Odd bullet holes from snub

L

Lone Star

New member
A couple of days ago, I took my S&W M60-7 snub .38 to the indoor range and fired some "yellow box" Remington-UMC standard speed roundnose lead ammo through it. It shot okay as far as accuracy went, but the bullet holes were VERY elongated, almost like the holes were a liquid that'd drained down the target paper from the actual entry point in the target paper. Keyholing?

Other ammo has never done that in this gun, and Federal lead Plus P HP's and some Black Hills flat (cone) point standard speed .38's shot well that night. The UMC ammo did shoot normally from my M66-3, so I doubt that there's an actual ammo problem.

What is this? Something about the velocity not being high enough to fully stabilize the bullet in the nominally two-inch barrel? I've shot other brands of standard speed RN's in that gun with no trouble. I don't think the wind from the range fans was blowing the target, the first thing I thought of. By the way, this gun shoots Speer's hot Plus P Gold Dot 125 grain load so well that I won't describe it, lest I be accused of prevarication. If I had to hit a snake in the head with this snub, that Gold Dot is the round I'd select! Shoots fairly well with lead HP's, too.

Any ideas on the keyholing, if that's what it is??

Lone Star
 
Lone Star

You didn't mention the distances to the targets that you were firing but I assume that all were equal. Keyholing--maybe!

I stopped using UMC ammo because I found that their 9mm ammo was inconsistant and caused cycling problems in both of my 9mm semi-autos. The .38 Special UMC didn't give me any problems but I was firing 4" and 6" barrel guns.

Switch to a different low power practice ammo and see if the keyholing stops in your short barreled gun. I have been buying American Eagle .38 Special 130gr FMJ from Natchezz for practice and IDPA use and have found it to be the right stuff for me.
 
Target was pretty close. maybe 15 yards. And, I've used the 130 grain FMJ American stuff, also their 158grain lead load. Worked fine, for inexpensive practice ammo. Likewise, 130 grain FMJ Winchester ammo in a white box, I think.

Thanks for the response.

Lone Star
 
It may be the targets

Low velocity rounds combined with flimsy paper targets sometimes result in the target tearing away at the hole instead of just being "punched out". Try the same loads on some paper plates to make sure.

Brad
 
Its more than likely just a bad box of ammo... Ive had it happen in one of my guns...a CZ83 in .380. It was a very accurate gun with just about anything I shot thru it. One box of S&B ammo, which I shot on a regular basis thru the gun, had a bunch of rounds that keyholed. Paper was straight and still, gun was just as always...and it never did it again. Probably just a batch with a couple of weak charges behind the round......
Thats all I know.
Shoot well
 
I had A box of Remington UMC FMJ in 38 special that did that, so I switched to different ammo for that day.
When I got home I pulled the bullet from one of the rounds in question and found it to be most likely A 9 mm loaded in A 38 case, it measured out at .355.
This would cause the problems you had.
 
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