- Messages
- 2,889
- Reactions
- 7,942
I met Darryl Bolke of Hardwired Tactical Shooting at the Primary and Secondary Summit in Utah both in 2020 and 2021, he's also part of the Pat Rogers Memorial Revolver Roundup hosted by Gunsite in Arizona.
Darryl's background...
Darryl Bolke is a retired police officer from Southern California. He spent 17 years assigned to SWAT as their primary firearms instructor and armorer. He also worked numerous proactive crime suppression units and spent four years as a flight officer in the helicopter unit. He currently is still working as a security contractor. "DB" has been a professional firearms instructor for well over thirty years. Is co-founder of Hardwired Tactical Shooting and the Pat Rogers Memorial Revolver Round Up at Gunsite. He also coordinates the Thunderstick Summit shotgun training event. He is a well known subject matter expert on combative revolvers, their history and use, as well as one of the largest collectors of historical fighting revolvers in the country.
Darryl had posted about some problems he and some others have been having with factory ammo, either over powered or not working. I contacted him and we developed some 38 and 357 rounds.
Darryl posted this a few weeks ago...
Awhile back I was contacted by Steve Shields from High Desert Cartridge Company. For those not familiar with High Desert Cartridge Company, they build a lot of ammunition for many of the top level tactical trainers in the country. Steve shares a love of revolvers like me and reached out to me to get some input from me to try to fill some holes for ammunition in the serious revolver training world. We finally have a solid snub load being built for the lightweight snubs that my entire circle of training people are carrying, so the big hole I saw was sort of the other end of the spectrum.
I have a passion for large N frame revolvers. Two absolute favorites are the 3.5" Model 27's and it's utilitarian counterpart the 4" Model 28. There has also been a huge resurgence in folks enjoying many of the older icons of police service pistols like the classic Model 19 and the iconic 3" Model 13's, as well as their Stainless Steel counterparts. The problem with trying to enjoy these guns is ammunition.
For the .357 Magnum chambered guns you are stuck with either shooting some sort of .38 Special load if you want less recoil or more controllable ammunition, or full house, loosen your fillings .357 loads. There are several issues with this situation. First, these are classic guns that cannot be warrantied or repaired. Second, shooting .38 in them leaves a distinct ring in their chambers of carbon build up that can cause issues. If you want to shoot full house .357 Magnum, the N frames and modern Rugers can take it, but it is not a great shooting experience for the user. The medium frame S&W's do not fair well with a heavy diet of .357 Magnum, and they are even less pleasant to shoot (actually, fairly miserable). Years ago when I was very heavy into shooting .44 Magnum's in 4" and shorter barrels I had a well known ammunition company load me a lot of training ammunition at reasonable .44 Special ballistics in .44 Magnum cases to solve this identical issue.
When Steve and I talked I told him I would like a load built to both train and carry in my larger .357 Magnum guns that had both a round I could train with and one that could be used for defensive purposes. We decided on using a 158 gr. Total Metal Jacket round for the training round that would also be suitable for work around vehicles and for an outdoors load. By using a fully jacketed round it would be clean and not lead guns up. The defensive load would be a 158 gr. Hornady XTP bullet loaded identical to the TMJ. We started with a load at about 1100 fps. It was far more pleasant than the 1400 fps stuff, but not what I was after. Steve lowered the velocity and changed some powders and we got down to a 900 fps load that was great in the N frames, but still a bit harsh in the lighter guns that were the ones that really need a reasonable loading. We went all the way down to around 700 fps. It was super pleasant to shoot but I found was too light in the larger guns. We settled on a a load that is running right into the high 700's to very low 800 fps range with Steve's testing.
I have been using my beater Model 28 4" as a test gun. It is an old cop gun, refinished (that is why it is shiny instead of the normal dull finish of Model 28's), and has a pretty light action from either pure long term use or some 1960's police armorer knew what he was doing. It was the most accurate with a slightly faster load and seemed to lose a bunch of accuracy with the super light load. The current load brought most of the accuracy back and is very tolerable to shoot in the smaller guns, including the J frames. It also shoots to Point of Aim at ten yards in my 2.25" fixed sight barrel 649-5.
Overall, I am really happy. I can shoot some of my favorite guns all day without hurting my very sensitive arthritic hands. The lower pressures and velocity of these loads will be great for those who do not relish the idea of destroying or damaging an irreplaceable revolver. Those guns that likely have a wonderful soul inside and many of these were handed down from older or deceased family members. I have two Model 19's that belonged to two of the most influential men in my life that have passed away that I want to enjoy, but not ruin. Running jacketed ammunition means cleaning is easy, especially after longer shooting and training sessions that this ammunition will allow for. One of the pictures attached is the last target I shot today.
After shooting close to a hundred rounds of .357 Magnum I fired the last 6 into a head at ten yards rapidly stroking the trigger. What is of note is that none of the rounds are low, which means there was no flinch. Six smooth presses of that wonderful trigger and being able to focus only on stroking the trigger smoothly to the rear, and sight alignment without worrying about pain at the end of the trigger pull. That is how training becomes positive live fire training and not building negative repetitions.
