S&W lady smith ok with +p ammo

[holiday132]

My mother has a older lady smith .38spl

I was wandering if they can handle the +p ammo as that is about all i can find in hollow point ammo, and this is for HD. I know the older ones can but what about the older ones?

what i could find from smith& wesson said they did not recomend it.


right side of the barrel has .38 S&W SPL

left side of barrel just says smith & wesson

number on the bottom of the grip is 4321**

MOD. 36 is stamped on the frame behind the little arm that holds the cylinder.

 

[Person of Interest]

(Sigh) Yes.

 

[holiday132]

thanks, this is something i have looked at for a while but haven't realy found much information. wish i could find an online owners manual or something hehe.

 

[Majic]

To a certain degree they can handle the +P, but they are not rated for it.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Go here for a free downloadable .pdf manual. S&W revolvers are all the same inside. Down load the S&W Revolver file. http://stevespages.com/page7b.htm

 

[Dfariswheel]

S&W specifically said the +P was NOT recommended in the older Model 36 revolvers.

You have two choices:
1. Is to do what many people did, which was to practice with standard .38 Special ammo, and load up the +P for "business".

They figured that if they actually had to use the gun, damage or increased wear would be the least of their problems.

2. Listen to the people who built the gun and know more about it than any one else in the world.

Many people dismiss factory recommendations as nothing but lawyer babble, but even in the days before the lawyers took over, S&W said very clearly NO +P.

 

[James K]

Holiday, you are asking the wrong question. You should be asking if your MOTHER can handle that snubbie and if she can handle +P ammo. The gun will stand up to a fair amount of +P, but if the shooter is afraid of it, the ammo won't matter.

Jim

 

[Pistolenschutze]

I posed this question directly to S&W because I too have an older Mod 36 snubbie. The answer I received was that the revolver is not +P rated so they cannot recommend using the hotter ammo in it, but that +P will not likely cause any catastrophic failure. Stripped of all the legal hedging, what they're really saying is that shooting +P all the time will probably damage the weapon eventually, or at least loosen it excessively. Practice with standard pressure ammo, but carry +P for "close encounters of the unpleasant kind."