OK, but it’s at least getting close. After determining the sources of my woes- mysteriously key-holing bullets being among them- I made a steel barrel weight and had the gun up and running just before Christmas.

At New Year’s I happened across an interesting piece of Walnut in the ship and made a set of grips. They aren’t perfect, but they look pretty good. Yes, they are smooth; I grip the gun front-to back with a thumb riding the safety. The grips could be greased and it wouldn’t make any real difference.

The other day I decided that a) I wanted a bit more weight at the muzzle and b) I really didn’t like the look of screw-heads sticking out the bottom of the dust-cover. I figured 1-1/2 – 2 ozs. would do it. After considering steel I decided to go with aluminum. I made a piece to fit the dust cover then trimmed it until it felt right, at about 1-1/2 ozs. This did, uh, interesting things to the gun’s profile but it feels awesome!

I have to say I am underwhelmed with the effects of the Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black on this project. I expect different alloys of aluminum react differently; it did a great job on the frame of my Airweight Chief’s Special.

Lookin’ good, feels good… but how does it shoot?

The Pudding

I had picked up a box of Fiocchi 115gr FMC at Pinto’s, and my buddy Lia handed me a box of Norma 115gr. FMC practice ammo for a favor so I had enough to make the trip worthwhile. First things first: the gun ran flawlessly. Excellent. Second things…

I’m deliriously happy and somewhat surprised that the gun is working as intended. I’m always a bit surprised when some mad idea I’ve had actually works. Hell, I don’t take the sensible ones for granted. But it’s still not quite done. The trigger is good, but it’s not ‘competition pistol’ good so I’ll be doing a trigger job. Also need to address the final finishing. Maybe a coating. We’ll see.

Then it’s time to practice a lot. I mean really a lot. Got some matches that need shooting…

Stay Safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 7 January 2022

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Last year I experimented with a straight-walled .30-caliber pistol cartridge that fit in between .32 ACP and .30 Luger called the 7.8 x 19mm. It started because I had a Helwan with a broken locking block that I’d converted to straight-blowback, some .30 Carbine brass and a distinct lack of adult supervision. You can read the start of that journey here. In the end I discovered I had basically duplicated 7.65 x 20mm Longue, an obsolete pre-WW2 French service cartridge.

In the end I got a new 9mm barrel with a good locking block and I side-lined the project, debating whether to line the new barrel and proceed with testing hotter 7.8x19mm loads through the locked-breech system. No Point now, because Federal Premium ammunition has done it for me.

OK, you can just stop that right now. I do not for one single instant believe that Federal ‘stole my idea.’ I’d be shocked to learn they had even heard of me. A number of people over the years have speculated that since 7.65 x 20mm French was fired through locked-breech pistols that it ought to be able to handle much hotter loads, and the idea of hotting-up various .32 cartridges is hardly new (.32 H&R and .327 Magnum anyone?) It was inevitable that someone would revisit this idea. I just didn’t expect it to ever reach production.

This really does look for all the world like 7.65 x 20mm, though exact specs are not available at the time of this writing. Federal touts this as the first full-power cartridge designed for civilian self defense. OK, whatever. The idea is you can get more rounds on target faster. Power is comparable to 9 x 19mm, you get a couple more rounds in the magazine. What’s not to like? Yeah, let’s get back to that in a bit.

Expansion and penetration look good too. .30 SC comes in bullet weights ranging from 100-115gr, so it is heavy for caliber (for pistols at least) which gives it a high sectional density. This gives it good penetration even with expanding bullets. The fact that these bullets are lighter than many popular 9mm loads means less muzzle-flip.

Not Much Good Without Something to Shoot it Out of…

You’re in luck there; S&W is chambering the Shield EZ and Shield Plus for this cartridge, and if you really insist on spending ten times as much Nighthawk Custom is offering a gun as well. Seriously, almost ten times as much; the Nighthawk is a skosh over $4000, and you can order it now.

That Whole, ‘What’s not to like’ Thing…

OK, it looks like it’s got the performance. You get a bit more ammo and less muzzle flip. But seriously, is this really the right time to introduce a new cartridge? In the middle of the longest civilian ammo shortage since WW2? Where everyone is struggling to stock the current popular calibers and you can basically forget about it if you have an unpopular caliber? Really? If they’ve lost their minds, well it isn’t just Federal and S&W boarding the Crazy Train.

That’s right. Big Green is reportedly on-board also. I really, really don’t know what this all means. I have a suspicion that we’re looking at the semi-auto version of .327 Federal here. Huh… Federal again. Anyway, it seems like a decent idea, but it’s the answer to a question no one was asking and that usually doesn’t bode well for a new cartridge’s future.

