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Himmelwright Wadcutter |
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(Left) Ideal #429220 |
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(Right) Ideal #360302 |
In
the last quarter of the 19th century, the way in which handguns were
viewed and used was changing dramatically. Originally, handguns had
been viewed as weapons to be used in a last-ditch effort to stave
off hand-to-hand combat. By the 1880s manufacturing methods had
advanced to the point where accuracy and reliability were getting to
the point that a good shot could legitimately expect to hit a
softball-sized target at 50 yards. As these skills developed, so did
the desire to compete and pit those skills against those of one's
friends and neighbors. Thus, bullseye competition was born. In the
early days of bullseye competition, the S&W Model Number 3 chambered
in .44 S&W Russian was one of the most accurate revolvers of the
day, and was used by the vast majority of the champions. The
standard load was a 246 grain lead round-nose bullet, launched at a
little over 750 fps. This load, while very accurate, made targets
very difficult to score due to the irregular holes it tore through
the target paper. Something better was called for (probably by some
guy who lost a match by 1 point).
Around 1900, this need led to the Ideal #429220, also known as the
Himmelwright wadcutter, a 175 grain target bullet for the .44
Russian (this was before the .44 Special was introduced in 1907).
The Himmelwright wadcutter was specifically designed for the S&W
Model Number 3 in an effort to cut full caliber holes in target
paper. The Himmelwright wadcutter came out around 1900. The
description provided by Ideal was:
"For the .44
S&W Russian revolvers, designed by A. L. A. Himmelwright, former
president, United States Revolver Association, especially to cut a
clean full-sized hole in the target and give the shooter the full
value of his shot. Known as the "wad cutter bullet."
Early
Ideal Handbooks called for loading this bullet over 2.8 grains of
Bullseye in the .44 Russian case for about 725 fps. This bullet has
no crimp groove, and apparently the standard practice was to fill
its two generous grease grooves with lube, seat the bullet deeply
and place a light roll crimp over the forward driving band. The
prodigious proboscis meant that the seating and crimping operation
could be carried out in a single step (something not always possible
with later wadcutter designs as the seating stem could interfere
with the crimp). Such loads recoiled more lightly than the standard
.44 Russian loads, allowing shooters to recover their sight picture
more quickly in rapid fire strings, and the wide shoulder was
intended to cut a clean full caliber hole in target paper.
This
is a landmark bullet, not just for its bizarre shape, but because it
is the first handgun bullet that was designed for one specific
task, as opposed to being a general purpose projectile. We take
that concept for granted today with highly specialized projectiles
for everything from self-defense, to hunting dangerous game, to
various forms of competition (silhouette, bullseye, IPSC, etc.). The
Himmelwright wadcutter is kind of an odd-duck as projectiles go, but
I think it's important that we recognize the significance of Mr.
Himmelwright's willingness to tailor bullet design for a highly
specialized function. This was an important step in the development
of the high-performance handgun ammunition that we take for granted
today.
In
1899 S&W unveiled a new revolver that would become a landmark in
revolver design for the next 100+ years. The First Model Military
and Police Model of 1899 (known affectionately as "the M&P") was the
first fixed-frame, medium frame (K-frame) hand-ejector, in which the
cylinder swung out of the frame for loading and unloading. This
accurate and reliable design would go on to become incredibly
popular, with both private citizens and law enforcement
organizations. The Model 1899 was also the first revolver chambered
in the perennial .38 Special. Shortly after Mr. Himmelwright
designed his wadcutter for the .44 Russian, he designed a similar
bullet for the .38 Special (the Ideal 360302-S). The Ideal Handbooks
of the day described the 360302-S as:
"For .38 S&W
Special revolvers. Bullet as illustrated, cast of 1 part Tin to 25
parts Lead, will weigh about 112 grains. It is very accurate for
short range and cuts a large clean hole in the target. Designed by
A. L. A. Himmelwright.... (Can also furnish a mould to cast bullet
with base band about as wide again, weighing about 130 grains.)"
Of
the various powder charges recommended for this bullet in the .38
Special was 2.5 grains of Bullseye for 790 fps.
