DA.
Although I seem to recall a Texas Ranger in east Texas back in the '60's that I saw carrying a Colt SA.
Old Houston, Harris Co. LE revolvers
Moderator: carlson1
revolvers
I think the SW 45 LC revolver was a mod 25. They were double action. It was an N or large frame with a 4" barrel. Think of a 4" mod 29 SW .44 and you'll get the picture. It looked like that except with a .45 tube.
My friend loved that gun. He said if times and the nature of criminals had stayed the same, he would have carried it forever as a uniformed officer. He just felt outgunned as more criminals began carrying autos.
The 45 LC had a huge round. 250 or 260 grains.
About vehicle penetration: The older cars had thicker metal than cars do now. They were pretty stout. If a round nose lead bullet hit a car at an angle, it could bounce off. I even read that snub nose 38s would bounce off an auto glass if it struck at an angle.
The nice thing about the 45 lc was that it could be loaded it with conical lead bullets, which had a slight lip around the base. When the con lead bullets struck a car at an angle, the lead lip would "grab" the metal surface and deflect into or pull the bullet into the auto body. The heavy 45 round would penetrate into the car rather than bounce off like the round nose rounds. I think that was an Elmer Keith bullet design.
This was especially true for the 45 lc which did not reach magnum velocities and risk leading the barrel. Lead bullets fired in magnum pistols at hot magnum velocities can lead up the barrels due to the heat and pressure of the magnum load. This all depended on the makeup of the projectiles of course. The right lead formula would be ok. Otherwise, after about the 2nd or 3rd shot, the bullets would tumble because all of the lands and grooves were filled with lead and you were shooting a smooth bore. I shot some hot lead handloads once and had that happen. It was awful cleaning the lead out. One had to pull a "Lewis Lead Remover" or similar device through the barrel many times to get it out.
The original commercial magnum loads were lead and performed pretty well without leading. But as the semi jacket rounds became available, and the factory loads got hotter, more folks went with semi jacket hollowpoints. I used to fire the less expensive lead rounds in my 357 and when ready to leave the range, would fire 6 hot semijacket rounds to "clean out" any accumulated lead. It seemed to work.
Well, I'm rambling now. I always liked the big frame Smiths and got off on a tangent.
My friend loved that gun. He said if times and the nature of criminals had stayed the same, he would have carried it forever as a uniformed officer. He just felt outgunned as more criminals began carrying autos.
The 45 LC had a huge round. 250 or 260 grains.
About vehicle penetration: The older cars had thicker metal than cars do now. They were pretty stout. If a round nose lead bullet hit a car at an angle, it could bounce off. I even read that snub nose 38s would bounce off an auto glass if it struck at an angle.
The nice thing about the 45 lc was that it could be loaded it with conical lead bullets, which had a slight lip around the base. When the con lead bullets struck a car at an angle, the lead lip would "grab" the metal surface and deflect into or pull the bullet into the auto body. The heavy 45 round would penetrate into the car rather than bounce off like the round nose rounds. I think that was an Elmer Keith bullet design.
This was especially true for the 45 lc which did not reach magnum velocities and risk leading the barrel. Lead bullets fired in magnum pistols at hot magnum velocities can lead up the barrels due to the heat and pressure of the magnum load. This all depended on the makeup of the projectiles of course. The right lead formula would be ok. Otherwise, after about the 2nd or 3rd shot, the bullets would tumble because all of the lands and grooves were filled with lead and you were shooting a smooth bore. I shot some hot lead handloads once and had that happen. It was awful cleaning the lead out. One had to pull a "Lewis Lead Remover" or similar device through the barrel many times to get it out.
The original commercial magnum loads were lead and performed pretty well without leading. But as the semi jacket rounds became available, and the factory loads got hotter, more folks went with semi jacket hollowpoints. I used to fire the less expensive lead rounds in my 357 and when ready to leave the range, would fire 6 hot semijacket rounds to "clean out" any accumulated lead. It seemed to work.
Well, I'm rambling now. I always liked the big frame Smiths and got off on a tangent.