Recently picked up this old Brazilian contract revolver and had a chance to try it out this weekend. Combines two of my favorite things: classic Smith and .45 acp. It uses moon clips which I find great. Easier and faster for me than the average speedloader, drop in and done.
My target was a chunk of spruce log about 8" thick, and I fired 6 from about 10 yds. One handed, no support, firing as fast as I could reaquire my target. Not a prize winner in a target competition maybe, but not really what the pistol was designed for. If the Kaiser was coming over the top of the trench at you it would be adequate accuracy.
The moon clips are a pain to unload without the demooning tool (which I don't have), so after dumping all my previously loaded rounds, I settled for the old fashioned method of loading one at a time. No issues, the cartridge headspaces itself. The advantage of the moon clip is that you can use the ejector to pop out the spent cases. Without, you need to either pick em out one at a time or give it a shake and let gravity do the work.
As much as I like the .45, I've never really looked into the physical penetrating power of the round. Typically the only thing I shoot is paper which doesn't really give any indication. I took my hatchet and chopped up the block to get an idea of what was going on inside. Penetration was pretty consistently around 2/3 of the way through the wood. Don't know what that translates to in numbers, but damned if I want to get hit by it.
Obviously the bullet's path is affected by density, etc, as the two channels take different directions once entering the wood. Both shots fired from same point/angle/range. No secret there, just thought it was interesting to see the difference.
I had three stack up against each other despite slightly different entrance points. Just thought that was cool.
Recoil was slightly harsher than firing the same round out of a 1911, but no surprise there. Not unpleasant, very manageable. If I wasn't so stuck on old fashioned ways, I'd fit a set of Hogue or Pachmyer wraparound grips on and it would be that much more of a breeze to shoot.
Like I said, I'm no firearm reviewer, just messing around with a new toy and I had a lot of fun so I thought I'd share.