A
while back I bought a S&W First Model Military and Police, with a
serial number in the 11xx range. This gun was made in the first
couple of months of the first production run of guns ever chambered
for the venerable .38 Special. This gun has been polished down and
re-blued, so it has lost a significant portion of its collector's
value, but mechanically it's in good shape -- the timing and lock-up
are good, and the bore and cylinder are very good. The one
unfortunate detail of this gun is the fact that at some distant
point in the past someone had ground down the front sight to roughly
half of its original height, presumably to get point of aim and
point of impact to jive for their particular pet load. Not
surprisingly, with standard weight bullets (i.e. 158-160 grains),
this gun tends to shoot quite high at normal ranges. In thinking
about light bullets that I could use to get this revolver to shoot
closer to point of aim, it occurred to me that this revolver was
contemporary with the Himmelwright wadcutter and the selection of
lightweight .358" diameter bullets was pretty limited during that
timeframe (there were a few others, but very few). Thinking
that perhaps the previous owner had set this old M&P up for target
shooting and had regulated it for the Himmelwright wadcutter, I
decided to assemble some test loads and see what I could learn.
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Ideal 360302 |
So I
broke out my 2-cavity Ideal 360302 and fired up the lead pot.
Casting the 360302 was pretty much like casting any other bullet,
and soon I had a shiny little pile of Himmelwright wadcutters (114
grains when cast with a 3:1 mix of range scrap to linotype,
approximately BHN 12, similar to WW). For a modern caster, that is
pretty much where the similarity to modern cast bullets ends. With
that pronounced proboscis sticking out the front, none of the
standard nose punches work (and nose-first sizing, as with the Star,
may blunt the nose in the process of pushing the previous bullet
along). A number of years ago I had made a nose punch for .30
caliber spitzers in which I had center-bored a .30 caliber
nose-punch, and then taper-reamed the cavity. This nose-punch proved
satisfactory for the Himmelwright wadcutters (although it did leave
a slight "ring around the collar" of the sized/lubed bullets).
Bullets were sized .358" and lubed with homemade Moly lube. Test
loads were assembled with 2.6 grains of Bullseye and Winchester
Small Pistol primers. Bullets were seated using a standard
round-nose seating stem, and this blunted the tip of the nose very
slightly, but not enough to be of any consequence. Test firing at 50
feet revealed that the Model 1899 First Model M&P was still shooting
somewhat high, but at least now many of the shots fell into the
black.
An
interesting observation -- while the full profile of the bullet was
indeed visible on the target, the hole in the paper was not the
clean round hole that we would associate with a wadcutter today.
Portions of the bullet holes were gone, but a significant portion of
the paper still remained in each bullet hole, and there were
typically horizontal tears emanating from the top and bottom of the
bullet hole going out to both sides for half an inch or so (targets
were hung from a clip and not stapled onto a backer, and this may
have influenced the tearing pattern). The original Ideal advertising
copy claimed that the Himmelwright design would cut "a large clean
hole in the target", and in these tests that did not prove to be
entirely true (however it is clearly true that scoring these targets
would be significantly easier than if round-nosed bullets had been
used). In any event, with the exception of a flyer or two, the old
Model 1899 M&P seemed to shoot the Himmelwright wadcutter acceptably
well, and closer to point of aim than any other bullet I've tried to
date in this gun, however accuracy wasn't what one would normally
associate with a highly regarded target bullet, so I decided to run
some of these loads through another gun to see if the limitation was
due to the gun or the bullet. A .38 Special M&P Model 1905 Target
(circa 1909), with an established reputation for fine accuracy (and
a pristine bore), was chosen as a suitable (and period correct) test
vehicle. Long story short, time and time again, 10-shot groups at 50
feet consistently went into one ragged hole measuring about 1 1/4".
Clearly, the .38 Himmelwright wadcutter is capable of providing good
short-range accuracy, in the right gun.
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38 HWC and Model 1905 target |
As
expected, recoil with these light target loads was in the pop-gun
class, and there was zero problem with leading.
