Hello All:
A couple of questions:
First, in researching another matter (see my posts under “Pistol Bullet ID”) I had a realization that I’m curious about: there were .36 and .41 caliber CW handguns, but an absence of .38 caliber handguns in the Civil War. If I am right about that, I wonder why that was so. Are .38 caliber handguns a post-CW invention (could it be as simple as the fact that a .36 would kill just as well as a .38 . . . and conserve lead?)?
Second, while I’m still grappling with the idea of a .41 diameter bullet being used in a .36 revolver (lead being malleable, and all)—ha!--is there an up to date concise listing, somewhere, of the various lands and grooves patterns of CW rifles and handguns? Of course there is the listing in M&M, and I use the Edwards book on CW Guns, and sometimes Flayderman’s—but is there a better source?
A couple of questions:
First, in researching another matter (see my posts under “Pistol Bullet ID”) I had a realization that I’m curious about: there were .36 and .41 caliber CW handguns, but an absence of .38 caliber handguns in the Civil War. If I am right about that, I wonder why that was so. Are .38 caliber handguns a post-CW invention (could it be as simple as the fact that a .36 would kill just as well as a .38 . . . and conserve lead?)?
Second, while I’m still grappling with the idea of a .41 diameter bullet being used in a .36 revolver (lead being malleable, and all)—ha!--is there an up to date concise listing, somewhere, of the various lands and grooves patterns of CW rifles and handguns? Of course there is the listing in M&M, and I use the Edwards book on CW Guns, and sometimes Flayderman’s—but is there a better source?