H&G #51GC

by Glen, Sunday, December 01, 2013, 14:39 (3953 days ago)

In the development of the .357 Magnum, Phil Sharpe took Elmer Keith's SWC design (the Ideal 358429) to George Hensley and asked him to shorten it to 5/6 of its original length (to get the nose short enough to function in the S&W's short cylinder, as well as to get the weight down to 158-160 grains). The result was the Hensley #51 (Hensley wouldn't team up with Gibbs for another few years yet). Neither Keith nor Sharpe felt that GCs were needed for the .357 Magnum (and I agree), but GCs became more popular in the 1950s as "magnumitis" set in and people started pushing for the highest possible velocities. The bullet in the picture is rather unusual in that it is a GC version of the H&G #51. I have wanted to work with this bullet for some time, and I finally sat down today and cast up a batch. At a BHN of about 10, they weigh 159 grains as they drop from the blocks (163 grains checked and lubed). I have every expectation that these will shoot very well indeed from my .357 sixguns, but where I am really looking forward to testing these is in my .357 Marlin levergun (where the Keith bullet is too long to cycle through the action).