Top Break Revolver HELP/ADVICE

Redcoat3340 said:

A quick update: I found a mid-war H&R Defender for a decent price. Had everything I wanted...."modern" so shooting new ammo is no worry at all; a decent price; not too small; H&R made okay guns and a decent seller. All it was lacking was a S&W logo...but I'm still looking for a "Perfected" as I'm partial to Smiths (although I liked adding the H&R to my one gun collection of H&R top breaks...a .22...699 I believe).

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One thing to know about the wartime & postwar H&R Defenders with black plastic grips: The grips are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate, one of its trade names being "Tenite". It's fine stuff - unless you store it in a small, fairly well enclosed space. Then one of the volatile chemicals in the plastic creates a gas containing acetic acid, and the grips self-destruct over time. Acetic acid is the acid in vinegar, and this process is called "vinegar syndrome" by people who collect this stuff - vintage film collectors especially, since film is normally stored in tight-fitting cans. Keeping the pistol in a good sized safe is probably fine, but you may not want to store it a case or box.

I do not know if the BROWN plastic H&R grips were made of the same stuff. All the H&R grips I have seen ruined this way were black, IIRC. It's not a huge problem, just something to be aware of.

my Webley 38/200s . they shoot way low with modern 38s&w

Sam Spade's partner carried a Webely Fosberry.
IIRC he was murdered with his own revolver in the beginning of The Maltese Falcon

John Joseph said:

Sam Spade's partner carried a Webely Fosberry.
IIRC he was murdered with his own revolver in the beginning of The Maltese Falcon

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I am sorry to be "that guy", but in "The Maltese Falcon", Sam Spade's partner (Miles Archer) did not carry a Webley-Fosbery. The man he was shadowing, Floyd Thursby, did, and Miles Archer was murdered with it. It was the eight-shot 38 ACP version. In the Humphrey Bogart version of the movie, at least, the Webley was left at the scene of the crime and is briefly shown. Thursby was murdered later the same night, and never appears directly in the book or the movie.

"Indeed, the 32 S&W has a poor reputation as a man stopper. But to our surprise, these bullets passed through four layers of denim and penetrated 14 inches into the gel."

http://www.guns.com/review/gun-review-iver-johnson-safety-automatic-revolver-in-32-sw/

Who would have thought?

Monac said:

I am sorry to be "that guy", but in "The Maltese Falcon", Sam Spade's partner (Miles Archer) did not carry a Webley-Fosbery. The man he was shadowing, Floyd Thursby, did, and Miles Archer was murdered with it. It was the eight-shot 38 ACP version. In the Humphrey Bogart version of the movie, at least, the Webley was left at the scene of the crime and is briefly shown. Thursby was murdered later the same night, and never appears directly in the book or the movie.

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Thanks for setting me straight about this. I had no idea the Webely Fosberry was chambered for .38 ACP either.

lewwallace said:

my Webley 38/200s . they shoot way low with modern 38s&w
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Do you load the 200 grain bullets for yours? That seems to solve that problem.

I ran into the same thing you did with my Enfield shooting low with 38 S&W loads when I first got it. I was initally shooting 158 grain LSWC's out of it, as its what I had on hand, and from what I had read, wasnt a problem and commonly done. Accuracy was "OK", but still a good bit low.

Doing some research on things I later came across Matts Bullets, who has 200 grain, . 361 diameter lead bullets, that duplicate the British 38/200 WWI bullet, and in two versions. Ive been shooting the "Webley MKI" version over 2 grains of Unique, and they shoot POA now, in both my Enfield and S&W Victory and are accurate in both. Real pleasant to shoot too.

Matts does recommend that you only use these bullets in the stronger British top breaks and the more modern "hand ejectors", and not in the US top breaks though.

They are deceptively "heavy" too, and the bullets are actually larger than the case, when set side by side on the bench. Pick up a box of 50, and it feels more like a box of .45 acp's than it does a box of .38's.

I recently picked up a Colt Police Positive in 38 S&W. When I bought it, I was at first figuring on just using the 38/200's, just to keep things simple, but on second thought, and a little investigation, decided not to. The Police Positives are a bit smaller than the Offical Police Colts, that were sent over to the British and did use the 38/200.

It also seems the Colts have bores much tighter than the Smiths, Enfields, and other 38 S&W guns, and are more suited to the .357 diameter bullets. Ive been loading the 158 grain LSWC's with decent success and accuracy, and on the recommendation of someone who shoots a lot of these type guns, and I think Im going to load up some 148 grain HBWC's in it and give them a try.

I like to try and keep things simple, and was hoping to avoid having to buy specific bullets for specific guns, but it looks like I might have jumped in a little quick on this one, before I thought. Oh well. Fun isnt trouble, just a little more work.