Victory model ammo

[britbike1]

I was reading an article on them in the Dec 20 copy of American Rifleman and it was mentioned they originally were issued with 158 gr FMC by Remington. It would make sense as that was the std load for 38 spec. Does anyone know why and when the switch to 130 gr?

 

[LoboGunLeather]

My recollection is that the 130-FMJ load was done to meet a military contract requirement. Higher velocity was probably the intended goal.

I remember lots of military issue .38 Special 130-FMJ ammo available during the 1960s to 1980s or so. "Plain brown wrapper" boxes, RA (Remington) production, and clearly marked to indicate suitability for military uses only, not for civilian or law enforcement uses. I always thought that was probably intended to discourage pilferage.

We had lots of S&W .38 Special revolvers in Vietnam during my time there (1969-71). Army aviation crews and pilots, Air Force air crews and security police, some Navy personnel. All the ammo I saw was the issued 130-FMJ ball ammo.

I'm still using a bunch of RA .38 Special brass with headstamps of the 1960s. Perfectly good stuff, probably reloaded 20 or 30 times over the years. I got it all for free back in the early 1970s.

 

[JM4151]

130 gr Remington Ammo

In the 1970's and early 1980 I shot a lot of PPC matches in the eastern states using the factory lead wad cutters. Then I stopped shooting competatively when the 9 mm took over for police work. A few years later I bought some 130 grain Remington with FMJ heads. They were loaded a lot hotter than the old WC ammo. They actually hurt your hand when fired from a model 60 or 37, J frame. I wondered aout them but the ctges I shot were std purchased over the counter loads. I haven't seen WC or SW 38 specials in a long time. The fact that the 130 gr was made for military use answered a few questions that I had in my mind.

 

[.455_Hunter]

The mild 130 gr FMJ load was first developed post-war for the "Aircrewman" revolvers with their aluminum cylinders and frames. The guns were soon replaced, but the load lived on.

 

[Nevada Ed]

The Korean war stated in the 1950's and the pilots were issued the new
S&W M15 Aluminum frame revolver with a light pressure round at +/- 16,000 PSI
that would not damage the revolver.
This ammo was the M41, 130 gr FMJ that only did 750fps.

After Korea, there was so much complaing about the low energys that this load
was brought up to a +P rating with the PGU-12 130 gr bullet seated a little deeper
and in 1970 was rated at 1100fps out of a 4" barrel.

We were never issued this ammo, since our companies side arms were all the 45 cal. 1911 pistols.

 

[PeteC]

..."Plain brown wrapper" boxes, RA (Remington) production, and clearly marked to indicate suitability for military uses only, not for civilian or law enforcement uses...

Did those boxes look similar to these boxes of .45 ACP ammo? (Just curious if this box was made to similar requirements)

 

[kwill1911]

Several different boxes were used for M41 ammo. Here are three of them.

 

[britbike1]

Now I remember

The mild 130 gr FMJ load was first developed post-war for the "Aircrewman" revolvers with their aluminum cylinders and frames. The guns were soon replaced, but the load lived on.

Thanks, I totally forgot about the Aircrewman model. Sounds like a good idea until reality meets actuality.

 

[Nevada Ed]

In 1957 a movie was made about the Korean conflict and near the end
I beleive Mickey Rooney was on the ground waiting resque and his weapon
was the M15 revolver or maybe a m-1 carbine.
Somewhere in the show it shows a M15 being used for defense.

The movie was.... the Bridges of ToKo-Ri

My memory is a little fuzzy, since I was 12 years old back then.

 

[DWalt]

There were two types of .38 Special ammo used by the U. S. Navy during WWII - 158 grain FMJ Ball, and a red tracer round, both made by Remington. The Ball ammo was headstamped REM-UMC, and packed in civilian-style Remington 50 round boxes, the only difference was that the Navy-use boxes did not have an index number as the commercial boxes did. It did not have an official Navy nomenclature designation. The tracer ammo was packed in a much plainer box, and is exceedingly difficult to find. I have only one round of it in my collection. Shortly after WWII, there was some development of different colors of tracer bullets, but I have understood that only red was ever issued. Some years ago, the Journal of the International Ammunition Association had a very thorough article on the WWII Navy .38 Special ammunition. The Navy had a special use for the .38 Special tracer round as it could be used for emergency signalling by downed pilots. I believe pilots and flight crews carried only a few rounds of it, most of what they carried was the Ball round. Below is a different .38 Special round used ONLY by the USAF during the Vietnam era. It was much more powerful than the M41, more like the old .38-44 round. It was very tough on the M15 revolvers the USAF carried at that time. Some was made at Lake City, the only handgun round ever made there:

 

[kwill1911]