For what it's worth, had I been assigned to Vietnam, I'd have tried to take commercial jacketed 150 grain .38 ammo. It'd meet Hague Accords standards and be quite a bit hotter than the M-41 round.

I never fired any of that bought off-base in Denver, although we carried it. I think the boxes were marked as High Velocity, and it may well have been the .38-44 load.

Cases were nickled, a boon in tropical climates.

I asked S&W about firing .38-44 ammo in K-Frames and was told that it was safe, but would produce added wear and recoil. They strongly suggested that I buy a .38-44 or .357 if I planned to fire that ammo much. Of course, I was planning to fire a box or three, so I wasn't too concerned.

I never saw anyone in the USAF pull bullets and add powder to M-41 ammo. I think I was the only one in my units who knew or cared much about ammunition. Very few men were gun enthusists, other than some hunters, and they were more concerned with rifles and shotguns for game. The marksmanship training people did know more about guns.

When I qualified with the .45 auto, most of my companions were astounded that the gun would shoot that well. Most were pretty recoil sensitive. I also owned a personal former Lend-Lease M-1911A-1, but couldn't wear it on duty. I posted above about my later Gold Cup.

I'm quite sure that there were many other "gun people" in the USAF then. I just didn't meet many. Visiting Navy aircrew still carried the Victory Model. Don't know what ammo they had.

Many of our pilots going to SE Asia provided their own sidearms. Commissioned officers could then still do that. I saw letters from some in the gun titles. Most seemed to favor the .45 auto or the S&W M-19. Stephen Coonts, the thriller writer, had his hero carry a M-19 in Vietnam days, sometimes later. (Admiral Jake Grafton.) I strongly suspect that Coonts also wore the S&W M-19 when he was a A-6 pilot in Vietnam. That's where he got the background data for his books, like, "Flight of the Intruder."

It is interesting to speculate about what ammo these pilots had for their own guns. Woudn't be surprised if many carried commercial .357 Magnum loads.

Oh: I saw .22 Hornet ammo for use in the M-4 and M-6 survival arms carried in some parachute seat packs. That ammo was softpoint and clearly labled as being solely for survival use, and not to be used against enemy personnel.

I wouldn't voluntarily shoot even a rabbit with the weak M-41 Ball .38 ammo. Elmer Keith and many others have commented on how much more effective flatpoint bullets are on game.