Re: Load choice reality check-gotta see this! Archived Message
Posted by Steve Arnett on April 1, 2007, 3:29 pm, in reply to "Re: Load choice reality check-gotta see this!"
A couple of thoughts about the split barrel. Bismuth is a lot harder than lead shot, especially the lead shot available 100 years ago. There's very little deformation or compression in the shot column. The wads that are used for non-toxic loads are much thicker and don't behave like lead shot wads. The powders used in these loads are much slower burning, and generate higher muzzle pressure than lead shot loads. The pressure may peak with the shot column just in front of the chamber, but the pressure from there to the muzzle is well above anything these barrels were designed for. If you compare the taper of old S X S barrels with that of modern guns, you can see the margin of safety built into the newer guns. The net effect of all this is that it's like shooting .357 Mag. loads in an old break-top .38 S & W revolver. Chamber length differeneces aside (there were many "conversions" of .38 Special revolvers), this is just trouble waiting to happen. You may get away with for a few times, but a steady diet of it will eventually destroy it. The packages on this ammo have disclaimers for a reason.
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