Colt New Service 38-40

[ofit]

I have a Colt New Service chambered in 38-40. This gun was made in 1917 according to the serial number. Is smokeless powder safe for this revolver?

[357Mag]

OFit -

Howdy _

IMHO.. smokeless will be ok... wth caveats:

- The correct powder

- Not too much of the correct powder


And, you'll know what a .40 S & W was....... 95 yr ago !


Regards,
357Mag

[Alan]

AFAIK, all New Service revolvers are safe w/ factory equivalent smokeless loads. Have fun with that gun. I have an old 1917, and while the finish is mediocre, it is the tightest, cleanest 1917 internally that I have ever seen or handled, and a hoot to shoot.

[ofit]

Thanks for the info.

[gnoahhh]

An old shooting buddy had a pristine Colt NS in .38/40. One day at the range we were shooting a bunch of vintage revolvers, including this one, while enduring the snickering comments from a kid next to us who was shooting a .30 Herret Contender. It seemed he thought those old revolvers were for fuddy-duddy's. We invited him over to shoot a cylinder full through my NS .45 Colt with moderate loads, and Barny's NS .38/40 with his really stiff handloads. You should have seen the look on his face after the experience. A classic example of "holy sh*t, I didn't know the old timers had magnums back then"! He learned a lot of respect for the old timers that day, and was very reverential from that point on.

[MtGun44]

No souping up and avoid any old smokeless ammo that is for the Winchester .38-40
model 92s. This could be quite hot for the revolver, although this is a strong gun, no need
to flog the old girl. She's made it nearly a century, time for a bit of relaxing target loads,
I would suggest.

Bill