+2
I had access to some old (WW2 era) 357 Magnum loads and they chrono'd very, very fast... much faster than any other factory ammo I've ever tested except for Lee Jurras's SuperVel. I lucked into a full case of SuperVel about 14 years ago and still have most of it, and it's wonderful stuff. I handload my hunting ammo to basically duplicate that SuperVel.
I've not personally chrono'd old 44 Mag ammo, but one of my shooting buds back in WI has done so. He's now a retired cop, but back in the day he carried S&W revolvers on duty, and off-duty carried a Model 29. He has ammo from the earliest days, and he has confirmed that the early ammo was very, very hot; much hotter than anything put out by the factories nowadays. Gary has killed more deer with the 44 Mag in revolvers and lever rifles than most hunters have killed with all their calibers combined. He still handloads his 44's to the old specs.
Obviously a dude that doesn't own a Lyman manual...
