How safe is a S&W pre-10 with modern cartridges?

I would worry more about being abducted by aliens than I would about shooting ANY "modern" 38 Special ammo in ANY Model 10/M&P that didn't just flat out look like a total piece of crap. P+ ammo is just not that hot.

Personally I wopuldn't shoot P+ but that's only because I'm not going to waste the money to buy the stuff to punch a hole in a piece of paper.
 
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+P is only about a 10% increase in pressure. The most you'll do is wear the gun out faster, and empty your wallet faster.
 
Although the S&W revolver manual advises against shooting any pre-model-numbered S&W K frame with .38Spl+P, IMHO the advisory is better tailored to two classes of guns in particular:
  • Pre-1930s guns without heat-treated cylinders. The steel used in these guns is noticeably softer and they WILL "shoot loose" faster than later models.
  • WWII production Victory models. S&W had documented quality control problems during this period.
I believe that postwar .38 M&Ps are certainly equal in quality to the post-1957 model-numbered guns, although I would hesitate to subject one to heavy wear, simply because it will be more difficult to repair or replace than a 1960s or later gun.
 
Mine eats it up.
As they said, any non +P is fine.
This is Remington 158 LRN factory 50 rounds.
m&ptarget.jpg
 
Shoot the standard loads in the older revolvers.

I have an older Rossi snubbie, much more modern steels than pre 60's S&W's, and yet when I talked to a factory gunsmith, he told me of blown up Rossies fired with +P rounds. If the thing was not designed to use +P, don't.
 
Considering that Pre model 10 covers from 1899 to 1956... I think it might depend on how "Pre" we're talking about here.

I certainly wouldn't sweat it in a Post War Pre 10.
Might think twice in a real early M&P.
 
Considering that Pre model 10 covers from 1899 to 1956... I think it might depend on how "Pre" we're talking about here.

I certainly wouldn't sweat it in a Post War Pre 10.
Might think twice in a real early M&P
Click to expand...

Exactly.

When I started in police work, most of the guns we issued were late 40's and 50's vintage, and they shot the +P we started issuing in the 70's just fine.
 
"Pre-1930s guns without heat-treated cylinders. The steel used in these guns is noticeably softer and they WILL "shoot loose" faster than later models."

I saw a circa 1910 Military and Police with a split cylinder, courtesy of an unknown quantity of +P rounds.

I won't even shoot jacketed bullets in my 1922 Military and Police.


"WWII production Victory models. S&W had documented quality control problems during this period."

I'd be FAR more worried about someone dropping a +P into one of the British contract revolvers that was "converted" to .38 Special by reaming the cylinder shoulder, leaving it oversized at the base.


As far as QC problems during the war, I've never heard it claimed that those issues went to either material quality or heat treating quality, only fit, finish, and assembly issues based on the speed required for wartime production and the relatively high number of new employees.
 
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