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Old July 14, 2000, 07:45 PM   #3
Southla1
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 19, 2000
Location: Jeanerette, La. Near the
Posts: 1,999
I have a good one to tell ya'll about what was done with one of the S&W 38 S&W's made for Great Britain, chambered for the 38 S&W. It was in 60's and the USAF had decided to eliminate the great .45 auto in favor of the puny little .38 Specials for issue sidearms for aircrew and Air Police (dumb decision in my way of thinking). Well in typical military style this decision was made before anyone checked with S&W about being able to arm the entire United States Air force in a timely manner with the Smith & Wesson .38 special Combat Masterpiece. Naturally it would take time for Smith to manufacture the amount of guns needed. As a stop gap measure the Air Force "un-retired" thousands upon thousands of old S&W .38 special "victory models" still in storage from WWII. I had a group of Air Policemen out on the range one day, when one airman said to me that the spent brass fromm his 38 looked "kinda bulged". I looked at it and sure enough it was. Upon inspection of his weapon it turned out to be a Smith&Wesson .38S&W made for Great Britain! It had the British crown stamped on it and had US import marks also! My best guess was it was sent to Britan during WWII and was somehow re-imported back to the USA after the war, making its way into storage with the 38 Special "Victory Models". The problem with it was that of course a .38 special was too long to chamber in it. Well some enterprising soul had simply taken a drill and drilled out the cylinder till a .38 special would fit! Of course the .38 S&W case being bigger in diameter than the .38 Special the cases bulged upon firing. The barrel was still marked .38 S&W Cartridge. Then it dawned on me why this particular trooper was having problems with his groupings. The .357 bullet in a .360 bore was not being spun properly by the rifling. I handed him a new .38 Combat Masterpiece and he had no problem qualifing. I gave the weapon to the Air Police NCOIC of the armory and explained the situitation to him. He turned it in to depot. A few weeks later over a few beers he asked me to stop by and check the pistol. well all depot had done to it was mark it "for combat use only" not for training or qualification!!!! It made me remember that bad batch of ammo in .38 Spl. that would not clear the barrel in fact some stuck between the cylinder and forcing cone locking up the weapon. That lot of ammo was marked the same way! In other words its ok to send a trooper into combat with that junk but do not let him try to qualify with it! Of course it was the McNamara-Johnson years.....what a pitiful pair of men........let alone so called leaders.

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Carlyle Hebert
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