Ladysmith care and feeding.

[teletech]

Great chrono data from GLOWE there, I guess I'll have to dig out mine and do some testing.
More in-depth range report:
Still no CB longs
I shot many targets at 10 yards today, 10-shots/target and 2-4 targets to get some level of averaging. Overall was about 2.8" @ 10 yards. I was hoping some rounds wouldn't have that pronounced offset to the left, but everything did, so corrective action seems indicated.
CB shorts were the best at 2.5" average.
The Super Colibri were so close that it was about a tie for accuracy, but they did leave a yellowish residue around the forcing cone that wasn't present with the CBs.
Regular Colibri was a 3" proposition.
I did also find a box of vintage Western .22 super-X shorts (not labeled anything like high-speed) and decided to take a chance with a group just to see if accuracy or POI would improve. They were actually the least accurate at 3.2"
No visible damage resulted but even if they are fine, it's not worth the chance moving forward.
I have some longs, but they are labeled high-speed, so I'll shoot them over a chrono out of a newer gun before deciding if I'm willing to chance them.
So, overall the Ladysmith isn't very accurate, but it *is* pretty darn consistent.
The sights are minute and that's not helping. The tiny size also makes it challenging to get a consistent hold and trigger press. Even so, 2.5" at 10 yards isn't that fun for me these days and since I have a POI issue anyway, I'm tempted to try it with my spare barrel. Of course, I'll have to make a wee little action wrench to make that happen.

 

[DWalt]

Super-X = High Speed

 

[merl67]

I seriously doubt changing the barrel will help shooting the gun more accurately. I doubt the problem lies with the barrel. I think the size of the sights, along with the size of the gun makes shooting these neat little guns accurately problematic. Just not a lot to hold on to. Now if someone had a Ransom rest set up to hold one you might find out the potential accuracy of this little gun.

 

[delcrossv]

I seriously doubt changing the barrel will help shooting the gun more accurately. I doubt the problem lies with the barrel. I think the size of the sights, along with the size of the gun makes shooting these neat little guns accurately problematic. Just not a lot to hold on to. Now if someone had a Ransom rest set up to hold one you might find out the potential accuracy of this little gun.

Exactly. Keen eyes and small hands is why I mentioned the kids do better with them. Tolerances are as good as on the larger frames.

Fits a slightly built 6th grader pretty well:

 

[teletech]

I seriously doubt changing the barrel will help shooting the gun more accurately. I doubt the problem lies with the barrel. I think the size of the sights, along with the size of the gun makes shooting these neat little guns accurately problematic. Just not a lot to hold on to. Now if someone had a Ransom rest set up to hold one you might find out the potential accuracy of this little gun.

In this case, it might. While the gun is generally in excellent mechanical condition overall, the bore is only medium and in particular the forcing cone is corrosion-pitted and uneven. I haven't measured yet but I'm guessing the B/C gap is excessive.
It's hard to imagine all that has no effect on accuracy.

I think do have a set of blank inserts for my Ransom. Not that I "need" another project, but I suppose if I really want an answer...

 

[teletech]

Super-X = High Speed

Ah, good to know.
I'll have to chrono stuff out of a 3" I/J and use that for a metric when moving forward.

 

[teletech]

OK, so I found most of the parts for my old Chrony and made the rest. It even seems to work still.
Fired out of a 4" J-frame .22, I got the following values:
Peters short "High Velocity" hollow point= 970 low, 1195 High, 1060 Avg
Western Short "Extra Power"= 910 low, 959 high, 940 Avg
Federal "Bulk Pack" .22LR 36 grain copper-plated hollow-points= 880 low, 985 High, 933 Avg
CCI CB short= 600 low, 716 high, 640 Avg
Aguila Sniper-Sub-Sonic= 611 low, 676 high, 633 Avg
Aguila Super Colibri (newer gray box)= 581 low, 617 high, 597 Avg
Aguila Super Colibri (older multi-color box)= 564 low, 565 high, 564Avg
Aguila Colibri (older multi-color box)= 366 low, 371 High, 368 Avg

Interesting to note how much more consistent the Aguila ammo is that the CCI in velocity. It didn't translate into better accuracy but I guess velocity differences at 15 yards don't mean much.
The SSS is a nice velocity but with it's 60-grain bullet, I'm not sure it would be a good idea. It is interesting to note the other S&W that is known for cracked forcing cones is the model 19 and those do seem to occur with lighter bullets. It makes me suspect the 60-grain *might* be fine, but I'm not sure what the advantage would be. Seems like the accuracy for the Aguila Colibri, Super, and CCI CB shorts all is about the same and they are all easily in the safe range. The Aguila does leave more residue than the CCI though.