These
results got me to thinking about the original Himmelwright wadcutter
and learning more about how it shot. I do not have a S&W Model 3 .44
Russian to shoot these in (maybe someday....), but I do have one or
two .44 Specials that I could make do with. To start off with, I
chose a 5" 2nd Model Hand-Ejector (circa 1931) since it was the
closest thing I had to being contemporary with the Himmelwright
bullets (the Himmelwright wadcutter was originally designed around
1900 and cataloged up through Ideal Handbook #39, published in
1953). I do not have a mould for the Ideal 429220, but a good friend
of mine does (an old 6-cavity Ideal Armory mould that has been in
the family since it was bought new in 1910). He was kind enough to
cast up a batch of these for me a while back (178 grains, cast with
wheel weight alloy), and here was my chance to work with them. These
Ideal 429220s were sized .431" and loaded over 2.9 grains of
Bullseye in W-W .44 Special cases. Not surprisingly, this light 178
grain bullet shoots low (~4" at 50 feet) from the fixed sight 2nd
Model Hand Ejector (which is nicely regulated for 250 grain
bullets). Once again, groups were acceptable for a service revolver,
but not good enough for serious target work (~2 1/2" at 50 feet).
The unusual horizontal tears in the target paper (described above)
were once again observed. And once again, recoil was light and there
was no problem with leading.
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HWC and USFA FT-Target
.44 Special |
Since
experience with the .38 Himmelwright wadcutter had shown that a
cleaner, tighter bore could have an impact on group size, I decided
to try these loads in a USFA Flat-top Target .44 Special, with an
immaculate bore (while this gun was not itself contemporary with the
Himmelwright wadcutters, its design most certainly is). Once again,
groups were in the 2 1/2" to 3" range at 50 feet, and this fine
sixgun is capable of significantly better. I can only conclude that
there must be some limitations to the Himmelwright wadcutters. I
suspect that this has something to do with alignment issues, as the
Himmelwright wadcutters have the combination of a short overall
bearing surface and a long nose. In other handgun bullets this
combination of short bearing surface with a long unsupported nose
can be the kiss of death in terms of accuracy (in rifle bullets this
can be overcome by gaining additional support/alignment from the
tops of the lands and making the nose bore-riding, but that is not
possible in the throat of a revolver cylinder). Of the guns I shot
the Himmelwright wadcutters in the Model 1905 Target has by far the
most shallow forcing cone (only ~.050"), meaning that the gap
between the throat and the lands/grooves is unusually short, so the
bullet is still supported by the throat when it's getting engraved.
This leads to better alignment, and hence, tighter groups. The other
guns have more deeply cut forcing cones, leaving more "wobble room",
and greater chance for misalignment. There is a reason that
wadcutter design evolved towards bullets with longer bearing surface
(e.g. the classic H&G #50, or the Lyman/Ideal 358495). Longer
bullets are still well supported by the throat as they reach across
the forcing cone gap to begin the engraving process.
Aside from the unusual nose on the Himmelwright wadcutters, another
unique feature found on these bullets is their capacious lube
grooves, especially for a bullet intended for light target loads. I
suspect that this is a reflection of the times in which they were
designed. This could be a hold-over of "black powder mentality" in
the hopes of maintaining competitive accuracy for as many shots as
possible by minimizing fouling with an abundance of lube, or it
might even be a hint that some of the early target shooters were
shooting the Himmelwright wadcutters with black powder. In any
event, these bullets hold far more lube that is needed for mid-range
target loads assembled using smokeless powder.
All
in all, this has been a very fun little project, a chance to shoot
the original target bullet out of some old period-correct revolvers
and experience first-hand what some of the early bullseye
competitors worked with in order to earn their medals and trophies.
All told, I don't really see that there is much call for the
Himmelwright wadcutters today, as there are more accurate bullet
designs out there now, and bullet designs that do much a better job
of cutting clean holes in target paper, and the Himmelwright
wadcutters provide no advantages for use in speed-loaders, or
handgun hunting, or the long-range accuracy needs of silhouette
competition. Nonetheless, there is a nostalgic itch that can only be
scratched by using the original bullet, and the Himmelwright's are
the original wadcutter, and a bold step forward for competitive
handgun marksmanship. |
