Matt's Bullets .38 S&W 200grain in a No2Mk1

[Mikesm44]

Hello. I recently purchased some ammunition from Matt's Bullets, an online vendor who sells specialized rounds. I purchased some .38 S&W rounds for my No2Mk1. According to them they load the round specifically for this revolver in particular using a 200 grain projectile. It was amazing to see well this pistol performed when it finally got some ammunition that it was meant to shoot. I made a little video about it to show the results, but as expected it greatly improved the accuracy. I am very happy not only with my revolver, but also with Matt's Bullets, which was to me an untested entity until now.

No2Mk1 revolver - YouTube

[jmoore]

I've loaded some of these projectiles in .38 S&W cases. Fairly satisfactory, but a powerful round its not!



Bullet that stuck the pine 50yd target frame. (Bad DA shot on my part!)

[Mikesm44]

That is a very cool pic. Interesting how the bullet hardly deformed at all. I hope to get some more interesting video later this week shooting more of these rounds, if it doesn't thunder storm all week like it is supposed to.

[Pommyb]

The British changed to a 178gn bullet from the original 200gn in 1937/8 (L.O.C. Para.B1559), so your Albion No.2Mk.I would have been made with that ammo as a standard.....I wonder if the sights were regulated differently than the pre-1937 revolvers, or would there have been that much difference?
I had been reloading 145gn swaged bullets for my Enfield No.2Mk.I** & was getting very good accuracy at 15yds, but grouping low. I bought a 190gn bullet mold to get closer to the original loading, & thinking that would solve the elevation issues, but they actually shot lower than the 145gn'ers.

[Mikesm44]

The British changed to a 178gn bullet from the original 200gn in 1937/8 (L.O.C. Para.B1559), so your Albion No.2Mk.I would have been made with that ammo as a standard.....I wonder if the sights were regulated differently than the pre-1937 revolvers, or would there have been that much difference?
I had been reloading 145gn swaged bullets for my Enfield No.2Mk.I** & was getting very good accuracy at 15yds, but grouping low. I bought a 190gn bullet mold to get closer to the original loading, & thinking that would solve the elevation issues, but they actually shot lower than the 145gn'ers.

Very interesting! I'm hoping to shoot some more soon and get some more telling results. Hopefully I can start reloading some before the new year.

[jmoore]

Have found that even heavy bullets don't bring the POI up to match the usual sight picture. But it seems to do well when run fast with a flash sight picture as often employed for the various "run and gun" disciplines.