It is possible they were handholds.
However one thing that no one touched on yet is that older ammo was loaded hot. This was before the days of lawyers, and safety warnings all over everything. When you went to the store to buy a box of .357 Magnum, you got .357 Magnum, not 38 spl +P in a .357 case (like today).
I would be willing to bet you got some of the 'real' stuff, which caught you by surprise. I had the chance to witness this myself, a gunshop owner who I was friends with showed up at the range one day and I had my .357 out. I was shooting some Federal C357B, which are noted as HOT 125gr self defense loads. He asked to shoot, and when he did, kind of laughed. He pulled out a box of the same C357B, but obviously much, much older, and told me to try them.
The difference was night and day.
.38 Spl back in the day was about what .357 Magnum is today, and that doesn't take into account any of the older boutique manufacturers like super-vel who really pushed the envelope. Old ammo was hot ammo, and it worked just fine without blowing up too many guns.
ETA: W-W Super was just the headstamp for Western, they added Super to lots of different kinds of brass. Since you mentioned it was a gold bullet, I am guessing it's a Lubaloy, which would mean it's factory loaded. Something like this:
Attached File