American Handgunner July/August 1977

- -The Magnum (357) cartridge is the most powerful ever designed for ahandgun and will likely remain so for some time. While it would be possibleto develop one of higher velocity or greater energy, the gun that wouldchamber it and fire it without excessive recoil would be so heavy that noshooter could hold it at arms length and fire it with any accuracy.By BILL JORDANTHEcomment quoted above, liftedverbatim from what was at the time ofThat gun served me well. The semiwadcutterlead bullets available for itpublishing in 1945, a definitive text oncaused excessive barrel leading and re-"Smith & Wesson Handguns" by Roy C.quired heavy use of a wire brush plus anMcHenry and Walter F. Roper, reflects tooccasional treatment with mercury tosome extent the impact of this cartridgekeep it shooting accurately. But amongon the shooting fraternity at the time of itsthe many distinctions which accrued to itdebut in 1935. Article after article wasthrough the years, was the major role itpublished recounting its awesome powerplayed in the slaying of the famous Sheepand fearsome recoil. One that I recall ad-Killing Doe of Brewster County. An affairvised any would be shooter that it wouldI would happily forget if people like Harbemost unwise to shoot it without the pro-Ion Carter and others of his and my contectionof a leather glove lest the checker-temporaries would allow it. This gun wasing tear the skin loose from the shootingalso the first for which a Jordan Holsterhand. All this for a cartridge developingwas made.1515 f/s velocity with a 158 grain bullet! AMuch shooting, some of it with "ultracartridge now being called totally inade-violent" handloads, soon made it apparquatefor defense by many "experts." Itent that, although a fine, flat shooting loadwould be hard to picture the consterna-which hit with ample authority, the .357tion which would have followed if the .44was not the chunk of dynamite it had beenAutoMag had happened along in 1935!Bill's "working" Model 19 withdepicted. Its recoil was considerably lessTruly we shooters were a unsophisticatedmodifications described In text.than I was getting from an old .44 Speciallot fortv ,, vears aso. "Keith load or with loads I cooked un for aDid I say forty years? The impact of.45 Long Colt. Which brought on wishfultlwt has just hit me harder than a .357 Magnum!thinking for a smaller and lighter revolver that would be cham-At any rate,. I had to have one of those guns. And after much bered for this popular cartridge.scrimping and scrounging, an order went off to the W. S. Darley . I am not sure of the year but think it was in 1954 or earlyCompany for the Custom Model in 3'/2 inch barrel length. Al- 1955. I was talking to Carl Hellstrom, then Smith & Wessonthough the gun is long gone-traded to the old Master Gun En- President, when the subject of an ideal handgun for uniformedgraver, Cole Agee-I still have the certificate that came with it law enforcementofficers was raised. During the conversation,stuffed away somewhere.he had quite casually asked me for my conception of the perfectAfter an interminable wait, the gun arrived and it was a law e,nforcement officers'gun. I had formed some very definitebeautiful thing well worth the wait, both inside and out. Al- ideas along that line arid described my "dream" gun to him, inthough a bit fearful of its great power, I was anxious to test it. At- general terms, as having a very heavy, four inch barrel with intachinga regulation target to a large cardboard box, I backed tegral ejector rod housing, recessed cylinders, ramp front andoff 25 feet, put on the leather glove, carefully aligned the sights adjustable rear sight, on the K frame of the .38 Masterpiece andat six o'clock and just as carefully pulled the trigger. An ex- chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge.amination of the bullseye did nothing to establish my confi- Since this had been, according to my thinking at least, an idledence in the accuracy of the gunlcartridge combination. There conversation, my surprise was complete when Combat Magnumwas no hole in the target. In fact, there was no hole in the box, #260,001, along with a letter saying it was number one of theeither. Even after all these years I have not been able to figure new Model 19 .357, arrived in Phoenix where I was then stahowthis came about, since I recall quite clearly that I had a tioned with the US. Border Patrol. It came at an opportunebeautiful sight picture when I closed my eyes.time for a public unveiling. I had heen booked to appear onAMERICAN HANDGUNNER JULY/AUGUST 1977