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It was just a few weeks back that Jim started a thread on Federal's relatively new .30 Super Carry, which is being marketed as almost as potent as the 9mm, but with less recoil and more magazine capacity in the same platform. I had scratched my head when this was first announced a couple of years ago as it seemed kinda silly, typically gaining just two or three more rounds in the typical magazine while giving up punch. Most of us had a pretty good laugh about it and I had mostly forgotten about it when I ran into this thread over at castboolits. What's that? The Smith EZ feeds a full-meplat flat-point 117 and gives 1150? That's .32-20 rifle performance out of a smallish semiauto. Now this to me as a full-fledged gun crank is interesting.
Then a Grabagun ad popped up in my email yesterday noting they have the Smith .30 Super Carry Shield Plus and EZ on a really good sale -- $299. Bait taken, hook firmly set! Y'all are welcome to laugh and laugh ...
(I post as Abert Rim on CB.)
I won't laugh but I will say my .32-20 rifle loads gave right at 2000 fps with 125 gr. Spitzer and 1800 fps with 140 gr. LBT cast bullet. The 100 gr. Speer JHP ran over 2100 fps.
Now 1100+ fps from the little handgun is pretty durn hot and nothing to be sneezed at as long as it is reliable and accurate. With my prejudices I would not carry one for self-defense but that's me.
Jim, I was looking at the load data for .32-20 rifle in the Lyman 51st. Should have figured that it was greatly conservative as they are loading only to 16,000.
This will be a fun experiment, I think. I have never owned any of the Smith EZ semiautos, but the EZ-rack system was a huge blessing for many of our female and senior shooters when I worked at the range in La Luz. So I get to play with this design as well as the new cartridge which is designed to run at 50,000 and requires small rifle primers. To use the cliche it is like the old .30 Pedersen/7.65 French Longue on illegal bodybuilding substances.
By the way, I traded the little LCP Max toward a Smith CSX. With its 1911-esque fire controls, it makes me feel like I am home and I am shooting it better than any other 9 I have owned.
Looking at his article on the .32-20 for revolvers in Pet Loads, Ken Waters shows 6 grains of SR4756 giving 1154 with a 115-grain cast bullet from a Smith Model 1905 with 6-inch barrel.
No one laughing here....I have a 7.65x21mm s&w ez.
The ez will feed and fire .32 acp and frenchy longues but will not self-cycle them.
I briefly owned a 7.65x21mm s&w shield + 17 shooter. It would not feed or fire the shorter cartridges like the ez did/does. I was showing the shield + to my son and it went home with him and has not been seen by me since.....
As for brass, I have not found any but starline has recently filled a backorder of the frenchy longues. These won't last long.....
Ray, I enjoyed the French Model 1935 A that I had years ago, but in those days the 7.65 Longue ammo from Buffalo Arms, based on lathe-altered .32 S&W Long brass IIRC, was not particularly affordable.
Academy has both Federal and Speer FMJ in stock for $25 a box. I shall avail meinzelf shortly.
Ray, that's a very interesting approach.
I put three magazines through the EZ this morning and found it extremely pleasant to shoot -- definitely less recoil than a 9 and a nice snap when the bullet struck the target. Lost five cases of the 30 rounds fired. I hope someone provides brass before long.
Bill, accuracy and enough power and penetration are nothing to laugh at. Glad you like it!
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Ted, Accurate 31-115H is on the way. I expect it to feed if Tom's 31 -117E feeds. I don't recall having owned any other auto pistol where the bullet at the top of the magazine is in such nearly perfect alignment with the bore. And yes, I do expect "efficient energy transfer."
Well fellas, the Accurate .31-115H mold arrived and I believe it casts a very handsome and seemingly practical boolit. That's the Speer 115-grain FMJ load on the right for comparison. All my brass is loaded so I will have to shoot some up to be able to load more than just a sample with the 115H -- and chronograph it.
Well, I laughed, and rolled my eyes, when the 30 SC first came out... but it sure is starting to look good now. Thanks for sharing. And howdy, I'm Bazoo over on cb.gl forum.
While it may compare to larger calibers on paper, until it is actually used to shoot living breathing mammals with it we will never really know how it works. I remember someone saying, "No simple physics formula could ever predict how a rifle or handgun will perform. It's best to defer to experience here." Before I ever carried it for self defense I would go out and shoot living breathing things .. goats and pigs and maybe a deer or two. Then you get some idea of how it will actually perform.
Years ago an ammo company came out with what they said was THE ULTIMATE self defense load. And since I was writing for a magazine they sent me a bunch of the ammo to try out. I shot it at targets and over the chronograph and then I went out and shot living breathing mammals with it. In 4" .357 Magnum the projectiles were running close to 1700 fps. But shooting 40 to 60 pound critter with it showed that it was not gonna work. Sure, they would die eventually, but it just sliced them and you couldn't even see the entrance and exit wounds.
I called the company and asked them if they had shot any living things with it and they said they had not. I warned them they were gonna get someone killed ... sent the rest of the ammo back along with my report. They were kind and never replied to me and took me off their mailing list. But they never brought out that "self-defense" round.
Who would have thought 30-40 years ago that the 9 mm would ever be this popular? Who would have guessed that lightweight carry guns like the SIG 365 would be so useful and compact, but still shootable?
Last edited by Scott Tschirhart on Sat Mar 23, 2024 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Y'all are welcome to laugh and laugh ... 
