Ammunition changes

During the war the english used the webley in .45 or .38 (200) the 200 was the weight ( grns ) of the bullet with a full copper jacket. The dia. of the bullet was .38" or 9mm. The USA produced revolvers, Colt and Smith&Wessons in .38 and these were issued to forces during the war. Even though the .38 (200) was a short cartridge with a low velocity bullet, the .38 still holds a record for the greatest number of people lawfully/unlawfully killed by it. After the war there was a surplus of these guns which were still being made. RHKP adopted the .38 revolver as its issue pistol. Over time the bullet copper jacket was replaced by lead and given a copper wash to make it look pretty and to stop it picking up dirt. Later on in time this .38 short was replaced by the .38 special round. The cartridge case on this was made longer so it could hold more powder so increasing the power and velocity of the bullet and to make it different from the old round the bullet dia. was reduced to .357" and yes to increase the power again this .38 spc. case was stretched again and more powder was added increasing the power even more and that became the .357 magnum round. and with all this extream power and pressure knocking around the metalurgy of the guns had to be improved to handle this pressure without bursting and the lead of the bullet had to hardened to take the stress of hurtling forwards and meeting the twist of the barrel rifling with out stripping lead from the bullet, until the lead could not be made any harder and the bullet had to be encased in copper again to stop the metal strip and at this point I ponder the fact that humans are very good at making things that kill others. Anyway I had this photo and thought to place it onto the board with comment for interest and thought rather than throw it away.