WB
I remember as a young lad
Sunday, November 10, 2019, 13:05

when Mr. French was working at Guns & Ammo magazine for Mr. Petersen it was THE firearms enthusiast's top resource. At least from my impressionable young perspective. There was a French at TC, Ernie's dad. Are they related?

The G&E .40 Magnum was a "belted" round based upon the .224 Weatherby case, cut off, inside reamed, and corked with a Winchester .38-40 180 gr. JHP. It did the deed pushing it in excess of 1000 fps from a heavy spring Browning HP. What a bashing! So exotic for my young mind. I can't imagine the difficulty of feeding a belted round in a pistol magazine.

I can see more of the existence of the .40 S&W as a de-tune of the existing 10mm auto program. As mentioned there is a bit more to it than simply re-tubing a 9mm auto. But the conceptual notion of "hey lets shorten it to fit a 9mm mag" and see what it does has some logical merit.

To think the result is a ballistic twin of what took place some 100 yrs. earlier in downsizing the .45 Colt or .44/40. The .38 WCF was never touted to solve any particular issue other than having less recoil and still being able to get the job done, adequately. I see no true link with it and the .41 Colt other than the .403" bore barrels. So many rifles and carbines were chambered for it. Colt handguns, both SA and DA are the only domestic handguns I know of commonly sporting the round.


powered by my little forum