I've had this Smith Model 30-1for some time and decided to take it out Thursday. 55° F and the rain stopped how could I not? (We're back in the deep freeze now.)
Factory LRN hadn't seemed terribly accurate when I first got it. Tried loading some plated hollow base wadcutters. It didn't seem like they were all that great either, and they shot low. Began search for reasonable accuracy load that shot to the sights, might be a useful bunny gun or for the kids.
Turns out a .314 pin gauge will go into all six cylinder throats and a .315 will not, so I ordered some 100 grain cast wadcutters from Penn sized .314. He offers a softer alloy upon request, although he tried to convince me to go with the standard "hard cast" alloy. Can't see the advantage for revolver use at well under 1000 fps.
Being a solid framed gun with a reputation as being quite a bit stronger than the old top breaks I was a bit bolder with Bullseye for first cast bullet load than I might have been.
It was solid overcast and the last hour of daylight when I got out, not the best shooting conditions. I had problems consistently seeing front sight but was pleased with results nonetheless. First group, on left, was the plated HBWCs. Still shot low but maybe I was wrong about this not being a good bullet for this gun . Four rounds that would fit on a squirrels head at 25 yards?! With all six in under two inches. Next, as it was getting even darker, were the 100 gr .314ers on right. A bit over two inches and just above POA; we may be on to something. The cast load chrono'd a few rounds around 850 fps, a pleasant pop. The plated hollow base loads ran ~650 fps and were silly low recoil. I believe a .22 kicks more. Even with low POI these would still be useful for introducing a youngster to revolvers.
I've got several grips besides the factory ones that fit a J-frame roundbutt. Gonna see how those affect point of impact.
Oh yeah, since I was on a .32 kick, when I saw the post about Wells Fargo on sale my brain somehow said "you should get one". 😁
