Its been a while since we had a thread on this
"The Load"...
Yes, "The Load", somehow I figured that would come up
I started the thread asking about Longshot and HS6 because those are the only powders I have that I have not used for handgin loading, and because I am trying to get the most out of a 4" Model 64 while having a .38 load that will go in my .357's.
The suggestions of Unique and AA5 are appeciated, and I have already worked with both with very good results. Power Pistol is looking more and more like something I need to try, so I will get a pound and play with it.
So, if you want to talk about The Load, or other heavy 38's, go right ahead. In fact, let me lay my cards on the table right away:
I subscribe to the belief that since the original .38 Special working pressures were set at 21-22000 cup I can expect any full size 38 Special chambered revolver in good condition to be perfectly safe at that level. I would even suggest that J-frames made before SAAMI dropped the pressures would be safe at these "standard" 38 pressures. Whether they would be fun to shoot is another story, but they will not blow up on you.
Manufacturer's published this data and shooters used it for years with no real problems other than wear on the guns. Guns are tools, tools wear out, get repaired or replaced, just the facts of life. "Unsafe" means something entirely different.
Were some loads found to exceed max pressures? Probably, and it was corrected, but that doesn't justify watering down a 22000cup standard to 16000psi, even allowing for the differences in pressure measuring methods.
I equate this to our cars of the 1970's, all of which were perfectly safe to drive at legally posted speed limits of 70 or more, and mostly safe at even higher speeds. Along comes Congress and the safety nannies to say that 55mph is now the "safe" speed and anything faster is flirting with disaster. But what changed?
The cars were the same, the roads were the same, and the drivers(for better or worse) were the same. Only some arbitrary standard changed. Now comes along a later (and wiser) Congress who decide that 70 mph speed limits are again safe. And cars are even better now than in 1970.
So I believe that guns that were made for 22000cup, and loads that were used in those guns for decades with no ill effects, are still a viable combination. Modern guns are even better made that even 30 years ago. My concern with modern guns is that they will be made to accomodate the new lower standard and may actually be
less safe than older guns.
If I lay my M64 and M65's side by side the only differences are the length of barrel, the chamber cut in the cylinder and the caliber stamped on the barrel.
From what I know of modern "batch" maufacturing and what I have learned about S&W, I do not believe that some frames and cylinders are heat treated differently than others.
When the factory runs 5000 cylinders and 5000 frames, they know some will become 22's, some 38's and some will be 357's. It is easier to treat all of these the same up to the final manufacturing steps, and harder to keep differently treated parts separate, with the attendant liability if an inproperly treated part end up where it shouldn't. If someone more knowledgable than me knows differently, and for certain, that this is wrong please let me know.
So, there is my rant. Now that I have hijacked my own thread, feel free to throw in on this discussion.
Cerberus62
