38 special +P

[tabhunter]

I have inherited a Colt official Police revolver dating to the early 30's. Looks to be in good condition. The question is that a lot of the ammo I see around is the +P variety. Will the handgun stand up to this or should I hold out for a lower load?

Thx

 

[steveno]

I wouldn't shoot +P ammo in any revolver that old

 

[tabhunter]

This was my thought as well. I wanted to get a consensus on it. Seemd like a "hot" load for the firearm.

 

[Dfariswheel]

Even that old an Official Police would "probably" handle modern +P ammo with no problem, since it was originally rated for use with the hot 38/44 loads back then.
It certainly wouldn't blow it up.

However, theres no good reason to accelerate wear on a nice old gun, so I'd stick to shooting standard .38 Special.
There's PLENTY of standard loads available.

 

[Hawg]

I wouldn't do it.

 

[Tom2]

Back in those days, I would think there was about 80% chance it would mostly be fired with standard pressure lead roundnose bullets. If you inherited it, do you consider it an heirloom or trading stock? Cause if it is a nice Colt, it might bring some bucks and then you could get a more modern Smith with the money, like a model 10, or 64, and shoot +P as you wish. If it is an heirloom, you don't want to break anything, or just make it looser and not as nice as when you got it, from firing alot of hot ammo. If it were a crisis and you loaded +P ammo into it for SD, I suppose you could get away with it, but I assume this is not a primary SD revolver, so baby it. Colt repair men are getting scarcer and expensiver.