I do know that if this ammo is as hard to get as most calibers these days that is going to seriously hurt it’s prospects. I suspect customers are going to shy away from the cartridge and guns in the current market atmosphere. That’s kind of a shame; I like it when people try to innovate and think outside of the box.

OTOH I reload my own ammo and care not a whit if I can’t find it on the shelves. I have visions of an alloy-frame 1911 with an 3.5″ barrel chambered for this cartridge…

I have to say I’ve been really enjoying watching Fudd’s heads explode over this and laughing at their ill-considered and usually spurious objections. Always a good time! We’ll just have to see how it is received, and I wish Federal, S&W and all the best of luck with this. In this day and age it might take more than luck to succeed with a new cartridge.

Stay safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 5 January 2022

PS: Hey Federal, if you are reading this send a box or two my way… I’ve got a Helwan itching to get to work again.

My pal Jim from BBTI pointed out an article in American Handgunner about ‘Hard Times Hollowpoints‘ in which they discussed drilling jacketed bullets to make your own hollow point bullets. The recommended using a center-drill for this, which makes sense.

You may have noticed that a lot of modern hollow-points have a conical opening with a cylindrical hole at the bottom? A center drill just happens to be that shape… The article advocated setting this up in the tailstock of a lathe and inserting a straight-walled cartridge in the lathe to drill the cavity. Thinking it through carefully I could not come up with a single reason not to put a live cartridge in the lathe to do this. Nevertheless I did not; I used just the bullets. For this I selected a Berry’s 230GR. TMC RN.

I didn’t see it mentioned in the original article, but bullet selection for this is crucial. Most full-metal case ammunition has a cup-shaped copper jacket swaged over the lead core with the bottom of the bullet being exposed lead. This type of ammunition is unsuitable for conversion to hollow-points as removing the jacket from the front of the bullet means you now have a copper tube filled with much softer lead. Subject this to the high pressure of firing and there’s a very good chance the lead will be blown out of the center, leaving the jacket somewhere in the barrel. The results of this can be anywhere from seriously annoying to catastrophic and even dangerous. To avoid this use either cast lead, semi-jacketed or total metal jacket bullets.

I put the bullet loosely in the chuck and moved the point of the bit until it hit zero (pushing the bullet in slightly) before tightening the chuck on the bullet. Then I turned the lathe on and advanced the bit 3/8″. This resulted in a bullet with a gaping hollow-point and a weight of 192gr. This proved to be pretty repeatable, with bullets ranging from 192.9 to 192.7 gr. Close enough for testing.

Loading the rounds reduced the diameter of the opening of the hollow-point, but this was expected and not really unwelcome; the slightly rounded rim of the cavity will help with feeding and it’s still a mighty big hole.

When I had a few made I loaded them based on Alliant’s manual for a 200gr. JHP. This was 7.1gr of Unique. This is supposed to drive a 200gr JHP at 975 fps. from a 5″ barrel. Good enough.

I’d planned to cast a fresh block or two of Clear ballistics ordinance gel and gathered the pieces to melt. Then I thought, ‘screw it’ and fit them together to form one mostly continuous, uh, thing. It’s cool too see the actual wound-track and can be instructive, but I was really most interested in penetration and expansion, and that could be measured well enough with my sketchy pieced-together block. I placed the four layers of denim over the end of the block, set up the chronograph and had at it.

The shots averaged 976 fps. for 406 ft/lbs. with an extreme spread of 9 fps. Penetration of the first two shots through the denim and gel was 15″. Contrary to my expectations neither bullet expanded. I mean, those were some pretty big, gaping hollow-points. OK, it is what it is. A third shot without the denim showed very modest expansion.

It’s funny, I’d expected them to expand. In fact I was worried about them underpenetrating and/or shedding their jackets. None of that! I’m thinking the lead in these might be too hard. I know that at this velocity the Speer 200gr. JHP has adequate penetration and expands very well in this kind of test.

OK, let’s crank it up a notch. I made some 175grs. with and even bigger hollow-point and loaded them over 7.1gr. of Unique. Velocity? Don’t know… the battery in the chrono died. Probably safe to guess it’s between 975-1000 fps. The result?

Basically the point expanded to bullet-diameter. Penetration through denim and gel was 17″. There was a huge wad of denim in the hollow-point. This is not working at all. Based on the qualities of the shavings produced in cutting the cavity the lead in these is very hard, which may be why the results have been what they are.

Regardless it has been interesting and the method of producing the cavity in the nose has proved out. Perhaps I’ll try this with some softer cast lead bullets. I’m intrigued.

Stay safe and take care,

Michael Tinker Pearce, 4 January 2022

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