera berus, if even that Euro viper, and they don't bite many people. Aren't as toxic as our American venomous snakes, either. How do they compare in lethality to our Copperhead, the least potent of our venomous snakes? Of course, we now have two species of large pythons in Florida, due to released pets who now breed in the wild. But I'd not be carrying a .22 for use on those! Large examples can exceed 20 feet.

Oh: that last target looks like you shot it with your MAT-49 submachine gun! Have you shot it yet?

Well nothing so complicated, I made it a .38 spl only because the forcing cone cracked, twice, when shooting .357 Magnum.

Bought it brand new in 1989. It was only my second gun and first revolver, loved that thing.



and that's what it says on the barrel



so I went and shot a steady dose of .357 Mag, 125 and 158 grains commercial, all jacketed, as well as handloads, 125, 140 and 158 grains, Speer and Sierra jacketed on 2400 powder, within the Speer reloading tables, always staying below max.

Abt. 2000 rounds later the forcing cone cracked badly, locking the cylinder. LGS ordered and installed a new one. I started mixing .38 spl (which I had never shot before) and .357, while paying close attention to the forcing cone. It cracked again after abt 1500 rounds, but a much smaller crack, which does not impede the function of the gun. Since that day I only use it with .38 spl, did not feel like buying a third barrel. Probably shot another 2000 rounds with it. Crack did not move or worsen.

Still love that gun, been with me for 25 years and with it's amazing trigger it's one of the most accurate gun I own.

But I now use my 586 for .357.



Also some flame cutting but I am not concerned by that.



The flat and thinner portion of the barrel compared to a 586 can be cause for problems in my opinion.

Those were actually .38 spl shot shells. No idea what they could be used for. Maybe rats ?

That last target received abt 40 rounds from my AR 15 SP1, rapid fire at 30 meters, plus several cylinders of each revolver.

I have not shot the MAT 49 yet. Will do a range report when I do.

Thanks. So sorry about your M-66 barrel.

S&W representatives warned me to avoid 125 grain and lighter bullets with full loads and Plus P Plus cop-only .38 ammo, which is sometimes more damaging to a gun than full .357 loads.

That Plus P Plus stuff was never sold to the public and has no standard pressures, as it was loaded to the specs of the agency buying it. Such agencies had to sign waivers stating that they realized that it went beyond accepted pressure levels and would cause premature wear in guns. Its sole purpose was to let police chiefs in liberal areas tell the media that their officers used .38 guns. Alas, some has inevitably reached the public.

Bill Jordan, whose idea the Combat Magnum was, told me that he never intended the guns to be full-time .357's. He felt that most buyers would fire Magnum ammo only about 15% of the time.

I was expecting six guns. You even said so.. better go find the one you're missing..

Yeah well, I guess we never got that memo here in Switzerland

Back up, in an ankle holster

Well, what Bill told me was in a private conversation. I don't think he ever said that in print, as it might upset S&W.

As for the issue of Plus P Plus ammo, I was told that by two men from the S&W factory who were introducing a group of sheriff's and police officers and me (as a gun writer) to the then-new L-frame guns. We were at the sheriff's range. I don't know if I ever saw that info in print, either.

Magazine editors and ad men don't like to publish negative things about an advertiser's products. I heard that Massad Ayoob, a famous gun writer here, got on bad terms with S&W when he revealed that heavy firing with full .357 ammo expanded the gas ring in Model 66 through overheating it and causing guns to jam. Cylinders wouldn't rotate right. I mean correctly. Have to say that or some wit among us will post that S&W cylinders aren't meant to rotate to the right, LOL. Anyway, Mas published that and reaction from consumers, including police, was such that the company sought a solution. They moved the gas ring from the yoke to the cylinder, as I recall, resulting in M-66-1. The same was done to other K-frame .357's. That cured the problem. When L-frame guns appeared, it was determined that a certain brand (Winchester) .357 ammo could tie up the cylinder. They made free modifications to correct that and guns so modified are stamped M by the model number. Some never gave any problems, and using .38 cartridges didn't generate the problem. Changes were made in production, incorporating the mods to the entire L-frame line. I hope that your M-586 is free of such issues? This, of course, generated a dash suffix to model numbers of those guns.