OLD S&W REVO - INFO NEEDED

JSR III said:
The silver medallions date S&W's from around late 1929 and 1930 forward. The HD was introduced in April of 1930 and was S&W's first attempt to build a more powerful .38 Special revolver and hence the upgrade to the larger N frame platform. Basically it is a hot loaded .38 Special and was sometimes referred to as the .38 Special High Velocity or the .38 Super Police. The round is not to be confused with the earlier 38/44 round fired in the model 3's.

Eventually in 1935 the .357 Magnum was introduced on a custom order basis only and was referred to as the Registered Magnum.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info on the piece I knew it was something different.

Kevin
 
DWalt said:
The .38-44 cartridge is simply a heavily loaded .38 Special having a muzzle velocity around 40% greater than standard .38 Special loadings. It is a little shy of the .357. It has not been factory loaded since the early 1970s, but is easily duplicated by handloading. Of course, any .38 Special loading will work OK.
Click to expand...

Any additional info, on .38/44 HD factory loads? Specifically type of components (swaged, HC, JSP, half jacketed) used, & case head caliber stampings?

Thanks!
 
GCF said:
Any additional info, on .38/44 HD factory loads? Specifically type of components (swaged, HC, JSP, half jacketed) used, & case head caliber stampings?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

MY most recent 38/44 ammo sighting (Remington in a "dog bone" box) were loaded with what appeared to be plain vanilla 158 grain round nose lead bullets.

I recall seeing some conical full metal jacketed bullets described as "metal piercing" in .38 Special loads, but don't know if they were the 38/44 loads or not. I know I have never seen factory loads using any sort of jacketed bullet with 38/44 case head stamps. I know all of the 38/44 ammo I've seen carried 38/44 case head stamps---and cautionary wording on the boxes----to the effect these are not your granddaddy's regular everyday .38 Special loads.

Ralph Tremaine
 
rct269 said:
MY most recent 38/44 ammo sighting (Remington in a "dog bone" box) were loaded with what appeared to be plain vanilla 158 grain round nose lead bullets.

I recall seeing some conical full metal jacketed bullets described as "metal piercing" in .38 Special loads, but don't know if they were the 38/44 loads or not. I know I have never seen factory loads using any sort of jacketed bullet with 38/44 case head stamps. I know all of the 38/44 ammo I've seen carried 38/44 case head stamps---and cautionary wording on the boxes----to the effect these are not your granddaddy's regular everyday .38 Special loads.

Ralph Tremaine
Click to expand...

The most common bullets used in the .38-44 were 158 gr Lead RN and 158 gr metal capped RN. Metal capped bullets were not the same as FMJ, as the bore-bearing rear of the bullet was lead, i.e., the metal cap covered only the visible part of the bullet. There were also metal penetrating high velocity .38 Special loads. Remington MP bullets were made of a zinc alloy (Zamak, the cartridge was called the Hi-way Master). Winchester and Western MP bullets were different. They had a lead core and were somewhat pointed. The metal jacket was somewhat thicker than usual. The idea behind these was to allow better metal penetration of car bodies than the usual LRN bullets. But they never became popular with LE agencies.

I know at least Western, and probably Winchester, offered 150 grain bullets in their Super-X line.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GCF
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Value of a S&W M325PD?
Replies
3
Views
135
halfmoonclip
H
M
Magazine ID required
Replies
6
Views
499
2152hq
2
A
New to me gun. Need help.
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
autogun1
A
D
Need help identifying old S&W .38 Special
Replies
11
Views
588
handejector
handejector
Nightwing_Actual
Looking for info on a victory model
Replies
5
Views
470
ordnanceguy
ordnanceguy

Latest posts

Back
Top