AMMUNITION FOR PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS.
Nearly all the modern American pistols and revolvers are made to shoot metallic cartridges. There are a few fine muzzle-loading duelling and target pistols in use at the present time, but the great amount of time necessary to load them, in comparison with the modern breech-loading arms, makes them unpopular with most of the pistol-shots, and out of the question for revolvers for military use, where rapidity of firing and reloading is required. The difference between a muzzle and breech loading single-shot pistol is apparently the same as the difference between the two systems of rifles. If loaded a certain way there is no advantage in one over another. Probably a muzzle-loading pistol, loaded the usual way of duelling pistols, would show finer work than a breech-loading pistol of the same weight, length of barrel and bore, loaded with a factory metallic cartridge. But if two pistols exactly alike, with the exception of one being a muzzle-loader and the other a breech-loader, were loaded with the same charge, one being loaded at the muzzle, the other at the breech; but instead of using a factory metallic cartridge the bullet was seated in the rifling, and the shell loaded flush to its top, and placed in the chamber, after the manner of loading the modern breech-loading target rifle,—it is believed that one pistol would shoot as well as the other. Many of the foreign target and duelling pistols of recent manufacture are made breech-loading, and loaded in the manner described. The expert pistol-shot is well aware that he can secure a great advantage by preparing ammunition for certain purposes in a manner different from the way the manufacturer makes it for the trade; but this point will be described later.
With the exception of the pistols alluded to, all modern American pistols and revolvers take the metallic cartridges, which are produced in enormous quantities and variety of styles in this country. These cartridges vary in size, and are known to the trade from .22 to .50 calibre, and contain charges of powder from 3 grains to 40, and bullets weighing from 30 to 300 grains.
The cartridge companies in America manufacture the following cartridges, which are used in American pistols and revolvers:—
Rim-Fire Cartridges.
Conical-ball cartridge for indoors, .22-calibre. .22-calibre: powder, 3 grains; lead, 30 grains. .22-calibre (long): powder, 5; lead, 30. .25-calibre: powder, 5; lead, 38. .30-calibre: powder, 6; lead, 55. .30-calibre (long): powder, 9; lead, 55. .32-calibre (ex. short): powder, 6; lead, 55. .32-calibre (short): powder, 9; lead, 82. .32-calibre (long): powder, 13; lead, 90. .38-calibre (short): powder, 18; lead, 150. .38-calibre (long): powder, 21; lead, 148. .41-calibre: powder, 13; lead, 130. .41-calibre (long): powder, 16; lead, 130. .44-calibre (short): powder, 21; lead, 200. .44-calibre: powder, 26; lead, 200. .44-calibre: powder, 23; lead, 200. .46-calibre: powder, 26; lead, 230.
Centre-Fire Cartridges.
.22-calibre: powder, 15 grains; lead, 45 grains. .32-calibre Smith & Wesson: powder, 9; lead, 85. .32-calibre Colt: powder, 12; lead, 90. .32-calibre (short): powder, 9; lead, 82. .32-calibre (long): powder, 13; lead, 90. .32-calibre Winchester: powder, 20; lead, 115. .32-calibre Smith & Wesson rifle and .32-calibre Smith & Wesson, .32-.44: powder, 17; lead, 100. .38-calibre Merwin & Hulbert: powder, 14; lead, 145. .38-calibre Smith & Wesson: powder, 14; lead, 145. .38-calibre (short): powder, 18; lead, 130. .38-calibre (long): powder, 21; lead, 148. .41-calibre: powder, 20; lead, 130. .41-calibre Colt’s D. A.: powder, 14; lead, 160. .41-calibre D. A.: powder, 21; lead, 200. .44-calibre Webley: powder, 18; lead, 200. .44-calibre Bull Dog: powder, 15; lead, 168. .44-calibre Colt: powder, 23; lead, 210. .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, American model: powder, 25; lead, 205. .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, Russian model: powder, 22; lead, 235. .44-calibre Winchester: powder, 40; lead, 200. .44-calibre Merwin & Hulbert: powder, 30; lead, 220. .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, Russian model, gallery: powder, 7. .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, Russian model, gallery, round ball: powder, 7. .45-calibre Webley: powder, 20; lead, 230. .45-calibre Colt’s: powder, 35; lead, 260. .45-calibre Smith & Wesson (Schofield): powder, 30; lead, 250. .50-calibre: powder, 25; lead, 300.
