WB
Little quick range report... .40 Trail Gun
Sunday, January 27, 2019, 21:54

This started some time ago when Gary began building .38 Super caliber 5-shot on the Single-six chassis. It was a drop kick beyond the darling .327 so highly touted. Even if well deserved. Then Huey started going wild. Ultimately Huey commissioned a 10mm 5-shot Single-six. Really over the top. My rig was a little different to explore the same performance level but utilizing the cheaper component .40 S&W.

I posted my first test loads. 155 gr. XTP and 180 gr. plated HP, both loaded with 8.5 gr. Longshot with the heavy bullet seated to full 10mm overall length. That loading is a medium .40 S&W loading and a starting 10mm according to Hodgdon's manual.

One thing I was really interested in was the recoil management on such a small gun. I think being a "Gunfightered" Bisley it has an edge. While brisk it is not at all unpleasant, perhaps in-between a .357 and .41 magnum as to sensation.

Power wise it was a bit of a surprise. I had estimated from the manuals around 1200 fps for both. Listings typically show .40 S&W from 4" barrels and 10mm from 5" semi-auto barrels. The "par" was Hornady factory 155 gr. loadings in .40 S&W advertised at 1180 fps. Their 10mm auto 180 gr. XTP is shown at 1275 fps.

The .40 S&W load in the 6.5" SA clocked 1337 fps with a variation of only 12 fps. That is only 73 fps less than Hornady's hot 10mm 155 gr. load, only 5% less! The 180 gr plated load was right on the money for a 10mm load at 1267 fps avg. No bullet pull was found in the 4 shots prior in the little 5-shot cylinder. I'm impressed.

The weight is light and lively and I have to admit I was about 1/2 pound off on my estimate. It's about the same as an OM lightweight .44 Special, 39 oz. Now my example is an all steel Bisley with steel ejector rod housing and heavy stag panels. It would be child's play to build an alloy outfitted Trail gun in 10mm well under 2 lbs.

Not that you should really hot rod the smaller chassis but it is very inspiring that full 10mm factory load potential can be had in the revolver with no notable drop in velocity attributed to cylinder gap. This is serious walking gun power and would easily do well on thin skin medium game at reasonable range, if you can hit the vitals. No wonder Huey was all jazzed over this Trail Gun series. It's next level fun.

Strength in the 5-shot cylinder comes from locating the locking bolt cuts between the chambers. I get around 50 thousandths solid thickness at the thinnest chamber portion. More than a .44 Ruger.