Three or fouir times a year I shoot my April '42 Victory .38 S&W in a 48 round classic pistol match. About the same number of times annualy I use my 686-4 in a 90 round PPC type event shot out to 50 yards.
Becuase .357/358 bullets tumble in the S&W's .361 bore I use 148 gn HBWC projectiles to expand to the bore. When my main supplier stopped stocking lead I changed to jacketed projectiles and decided to "economise" by shooting the same bullet in both calibre.
A few years ago now I experienced a mishap with the Victory. Things were going well then there was a very loud discharge, heavier recoil and the gun was tied up solidly. When I finally got the cylinder open and extracted the case I found the jacket still in the case but the lead centre of the bullet blown out. I posted about it here and concensus was that it was a jacket failure which, occasionally occurs with this type of bullet.
Two weeks ago I was shooting my 686. The load was top end .38/low end +P level loading using the 148 gn JHBWC and the Mulwex equivilent of H4227 (Mulwex made both the original H4227 load and the current incarnation of that powder. The only difference with the Mulwex brand is the addition of a coating to the powder to lower temperatures for the Australian military). At 10 grains of powder in the .38 Special case there is no room in the case for a double charge
Once again things were going normally when there was another very loud discharge, heavier recoil and the gun tied up. When I got it open I found the lead centre missing and the jacket was half in the case and protruding enough into the forcing cone to need tapping back. The primer had been poped out and the base of the case separated.
Now there have been only two such failures over around 3000 loaded rounds in both calibre. But that is two too many.
I have changed back to loading lead HBWC bullets for my Victory and 158 gn JRN ones for the 686.
I do not need the sudden excitement of any more jacket failures.
Becuase .357/358 bullets tumble in the S&W's .361 bore I use 148 gn HBWC projectiles to expand to the bore. When my main supplier stopped stocking lead I changed to jacketed projectiles and decided to "economise" by shooting the same bullet in both calibre.
A few years ago now I experienced a mishap with the Victory. Things were going well then there was a very loud discharge, heavier recoil and the gun was tied up solidly. When I finally got the cylinder open and extracted the case I found the jacket still in the case but the lead centre of the bullet blown out. I posted about it here and concensus was that it was a jacket failure which, occasionally occurs with this type of bullet.
Two weeks ago I was shooting my 686. The load was top end .38/low end +P level loading using the 148 gn JHBWC and the Mulwex equivilent of H4227 (Mulwex made both the original H4227 load and the current incarnation of that powder. The only difference with the Mulwex brand is the addition of a coating to the powder to lower temperatures for the Australian military). At 10 grains of powder in the .38 Special case there is no room in the case for a double charge
Once again things were going normally when there was another very loud discharge, heavier recoil and the gun tied up. When I got it open I found the lead centre missing and the jacket was half in the case and protruding enough into the forcing cone to need tapping back. The primer had been poped out and the base of the case separated.
Now there have been only two such failures over around 3000 loaded rounds in both calibre. But that is two too many.
I have changed back to loading lead HBWC bullets for my Victory and 158 gn JRN ones for the 686.
I do not need the sudden excitement of any more jacket failures.
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