Ben_hutcherson
Member
A friend and I went out to the range today-or I should say not really the range, but a piece of property which I can occasionally get permission to shoot on.
In any case, I had a couple of old hard drives from work with stuck heads or other problems that needed to be properly(and securely) disposed of.
I had no idea what sort of firepower would be needed, so thought I'd start with 32 caliber handguns and work my way up.
I pulled out a couple of my M&Ps. I should mention that I have two very similar nickel M&Ps, one in 32-20 and the other in 38 Special.
In any case, I picked up(what I thought) was the 32-20, loaded it up, and unloaded on the first hard drive victim. Much to my displeasure, even from close range, I managed to do nothing more than dent the hard drive cover.
I turned around and ejected the spent cases, and noticed that they were badly bulged at the mouth. I also dumped a bunch of unburned powder out into my hand-something I'm not used to seeing with this 32-20 load(which I've used a lot).
I then decided to try a 38 special, so I walked over to my shooting bag, reached in, and pulled out the 32-20
When actually shot out of the correct gun, 32-20 actually penetrated the drives surprisingly well-this one went all the way through, although it did so by bending the platters rather than poking through them.
I thought it actually did better than a 9mm-although the 9mm losing its jacket probably hurt it a little bit.
By the way, a 357 Magnum Keith load(170gr Keith-type SWC over 13.5gr 2400)-at least out of a 4 inch or longer barrel-proved to be the handgun king of the day when it came to the task at hand.
I did manage to get a 45 Colt bullet stuck at an interesting angle under the cover also
But, at least I didn't permanently damage anything which I didn't intend to damage, and also learned to double check the caliber markings on the barrel.
(By the way, rifles are better at this job than any handgun..)
One other thing-my newly purchased model 19-3 was a bust. I shot one round(one of my mild 357 handloads) and the gun locked up tight. I couldn't even get the cylinder to open, and ended up having to use an ammo box to hammer the cylinder open. It seems as though the threads on the ejector rod are stripped. It looks like I'll be taking it back to Cabelas to either have it fixed or refunded.
In any case, I had a couple of old hard drives from work with stuck heads or other problems that needed to be properly(and securely) disposed of.
I had no idea what sort of firepower would be needed, so thought I'd start with 32 caliber handguns and work my way up.
I pulled out a couple of my M&Ps. I should mention that I have two very similar nickel M&Ps, one in 32-20 and the other in 38 Special.
In any case, I picked up(what I thought) was the 32-20, loaded it up, and unloaded on the first hard drive victim. Much to my displeasure, even from close range, I managed to do nothing more than dent the hard drive cover.
I turned around and ejected the spent cases, and noticed that they were badly bulged at the mouth. I also dumped a bunch of unburned powder out into my hand-something I'm not used to seeing with this 32-20 load(which I've used a lot).
I then decided to try a 38 special, so I walked over to my shooting bag, reached in, and pulled out the 32-20
When actually shot out of the correct gun, 32-20 actually penetrated the drives surprisingly well-this one went all the way through, although it did so by bending the platters rather than poking through them.
I thought it actually did better than a 9mm-although the 9mm losing its jacket probably hurt it a little bit.
By the way, a 357 Magnum Keith load(170gr Keith-type SWC over 13.5gr 2400)-at least out of a 4 inch or longer barrel-proved to be the handgun king of the day when it came to the task at hand.
I did manage to get a 45 Colt bullet stuck at an interesting angle under the cover also
But, at least I didn't permanently damage anything which I didn't intend to damage, and also learned to double check the caliber markings on the barrel.
(By the way, rifles are better at this job than any handgun..)
One other thing-my newly purchased model 19-3 was a bust. I shot one round(one of my mild 357 handloads) and the gun locked up tight. I couldn't even get the cylinder to open, and ended up having to use an ammo box to hammer the cylinder open. It seems as though the threads on the ejector rod are stripped. It looks like I'll be taking it back to Cabelas to either have it fixed or refunded.
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