The above list comprises all the metallic cartridges known to the author which can be found in the market at the time of writing this chapter. Many of these cartridges are adapted to almost obsolete patterns of pistols and revolvers, and would never be selected by skilled marksmen to do fine work, for the reason that both pistol and cartridge are not suitable for good shooting. We have previously alluded to the great number of cheap, worthless pistols and revolvers to be found in the American market. Many of the cartridges are for these arms. We have also mentioned the great quantity of pistols and revolvers intended for weapons of defence at short range. Among this list are numerous cartridges for these weapons, and still others are for the best and most accurate of American pistols and revolvers; these, with a few for foreign weapons, make up the list.
Among the cartridges largely used in single-shot pistols at the present time are the following:—
Rim-Fire Cartridges.
.22-calibre, conical balls; .22-calibre, short.
Centre-Fire Cartridges.
.32-calibre Smith & Wesson; .32-calibre Colt; .32-calibre (short); .32-calibre (long); .32-calibre Winchester rifle-cartridge; .32-calibre Smith & Wesson rifle.
For revolvers no expert marksmen, unless obliged to, would use a rim-fire cartridge, and the centre-fire cartridges giving the best results are as follows: .32-calibre Smith & Wesson; .32-calibre Colt; .32-calibre (short); .32-calibre (long); .32-calibre Smith & Wesson rifle, with round or conical ball, light and full charge; .32-calibre Smith & Wesson, .32-.44, Russian model; .38-calibre Merwin & Hulbert; .38-calibre Smith & Wesson; .38-calibre (short); .38-calibre (long); 41-calibre; .44-calibre Colt; .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, American model; .44-calibre Smith & Wesson, Russian model, full charge and light charge, with round or light conical bullet; .44-calibre Winchester; .45-calibre Webley; .45-calibre Colt’s Army; .45-calibre Smith & Wesson (Schofield). In rim-fire cartridges the .22-calibre conical-ball cartridge is used in considerable quantity. It makes very little report and hardly any smoke, and is used largely by persons desiring practice indoors, where smoke and noise would be objectionable. Manufacturers claim that this cartridge possesses great accuracy at short range (ten or fifteen yards), and will not injure the pistol. It is true that very fine shooting can often be done with this cartridge, but the explosive substance with which this cartridge is charged is tremendously powerful, and the slightest variation in the quantity affects the power of a cartridge, and it is not unusual to get a wild shot with good holding, and it is not uncommon to have a bullet lodged in the barrel of the pistol from lack of power in the cartridge sufficient to force it out. The question of its not injuring a pistol may be true; but we should hesitate to use them in a pistol we desired to keep for the finest work, although the sport which can be obtained with these tiny cartridges tempts many enthusiasts to use them in great quantities. There are conical ball .22-calibre cartridges in the market with very thick, irregular heads. In using them there is much danger of premature discharges, as by closing the pistol the head of the cartridge is jammed, and an explosion is likely to occur, as they did several times in the writer’s hands. This fact well illustrates the greater danger in handling rim-fire over centre-fire cartridges. The .22-calibre (short) cartridge is consumed annually by the million in America by pistol-shooters. It is probably as accurate, if properly made, as any cartridge in the world up to a distance of fifty yards. It doubtless will continue in popularity for many years, for it is difficult, if not impossible, to make a cartridge of this size to sell for the price this cartridge does, and have it centre-fire, besides the difficulty of making a primer small enough to fit a .22-calibre straight shell. In all calibres above .22 the rim-fire cartridge is fast becoming obsolete, and they are never chosen now for the expert pistol-shot. The chief faults of the rim-fire cartridges are danger and unreliability caused by the action of heat on the lubricant. Rim-fire cartridges can be spoiled by placing them near a hot stove or where great heat can reach them, or even by placing them in a show-window where the sun strikes them; and ammunition which would shoot well on leaving the factory, from the causes mentioned, would be liable to either miss fire or shoot wild. Centre-fire cartridges are safer to handle, less liable to be injured by temperature, but far from perfect. The pistols and revolvers described in this work are probably not absolutely perfect; but it is believed that they are much nearer so than the ammunition advertised to use in them. Prominent among the faults in American pistol-cartridges to-day are the following:—
1. The exterior diameter of the cartridge, instead of the interior diameter, conforming to the bore of the pistol.2. The excessive crimping of the shell to hold the bullet.
