I was looking through my stuff for a set of dies (not found yet) and came across a box of .357 Mag rounds loaded by an old friend, now dead 15 years. He and I were 2nd lieutenants together fifty years ago. He went into Amtracs, I into Field Artillery. We served together again in the 2nd Marine Air Wing. He then went into the FBI, I went into IBM. By chance we lived near each other again in Southern California. He carried a short barreled S&W .357; I was able to buy him a stainless M60 when they were the newest thing. He picked up my .44 Automag (latest thing at the time) from the factory for me when I lived away. He retired to Maine; I moved here two years after he died. Lots of memories evoked.
Anyway, I decided to shoot these rounds. The box was missing 12 rounds. He clearly tested the load as far as he needed to; The label says he loaded them 3/28/70, so almost fifty years in the box.
The load - 160 gr. Hornady half-jacket SWC, 15.0 gr. 2400, Win. small pistol magnum primer.
The two guns - Ruger new model Blackhawk, 6 1/2 inch barrel. S&W model 686, 8 3/8 inch barrel.
At 25 yards wrist-rest, shooting 12-shot groups:
S&W 686 gave a fairly compact group of 3.3 inches.
Ruger Blackhawk gave a 4.15 inch group overall, but the three outliers I felt were my error expanded what would have been a 2.5 inch group for nine shots.
I decided to shoot the 686 at 100 yards with the remaining fourteen rounds. Lining up on a 100-yard smallbore target, I squeezed them off as carefully as I could. Ten of the 14 were in the black or as near as dammit, 6.2 inches. Four outliers made the group 9.7 inches overall.
Lessons: a) old ammo loaded carefully long ago still works fine.
b) half-jackets, although not as good as perhaps cast bullets, were still reasonably accurate.
c) I can still shoot, perhaps well enough to appease my friend's spirit.
d) getting out stuff long laid aside triggers memories worth not forgetting.
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