Recent content by Pantera Mike

FWIW I only ever rotated the safety 4-5 times during my short ownership tenure. It had zero indications of anything wrong. It just acted like any other S&W auto safety with no undue resistance.

When dry-firing hammer-fired autos, I place an old foam earplug in the cavity at the back of the slide. The hammer hits it but never reaches the firing pin or anything else. It works great for most guns.

Wow it’s half the cost from Numrich! Oh well—it’s already enroute to me from Jack First. Good to know for the future. I never dry fire but I have no idea how this gun was treated for the first 40+ years of its life….

I was at the range yesterday, enjoying my Model 52-2, when something fell onto my left wrist and landed on the bench: Needless to say, this was highly unexpected. I’m shooting loads just barely powerful enough to cycle the action (3.2gr WW-231/HP-38 with Speer 148gr HBWC) and I never...

You can also buy brass directly from Starline in 500-round increments. For awhile there was a fellow selling brand new RCBS sizer dies on Ebay for $10 each with free shipping—unbelievably. I took a chance and got exactly what I paid for. However, that was a bit of an extravagance as it wasn’t...

If you really want to see people’s brains melt down, pull a Model 52 out of your case with a factory frame weight attached!

When I started out loading 38 S&W (with black powder) I planned to use a 38 Super sizer, Dillon drop-through expander, and 380 ACP seater (I’m partial to taper crimp). But a friend turned me on to a guy selling new RCBS 38 S&W Cowboy sizing dies on eBay for only ten bucks! I couldn’t resist...

…or just buy a 38 Special taper crimp die. I have several RCBS TC dies I have picked up over the years on eBay etc.

I always seat and crimp in separate operations, and I use a taper crimp die for 38/357 as it’s much kinder to the brass and gives a more uniform neck tension when the cases aren’t exactly the same length. I have some cases I’ve been reloading over and over since the 1980s. Nickel plated...

My go-to load for my King-sighted Bullseye 1927 Model 1904 38 Spl was 3.0gr WW231 over the Speer 148gr HBWC. When I got my Model 52 I was disappointed to discover it was too light to cycle. It had a 100% failure rate. Upping the charge to 3.2gr (Speer lists 3.3gr as max) completely cured it. I...

Just saw this. I bought a C-prefix Seattle Mk VI back in the early 1990s to use as my ‘Bosnia gun’. I never wound up carrying it however. It’s a beautiful piece, with flawless functioning (I did have to replace a follower on a Triple K magazine to keep it from overriding the slide stop on the...

All, Having spent several hours digesting everything I can find on this forum as well as others, I’m left more confused than ever. I’ve been reloading for 40 years for 20th century guns, but yesterday got a 1889 S&W Safety Hammerless in 38 S&W. I’ve ordered new Starline brass and 146gr...

All, I just inherited this somewhat scruffy-looking Safety Hammerless (see attached pics). The serial number of 29733 suggests a manufacture date around 1889. It seems to be fully functional. I realize it doesn’t have much value, but it looks like it would be fun to shoot. Is there any...

Okay, this then leads to the obvious question: how do I change it? I assume the safety is retained in the slide by the firing pin. That is in turn retained by a spring-loaded plunger. That is retained by the rear sight. So to remove the safety do I have to remove the sight, remove the plunger...

Okay, thanks, just ordered one. It may be awhile before I install it…