Me and Waterboy
Well... I am not sure Waterboy has done this ... yet.
The other day I was sitting around doing nothing when this thought came across my brainways ... What is the O.D. of the .40 S&W cartridge?
So I wandered out to the shop and dug out my Browne and Sharpe dial calipers and LO AND BEHOLD .. measuring at the solid head just north of the extractor groove they measured .425" to .427"!
So I grabbed a primed .44 Special case, dumped in 5.0 gr. of Bullseye and shoved the .40 S&W case into it base first and crimped it.
![[image]](images/uploaded/20230628190728649c84f0eae08.jpg)
Then I took some heavy white towels and folded them up and placed them with a heavy board backing them.
![[image]](images/uploaded/20230628190824649c85289ba80.jpg)
I loaded my .44 and from about a foot I fired into the towels. I loaded one more with 6.0 gr. of Bullseye and fired it into the towels.
The 6 gr. load penetrated the deepest of course ... a few inches further than the 5 gr. load. A couple inches and it would have exited the towels.
![[image]](images/uploaded/20230628191104649c85c841955.jpg)
Now I am gonna have to go the range and scrounge up some .40 S&W's and load and test them for accuracy. They are light and will slow down quick, but I figure for 20 - 25 yards they should do right well. For aerial practice, they won't fly that far and should work well. I would load them down to about 650 fps. We shall see.
YES! We discovered that fact expounding on your
exploits with .45 ACP cases in the .475. I even went on a tangent and tried the disposable aluminum CCI cases. A very bad move! They gall badly and are sticky in the bore. Maybe with enough lube but I had a bad experience.
Not to rat him out but Denning is the queen of this action. He fills the case with lead, forms a nose on the end and glues a rhinestone in the HP! Maybe he'll post a picture. I think he even shot a hog with a be-dazzled .40 S&W case projectile!
I think I remember the aluminum case fiasco ...
probably that was rattling around in my gourd and got me motivated.
I'm sure it would work with some thoughtful
attention to the engineering concepts. The alloy was designed to manage the internal pressures, not external. With some lube and attention to sizing for diameter I know it would work. I'm still mulling it over for a year or three.
It was so light I did not get good ignition on the powder and stuck it in my six-gun bore. If you remember I remotely fired a blank to get it "un-stuck". That along with some very humble prayer, seriously. Jesus is good to us, even when we do not deserve it. The definition of GRACE.
THAT's an interesting topic. God and guns, lol. He helped me with a 110 yr. old Webley trigger screw just a couple weeks ago. No joke. But you have to humble your heart to HIS will. It works, even if don't after prayer, then it's ok.
I remember now ... I was in Mozambique
and you emailed me about using a blank to blow it out of the gun. I think I encouraged you to give it a try. 