and Whoop, there it is! Smith Mdl 64

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
No sooner (maybe 20 min?!?) than I sent the 32-20/bulged bbl back for refund, and walk into the LGS. Having a promotion sale. Two of the counter guys (friends of mine!?!) were trying to get my attention to show me something within 2 min. Turns out, S&W Mdl 64 4" 38 SPC stainless bull bbl nice grips, Prison turn ins. Been carried/tossed around/dinged a good bit, but prob not shot 50 rds/yr over its lifetime. Very tight. And exact same $ I was getting back on the 32-20 - $269. Couldn't pass it up. Now in the safe. Damned friends who are enablers!
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
dang... tough crowd... so, ok... Mdl 64-5. Not sure year yet (BHM serial #). Note - one real ugly part is the (I assume property book inventory) stencil #. Oh well. Expect to feed this one nothing but cast 155-160 Keith and RN +P.
 

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oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
and putting on my pointy egghead cap... I predict Ben may very well be heading North very very soon! lol!
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Nice! I like the honest look of old revolvers. Congrats.
Like I posted earlier in another thread, It is fun to get new guns to play with.

YES! and YES! Best part is, absolutely NOTHING I have to do to go shoot this one in the AM! Have boxes of reloads, everything to cast/load for/with, PLENTY of brass and lead... And holsters if I want to take it anywhere. Perfect. Will need to cast/load some heavy +P and figure out what it likes, but that is the FUN and challenging part! And + is, son #4 has same Mdl 10 gun (also police turn in) so prob anything works in this one he can use too. Even better! I had a 10 police turn in, but could never get it to shoot well... Son's gun from same batch (his grandad's gun) always shot better than mine. Dumped mine. Now this one. Looking fwd to it!
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Heavy +P 38 Spec? 12.5-13.5 of 2400 behind that 155-160 cast bullet. The famous "Skeeter Load". Work up from 12.0.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
Sometimes deals just seem to appear at the rite time. But that isn't my luck.
This Sunday is the twice yearly local gun auction. And whacha bet anything I want will go for more than I want to pay.
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Shooting results. Indoors. 10 yds (my norm/old eyes/etc). Lee 158 grn cast. These are some of the best groups of all my handguns/my old eyes, etc. If they will stay about the 1" range they are excellent. Squares on the targets are 1"
 

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oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Heavy +P 38 Spec? 12.5-13.5 of 2400 behind that 155-160 cast bullet. The famous "Skeeter Load". Work up from 12.0.

and figured out why I couldn't find this listed as std load data... I found it in the "Taffin Tests the 38 Special" article!
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I would say you did well. Revolver doesn't look too beat up and looks like it shoots really well.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
FWIW, a lot of these old (late 1960-1970's) guns were hand fitted. This is because of the competition from Colt, S&W and the new upstart, Ruger. A very similar thing happened in 1953 through about 1958. Colt had the Trooper in .38 Special and "357" in .357 Magnum while S&W touted the .38 Combat Masterpiece in .38 Special and Combat Magnum (soon to be Model 19) in .357 Magnum. Competition makes for good guns and good prices. Ric

p.s. Oscar, you are shooting very good for a guy with weak eyes!!!
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
and figured out why I couldn't find this listed as std load data... I found it in the "Taffin Tests the 38 Special" article!

That load, the 13.5 2400 behind a 160ish gr bullet, the 358156 to be precise, isn't in listed as a "standard" load any recent books I know of. Skeeter Skelton pushed that load for years back in the 70's. It's been in a few older manuals but the last time I saw anything approaching it was in the late 90's IIRC. I imagine someone at a Hercules casually mentioned the possibility of some genius loading a few up and sticking them in an old low grade revolver and blowing it up and the company lawyers nixed that. It's a hot load, pushing the bullet well over 1300 in some guns. It's right on the heels of the 357, may even exceed a few 357 loads today. I've shot a lot of them in K+L frames and more than I ever should have in a Colt Cobra.

Edit- I should note that load is with earlier forms of 2400. I don't know if the current stuff is any different than it was 15 years ago. I have to remind myself not everyone is still shooting up powder and primers from the 1970's/80's.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
A good rule of thumb is to reload with data from the era the powder was produced. Alliant 2400 powder made today is not the same as Hercules powder made in the 1960's.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
13.5/2400 is a 38-44 load, not a 38 SPL +P. In a 38 Spl gun on the mid-sized frame I would use it sparingly. I do use it a lot in heavier revolvers built specifically for 357 mag pressures, or in N frame 38 SPLs when I can get them. I do understand that the K frame was also offered in 357 mag, and I've had a few of them over the years. Mine all suffered from heavy wear at the hands of full power 357 loads. This worked out in my favor over the years because I learned how to cylinder hands (pawls), and how to correct cylinder & yoke end shake. In the end, I went to L frames & Rugers for shooting the train-stoppers. The L frames lasted considerably longer between refits, and I have only had to retime one solitary Ruger Security-Six in my life, and no GP100s at all. And I abused that Security-Six horribly.
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
p.s. Oscar, you are shooting very good for a guy with weak eyes!!!

Ric - Thanx! I have to wear 1.50 readers nowadays... I stare at a computer 5 days a week. Hard on the eyes. And they fatigue quick staring at sights. Couple things I do that helps my shooting tremendously. I use either a stick on the glasses peep sight or a Merit Aperture. That is my trick.

And, I do have a lot of old powder. I know today is diff than yesteryear. I try to use the same data from the powder era.
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
358156 - Makes sense that is a 38/44/N load. Would think it would be rough in a 4"K, even hvy bbl! Std +P is about 10.5/2400. I don't plan to shoot a lot of them, but def like a box or two of "sidewalk" ammo. And after shooting it yesterday, and how well it does with std 38 target ammo, It will probably get a log of that and kill a lot of paper! Thing was a dream to shoot. and with cast and 3.5-5 grns of powder, I can shoot it as cheap as a 22LR! Plus I have a K357 if I really want to shoot 357. But it is also too nice to beat it to death. And I have thumb bore train stoppers - lol!
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
They really are cool revolvers, the likes of which we are unlikely to see produced again. I've had a couple of 64s, and a boat load of Model 10s, both skinny and heavy barrel, as well as a handful of Model 13s & 65s. I never should have sold any of them.