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Re: Colt Cobras/Detective Special and +p\'s
Dfariswheel,
I have often wondered about why Colt would rate the pre-war guns for the 38/44 when it would have been quite hot for the gun. I have a couple of conjectures and I would be interested in your insights.
1) It was a production gun, and every smith in town knew how to time one, how to fix one, and if it stretched they would tell the customer to replace it or Colt would. Maybe?
2) It was a marketing strategy. They figured few folks would actually shoot more then a cylinder full of 38/44's before they quit and the gun could take it. If they did more, then option 1 kicks in.
3) The guns were just built better than today (unlikely).
4) The 38/44 was not as hot as we think it was.
I think #4 is unlikely because I have chronoed original 38/44 high speed ammo out of my Heavy Duties and it seemed to approach what it was supposed to do. Not bad for 75 year old ammo. I found that compared to todays rounds, it was very close to "commercial" 357 magnum levels of velocity and power.
Any insights?
by the way, the 38/44 is a hobby of mine. I just bought a 1939 38/44 Outdoorsman with the original box, and factory target. It is a "gem", but now I have to reshoot my 38/44 pictures. The herd grew a bunch over the last 3 months....
Dfariswheel,
I have often wondered about why Colt would rate the pre-war guns for the 38/44 when it would have been quite hot for the gun. I have a couple of conjectures and I would be interested in your insights.
1) It was a production gun, and every smith in town knew how to time one, how to fix one, and if it stretched they would tell the customer to replace it or Colt would. Maybe?
2) It was a marketing strategy. They figured few folks would actually shoot more then a cylinder full of 38/44's before they quit and the gun could take it. If they did more, then option 1 kicks in.
3) The guns were just built better than today (unlikely).
4) The 38/44 was not as hot as we think it was.
I think #4 is unlikely because I have chronoed original 38/44 high speed ammo out of my Heavy Duties and it seemed to approach what it was supposed to do. Not bad for 75 year old ammo. I found that compared to todays rounds, it was very close to "commercial" 357 magnum levels of velocity and power.
Any insights?
by the way, the 38/44 is a hobby of mine. I just bought a 1939 38/44 Outdoorsman with the original box, and factory target. It is a "gem", but now I have to reshoot my 38/44 pictures. The herd grew a bunch over the last 3 months....