We are in the works in developing a solid 125gr TMJ and a jacketed 148gr wadcutter velocities for snubs...should be on the shelf by September.
Darryl's background...
Darryl Bolke is a retired police officer from Southern California. He spent 17 years assigned to SWAT as their primary firearms instructor and armorer. He also worked numerous proactive crime suppression units and spent four years as a flight officer in the helicopter unit. He currently is still working as a security contractor. "DB" has been a professional firearms instructor for well over thirty years. Is co-founder of Hardwired Tactical Shooting and the Pat Rogers Memorial Revolver Round Up at Gunsite. He also coordinates the Thunderstick Summit shotgun training event. He is a well known subject matter expert on combative revolvers, their history and use, as well as one of the largest collectors of historical fighting revolvers in the country.
Darryl had posted about some problems he and some others have been having with factory ammo, either over powered or not working. I contacted him and we developed some 38 and 357 rounds.
Darryl posted this a few weeks ago...
Awhile back I was contacted by Steve Shields from High Desert Cartridge Company. For those not familiar with High Desert Cartridge Company, they build a lot of ammunition for many of the top level tactical trainers in the country. Steve shares a love of revolvers like me and reached out to me to get some input from me to try to fill some holes for ammunition in the serious revolver training world. We finally have a solid snub load being built for the lightweight snubs that my entire circle of training people are carrying, so the big hole I saw was sort of the other end of the spectrum.
I have a passion for large N frame revolvers. Two absolute favorites are the 3.5" Model 27's and it's utilitarian counterpart the 4" Model 28. There has also been a huge resurgence in folks enjoying many of the older icons of police service pistols like the classic Model 19 and the iconic 3" Model 13's, as well as their Stainless Steel counterparts. The problem with trying to enjoy these guns is ammunition.
For the .357 Magnum chambered guns you are stuck with either shooting some sort of .38 Special load if you want less recoil or more controllable ammunition, or full house, loosen your fillings .357 loads. There are several issues with this situation. First, these are classic guns that cannot be warrantied or repaired. Second, shooting .38 in them leaves a distinct ring in their chambers of carbon build up that can cause issues. If you want to shoot full house .357 Magnum, the N frames and modern Rugers can take it, but it is not a great shooting experience for the user. The medium frame S&W's do not fair well with a heavy diet of .357 Magnum, and they are even less pleasant to shoot (actually, fairly miserable). Years ago when I was very heavy into shooting .44 Magnum's in 4" and shorter barrels I had a well known ammunition company load me a lot of training ammunition at reasonable .44 Special ballistics in .44 Magnum cases to solve this identical issue.
When Steve and I talked I told him I would like a load built to both train and carry in my larger .357 Magnum guns that had both a round I could train with and one that could be used for defensive purposes. We decided on using a 158 gr. Total Metal Jacket round for the training round that would also be suitable for work around vehicles and for an outdoors load. By using a fully jacketed round it would be clean and not lead guns up. The defensive load would be a 158 gr. Hornady XTP bullet loaded identical to the TMJ. We started with a load at about 1100 fps. It was far more pleasant than the 1400 fps stuff, but not what I was after. Steve lowered the velocity and changed some powders and we got down to a 900 fps load that was great in the N frames, but still a bit harsh in the lighter guns that were the ones that really need a reasonable loading. We went all the way down to around 700 fps. It was super pleasant to shoot but I found was too light in the larger guns. We settled on a a load that is running right into the high 700's to very low 800 fps range with Steve's testing.
I have been using my beater Model 28 4" as a test gun. It is an old cop gun, refinished (that is why it is shiny instead of the normal dull finish of Model 28's), and has a pretty light action from either pure long term use or some 1960's police armorer knew what he was doing. It was the most accurate with a slightly faster load and seemed to lose a bunch of accuracy with the super light load. The current load brought most of the accuracy back and is very tolerable to shoot in the smaller guns, including the J frames. It also shoots to Point of Aim at ten yards in my 2.25" fixed sight barrel 649-5.
Overall, I am really happy. I can shoot some of my favorite guns all day without hurting my very sensitive arthritic hands. The lower pressures and velocity of these loads will be great for those who do not relish the idea of destroying or damaging an irreplaceable revolver. Those guns that likely have a wonderful soul inside and many of these were handed down from older or deceased family members. I have two Model 19's that belonged to two of the most influential men in my life that have passed away that I want to enjoy, but not ruin. Running jacketed ammunition means cleaning is easy, especially after longer shooting and training sessions that this ammunition will allow for. One of the pictures attached is the last target I shot today.
After shooting close to a hundred rounds of .357 Magnum I fired the last 6 into a head at ten yards rapidly stroking the trigger. What is of note is that none of the rounds are low, which means there was no flinch. Six smooth presses of that wonderful trigger and being able to focus only on stroking the trigger smoothly to the rear, and sight alignment without worrying about pain at the end of the trigger pull. That is how training becomes positive live fire training and not building negative repetitions.
We are in the works in developing a solid 125gr TMJ and a jacketed 148gr wadcutter velocities for snubs...should be on the shelf by September.
is a revolver your first choice in handguns for a potential gunfight?
