Fouling Shot article on how to bust a Colt

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Last Post 20 December 2013

CBA Member

.22-10-45 posted this 22 November 2013

Nov.-Dec. Fouling Shot has article on what can happen when combining vintage 1903 Colt New Police.32 revolver with near max. powder charges & hard lead. I have always loaded on conservative side when dealing with older revolvers out of respect for age and earlier steels. Have never found a need for hard lead..even when shooting full-bore .357 & .41 Mag. Silhouette. Softer lead just performs better for throat sealing & accuracy with target type loads. Might give those who worship at the alter of hard is better a pause.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 23 November 2013

Hard & soft alloys.

I think that there is a misconception about hard and soft alloys .

I think that what was considered hard 60 years ago , 90% lead and 10% tin is considered soft to day .

To day we consider hard the straight linotype alloy or water quenched wheel weights.

So the not so hard ( but costly) 1-10 tin lead alloy that was OK and considered hard for Elmer Keith's 44Mag , can well be substituted by cheaper WW and range scrap alloys.

I think that this hard alloy mania is caused by the wrong idea that soft lead causes barrel leading. The harder it is ,the better it is is not always true ( think of induratio penis plastica).

Bullet fit to the throat is much more important than hard alloy.

Yes , scientifically minded shooters should use a lead hardness tester.

I am a lazy reloader always trying to semplify and reduce work, and ,shoot mostly 700 - 900 fps handgun loads and 1000 - 1300 rifle loads .

I do not believe in energy,and speed , big caliber and bullet weight ( momentum - power factor) are the things that drop game animals and steel silhouettes.

And for 1500 feet per sec. hunting loads I use Gas checks ,add some Linotype and hope for the best.

What a sin , shooting high pressure loads in vintage , collectable old guns.

What we consider old and semi obsolete in 2013 will be considered a rare antique treasure in 2113

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CBA Member

delmarskid1 posted this 23 November 2013

I'm with Giorgio on this. I stuffed the barrel of a Swedish Nagant revolver with bullets. I had them loaded to 32 S&W levels and they never made it out of the end. I got them out with out hurting anything but I almost cried when I saw what I had done.

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CBA Member

giorgio de galleani posted this 24 November 2013

I too did the same with a S&W 38 Masterpiece with splined barrel ,many years ago ,bulging the barrel.

Too little a powder charge is a mistake too.

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CBA Member

Ed Harris posted this 24 November 2013

I had a similar experience years ago with a Colt Pocket Positive .32, except instead of splitting the barrel forcing cone, I bulged a chamber of the thin-walled cylinder, at the locking bolt cut, by firing 3 grs. of W231 and the Saeco #325, which made it very hard to extract the empties.

The revolver continued to work OK with mild factory .32 S&W loads,(Not The Long) and I gave it to an old guy with two boxes of 88-grain lead ammo. He doesn't reload and the little gun still stays in his overalls pocket and kills a varmint every now and then.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Standard Member

CB posted this 24 November 2013

What a difference a few tenths of a grain can make! I honestly can't say that I might not have made the same mistake. The article did make me think of the number of people I've tried to dissuade from reloading for 38 S&W breaktops with smokeless powder. Oddly, we never seem to hear from these guys much after that point. Rics Colt is way higher up the evolutionary scale than the breaktops were. Like I said, who knew?

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Standard Member

JeffinNZ posted this 25 November 2013

There's a lot to be said for a full case of black powder or Pyrodex in vintage firearms. Hard to overload.

Cheers from New Zealand

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CBA Member

Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 25 November 2013

HARD LEAD, eh ? Forgive me Father, lest i cast the first stony-hard ball-ete ..

back a ways, i loaned my beloved 50's-era lyman 12 ga. rifled slug kit to a neighbor kid.

where he got that crystal-hard lead, i dont know, but he beat the snot out of the sprue plate and the blocks ...and the few slugs he did get swamped out his father's turkey-full choke in his auto shotgun.

fifty years later, his father still thinks the barrel just wore plumb out.

the learning experience worked great ...today both the son y I hold a black belt in smart-ass.

a hard lesson about hard lead ..

ken

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CBA Member

gnoahhh posted this 16 December 2013

I too wrecked a dandy WWI-era Colt Police Positive .32. It was also the incident which caused me to swear off unknown gun show bargain ammo. The culprit was what I think was a double or triple charge of powder. The discharge felt like a .357 going off- it blew the top half of the cylinder into atoms, split the barrel forcing cone/frame and bent the top strap into a U. Luckily no injuries. When I accosted the guy who sold me the ammo, he just shrugged his shoulders...

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CBA Member

R. Dupraz posted this 16 December 2013

The perfect example of two of my life long rules. Never load for anybody else And Never shoot anybody else's reloads I discovered a long time ago that I am perfectly capable of blowing my own brains out all by myself, let along someone else's. RD