 

[teletech]

...and here's chrono data for rounds fired from the Ladysmith:
CCI CB short= 542lo, 604hi, 586avg
Aguila Super Colibri (newer gray box)= 524lo, 574hi, 554avg
Aguila Super Colibri (older multi-color box)= 506lo, 574hi, 526avg
Aguila Colibri (older multi-color box)= 316lo, 327hi, 323avg

 

[Frieda's Boss]

...and here's chrono data for rounds fired from the Ladysmith:
CCI CB short= 542lo, 604hi, 586avg
Aguila Super Colibri (newer gray box)= 524lo, 574hi, 554avg
Aguila Super Colibri (older multi-color box)= 506lo, 574hi, 526avg
Aguila Colibri (older multi-color box)= 316lo, 327hi, 323avg

Man, that Colibri is crazy slow. I have shot those, and the super colibris out of my Savage bolt action just for fun to see how quiet they are, with no powder & all. The supers were ok, but the regular colibris would hit the dirt about 2 feet low at 20 yards or so.

 

[delcrossv]

Man, that Colibri is crazy slow. I have shot those, and the super colibris out of my Savage bolt action just for fun to see how quiet they are, with no powder & all. The supers were ok, but the regular colibris would hit the dirt about 2 feet low at 20 yards or so.

I recall Aguila not recommending Colibri's in rifles as there's a risk they won't make it out of the barrel. No joke.

 

[raljr1]

I recall Aguila not recommending Colibri's in rifles as there's a risk they won't make it out of the barrel. No joke.

I have shot a couple dozen blackbirds with colibris from my rifle.

Robert

 

[Frieda's Boss]

I recall Aguila not recommending Colibri's in rifles as there's a risk they won't make it out of the barrel. No joke.

I'd not be surprised. A couple times, I didn't see the hit, so pulled the bolt to make sure the barrel was clear.

I have shot a couple dozen blackbirds with colibris from my rifle.

Robert

It'll kill birds, at least up close. Never had enough accuracy at any kind of distance for me to take a longer shot than about 10 yards or so.

 

[austintexas]

I have 2 Ladysmiths, I don't shoot mine, I looked at too many with bad forcing cones before I found mine. I have a multitude of .22s to shoot to bother shooting a collectible.
SWCA 892

 

[foggbird]

When I lived in Bolivia (not Bolivia, NC near me), I very occasionally saw a Taurus .22 revolver that seemed smaller than a I or J frame. Modern manufacture, but as close to a Ladysmith as I've seen. I never could buy one which I regretted. Anybody have or see one of those Taurus revolver?

 

[merl67]

When I lived in Bolivia (not Bolivia, NC near me), I very occasionally saw a Taurus .22 revolver that seemed smaller than a I or J frame. Modern manufacture, but as close to a Ladysmith as I've seen. I never could buy one which I regretted. Anybody have or see one of those Taurus revolver?

I believe you are referring to the Rossi 22 Princess I have one it is the same size as the Ladysmith. The quality isn't nearly as good the frame is made of a aluminum alloy, and the action is gritty at best.

 

[delcrossv]

I believe you are referring to the Rossi 22 Princess I have one it is the same size as the Ladysmith. The quality isn't nearly as good the frame is made of a aluminum alloy, and the action is gritty at best.

Something like Zinc aluminum IIRC. Agree on the action- like running a rockcrusher. They still have their appeal.

 

[LUNARKIDDER]

ROSSI PRINCESS

Yes that is the Rossi Princess you were referring to and I have 2 versions of it, the 3 inch barrel version seen in the pic from a previous post, and the 2 inch snub nose version that I think is the rarer of the two barrel lengths, they seem pretty fragile mechanically so I have never fired them.

 

[delcrossv]

Yes that is the Rossi Princess you were referring to and I have 2 versions of it, the 3 inch barrel version seen in the pic from a previous post, and the 2 inch snub nose version that I think is the rarer of the two barrel lengths, they seem pretty fragile mechanically so I have never fired them.

Post a pic of the snub!

 

[merl67]

Post a pic of the snub!

Here is my snub 2 inch one didn't think they were all that rare.

 

[teletech]

So, speaking of bad forcing cones on Ladysmiths...
It's not just a question of cracked cones, in comparing the forcing cone of one gun to a factory-new barrel, it's plain to see that the cone area on the old barrel is belled-out a fair bit. So much in fact that the frame engraved some threads on the barrel stub during removal. It might have been even bigger before come to that, but when removed and measured it was about .015" larger in diameter than the new barrel. Even under a 50X microscope there are no visible cracks, it's just been peened out from high-power ammunition.