anchors
US Veteran
They told me that both my model 36 revolvers were made in 1969 and definately NOT to use any +P ammo,even for carry.
Called S&W on my two 36's
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AKsRule
Member
+P has been discussed to death here.
Suffice to say we all make our OWN Choices.
Suffice to say we all make our OWN Choices.
MaineProbation
Member
Any Model 36's made that recently are perfectly safe to fire with +P .38 special ammo. Will wear be accelerated over standard pressure ammo? Somewhat, but not enough to worry about. The frame is certainly strong enough. A J frame .38 special cylinder is as strong as a K frame and, in one respect (no cylinder stop cuts directly over chambers), stronger. Probably the weakest point to be affected is the gas-ring/yoke interface. As long as headspace and endshake are within limits to being with, you will probably never fire enough +P's to ever notice the difference.
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If you want to carry them with +P, feel free to do what we all do - ignore the "official company line" and load up. Just don't shoot alot of them. If it bothers you that much, then buy a newer J frame that is rated for +P.
Various agencies used +P for years before the guns were marked for it and before S&W officially approved of it. The guns will not have a catastrophic failure - they might just wear faster.
Plan on alot of gun fights? Load up with +P and practice with regular ammo.
JamesArthur60
US Veteran
I'm confused.
My M36 was manufactured in 1968 and IIRC, S&W told me not to use +P ammo. Then why sould we take the advice from others on the internet over the gunmaker? Just curious.
MaineProbation
Member
First of all, S&W has to be politically correct and take into account the worst case scenario. If they approve +P, then someone will use +P+ or some ridiculously hot handloads. In this day of having to label coffee as "hot," probably someone will use too hot a load, damage a revolver, and end up blaming S&W. The factory's safest bet is to just say "no +P" and leave it at that. The other thing is, they want to sell more revolvers. They are an easier sell if the new .38's will handle +P and the older ones (supposedly) will not.
I would like to add to this that factory ammunition has been watered down in recent years. I can't speak for pressure limits, but .38spl from the 60s and 70s had bullet weights and velocities that meet or exceed that of modern +p ammo.
carguychris
Member
Another reason is that, as others have pointed out, the main reason for avoiding +P in a non-rated steel J frame seems to be the potential for accelerated wear, not to avert a gun-destroying kB!
Blown-up gun threads and pictures spread like wildfire on the Internet, often creating ongoing controversies and urban myths that just won't die. This topic comes up often, but I have never seen an example of a steel J frame that catastrophically blew up while using a factory .38Spl+P load. (I've seen cracked Airweight aluminum frames, but that's another topic.)
The absence of kB! anecdotes makes me confortable concluding that it rarely if ever happens. YMMV.
Blown-up gun threads and pictures spread like wildfire on the Internet, often creating ongoing controversies and urban myths that just won't die. This topic comes up often, but I have never seen an example of a steel J frame that catastrophically blew up while using a factory .38Spl+P load. (I've seen cracked Airweight aluminum frames, but that's another topic.)
The absence of kB! anecdotes makes me confortable concluding that it rarely if ever happens. YMMV.
