Taurus .38 Special Snubby

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  • Last Post 20 March 2016
Pigslayer posted this 27 December 2015

Well I went to the range today armed with my 2” barreled snubby and about 150 rds. of both LEE 125 gr. RFN's & Lyman 155 gr. 358156's. At 7-1/2 yds., as long as I did my part, it shot 1-1/2", 6-shot groups with both loads. I was impressed. The windage remained the same with both loads but of course the elevation differed between the two.      The sights on that little guy are fixed and it does not shoot to the sights. It is consistent @ 1-1/4” to the left. But I have enough windage in my sights to correct it to zero.  Pat  

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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delmarskid1 posted this 28 December 2015

I ordered a Charter Arms Bulldog .44 special with my Christmas money. I've never had a snubby. Taurus makes a pretty decent revolver.

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Pigslayer posted this 28 December 2015

delmarskid1 wrote: I ordered a Charter Arms Bulldog .44 special with my Christmas money. I've never had a snubby. Taurus makes a pretty decent revolver.
Post some pics of that bad boy when you get it.  

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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Pigslayer posted this 28 December 2015

Loaded up some Lyman 358311's sized to .360” ahead of 4.5 grs. of Unique. Can't wait to see how they shoot. Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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M3 Mitch posted this 15 March 2016

Try shooting that snub at longer ranges, say 25, even 50 yards. I'll bet you will surprise yourself how well it will shoot. People tend to think a short-barreled gat is no good at longer ranges. True, a longer barrel helps with bigger sight radius, but if you are careful aligning the sights, you will be pleasantly surprised at how close you can group with a snub at longer ranges.

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Brodie posted this 15 March 2016

Pat, After being impressed by a range master (Cpt. Charles Wiley USMC Ret.) being able to keep all his rounds in the black at 100yds with a 2” 38 special.  I started shooting my 2” S&W KIt gun at longer ranges.  You should of looked at the faces of the guys shooting with me at party balloons at 80yds when I beat them all with that little .22 2” Kit Gun.  Those short little devils are more accurate than we think.  It just takes a lot of practice.

When I was shooting bullseye pistol I would always start with the 2” S&W.  If I could score 95 on a 25yd target I knew I would shoot well during that practice session. Brodie

B.E.Brickey

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Pigslayer posted this 17 March 2016

Old Coot wrote: Pat, After being impressed by a range master (Cpt. Charles Wiley USMC Ret.) being able to keep all his rounds in the black at 100yds with a 2” 38 special.  I started shooting my 2” S&W KIt gun at longer ranges.  You should of looked at the faces of the guys shooting with me at party balloons at 80yds when I beat them all with that little .22 2” Kit Gun.  Those short little devils are more accurate than we think.  It just takes a lot of practice.

When I was shooting bullseye pistol I would always start with the 2” S&W.  If I could score 95 on a 25yd target I knew I would shoot well during that practice session. Brodie If it's nice this weekend I'll go to the range with a couple hundred wadcutters & try the 25 yd. target. Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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M3 Mitch posted this 18 March 2016

Frequently a full wadcutter will shoot quite well out to say 25 yards, but beyond that the high drag coefficient will “get to them” and groups open up in a non-linear fashion. At the other extreme, some magnum rifles firing high BC bullets at high velocities (I have read) shoot almost as tight a group at 200 yards as 100.

But that is about bullet shape and velocity, not barrel length (although barrel length does have some effect on velocity).

I don't know where the idea that a short barreled handgun has to shoot poorly at long ranges comes from, but most people who have not actually tried it, “know” it won't work.

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R. Dupraz posted this 18 March 2016

"Frequently a full wadcutter will shoot quite well out to say 25 yards, but beyond that the high drag coefficient will “get to them” and groups open up in a non-linear fashion”                   Now I know that the “snubby” is the topic here, and I may be taking this statement out of context, but on the face of it, this broad statement is not true. At least out to 50 yds. The above statement tends to suggest that the .38 cal FWC is inaccurate beyond 25 yds.                  During the course of many years shooting 38 cal. full wadcutters in three gun bullseye , the old police PPC course as well as annual police qualification and as a firearms instructor, with S&W 52's, K-38's, Mod 19's and 66's, those FWC's could tear the X ring out of the bull at fifty if the shooter was up to the task.     The full wadcutter will  shoot quite well at 50yds as well as at the 25.    

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Ed Harris posted this 18 March 2016

It isn't do much the high drag coefficient of a wadcutter, but that the right-cylinder shape becomes dynamically unstable.

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

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M3 Mitch posted this 18 March 2016

Well, I stand corrected. Thanks!

Ed, could you say a few more words about the dynamic instability of the wadcutter beyond - whatever range it is that they go unstable?

I do recall that wadcutters shoot quite accurately out to a certain range, typically, but beyond that range the groups open up considerably.

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tturner53 posted this 20 March 2016

There's a guy named Huntington who shot a utube video shooting FWCs at 100 yds. Results were a lot better than I expected.

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Ed Harris posted this 20 March 2016

In the most simple terms, drive them harder and they group farther, but overspin does not help because roational velocity decays more slowly than. translational velocity. In .357 Mag with 20” twist barrel, you can drive Saeco #348 DEWC with 10 grains of #2400 to “about” 100 yards, but Veral Smith's ogival wadcutters or something like Accurate 36-155D is LOTS better!

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

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