3. The placing of the lubricant on the exposed part of the bullet, instead of in cannelures covered by the shell.
4. The want of a proper powder to load the cartridge.
The first fault may properly be laid to the door of the manufacturer of the arms, which we are glad to say is found mostly in the cheap revolvers.
The second fault is being overcome by cartridge-makers, and, as a result, better shooting is being done.
The third fault has taken the writer a long time to correct. The Government Ordnance Board wisely saw this fault, and made the Government revolver cartridge with no exposed lubricant. The Winchester model, 1873, rifle cartridge has no outside lubricant. This is one reason why the Colt frontier revolver is the favorite arm of thousands of frontiersmen, when experiments would probably convince the most sceptical that the Russian model cartridge as a charge possesses far greater accuracy, and if in the hands of a battalion of cavalry would show much better results than the army cartridge or the .44 Winchester. The Smith & Wesson Russian model cartridge was designed by officers of the Russian government, but why they decided to have an outside lubricant the writer could never conceive. This cartridge, in a Smith & Wesson revolver, in cold weather, if shot slowly out of doors, will foul a revolver to such an extent as to disable it; and as Russia is a cold country, it would seem easy to imagine the difficulty likely to arise from this cause. The writer, perceiving this fault in the Russian model cartridge, visited the factory of the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. and suggested a change. The superintendent of the works immediately invited the writer to the testing-room, where fifty shots were fired rapidly without cleaning, and the result offered as proof of the excellence of the cartridge. It was suggested that a box be placed out of doors, it being a cold day, which was done, and after a brief time the cartridges were shot slowly, and before the box was half consumed the revolver could not be cocked, from the excessive fouling. This enterprising company at once saw the fault in this cartridge, and in a short time the writer had the pleasure of receiving a box of the new cartridges, with no outside lubricant, which, upon testing, were found much cleaner; and it is believed that twenty, or perhaps more, of these new cartridges can be fired in a Smith & Wesson revolver, and accurate shooting secured. The improvement was so apparent that this company discontinued the old manner of making this cartridge, and manufacture their entire product of this cartridge with no exposed lubricant; and other companies are to follow their example.All ammunition which is intended to be carried in a belt or the pocket should have no outside lubricant. When the exposed part of the bullet is freely lubricated it is likely to become detached on one side, and experiments have shown that a bullet, with grease on one side only, will not shoot accurately; and we shall not be surprised later to see cartridges for smaller calibres made with an increased number of cannelures and no exposed lubricant. The chief trouble with revolver ammunition to-day is its excessive fouling from the grease and powder. By firing bullets into soft snow from a revolver which has been shot a few times, the investigator will find a ragged bullet, which shows how it raked over the adamantine-like crust which adheres to the inside of a revolver-barrel, which impairs its accuracy; therefore the fine shot cleans his revolver about once in every ten shots, if shooting the full charge. We have seen frontiersmen who stated they seldom clean their revolver except when they go hunting for a victim; but, as these individuals never did what is now called fine shooting, and the man who cleans his revolver as often as every ten shots puts ten consecutive shots in a four-inch bull’s-eye at thirty yards, it is evident that keeping a revolver clean is conducive to good marksmanship.
Most shooters believe a great improvement will, before long, be made in powder, and it is thought that this will lessen the fouling of revolvers; but this difficulty is not likely to be wholly overcome.
Newly-made ammunition is more desirable than old, if great accuracy is desired; hence many marksmen prefer to load their own ammunition, the mode of which will be found in another chapter.
