Colt, however, retained the single-diameter charge hole, resulting in the bullet failing to form a seal as it traveled through the chamber throat.

This seal was expected to cause the bullet to expand in the throat and be "swaged down", or reduced again in diameter, as it entered the barrel, but uneven expansion produced poor accuracy.

[5][6][7][8] A typical instance occurred in 1905 and was later recounted by Colonel Louis A. LaGarde: Antonio Caspi, a prisoner on the island of Samar, P.I.

He was shot four times at close range in a hand-to-hand encounter by a .38 Colt's revolver loaded with U.S. Army regulation ammunition.

LaGarde noted Caspi's wounds were fairly well-placed: three bullets entered the chest, perforating the lungs.

However, some of the old .38 Long Colt revolvers and ammunition remained in reserve stocks, and when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, the need for sidearms was such that even these low-performing weapons were brought out of storage for usage away from the front lines.