Hornady .38 Special Critical Defense "Lite"?

[Tamara]

So, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the po-po used resolvers, there was the "Treasury" or "Q-load", a loud, flashy, 110gr +P+ jacketed hollow point that used a bullet designed back when engineers still used slide rules. Although some claimed 1200fps muzzle velocities from service revolvers, ~1000fps was more usual from a 2" snubbie, accompanied by a bunch of sturm und drang.

Now comes this Hornady "Lite" load that's not even +P rated, uses a bullet designed in this millennium, and claims 1200 fps. (I haven't chronoed it yet.) I'm intrigued. Speer has had the .38 snubbie market wrapped up tight with its 135gr +P Gold Dot for a long time.

How does this stuff perform in standard testing?

[5pins]

Are they calming 1200 form a snubie?

[SWAT Lt.]

I'll start by saying I am one of the above referenced dinosaurs. Not too long before I was hired, my agency issued the then-fairly-new Winchester 38 +P 95 grain Silvertip (changed by the time I was hired to Remington 125 SJHP +P). R-P made a 38+P 95 SJHP at the time as well. I was told that marginable OIS results with the STHP round was the reason for the change. I know this CD Lite is a bullet of modern design and all, but I would think penetration to be .380 Auto-ish. The video on Hornady's website http://www.hornady.com/store/38-Spec...-Defense-lite/ says penetration is "respectable" but provides no data. The CD Lite may be worth the trade off for folks who cannot handle/control the recoil of the heavier rounds.

[Tamara]

Are they calming 1200 form a snubie?

The box flap doesn't say.

(Hornady page says a 4" ventilated test barrel.)

[Wheeler]

The box flap doesn't say.

(Hornady page says a 4" ventilated test barrel.)

So there's a pretty good chance you're back to sub 1000 fps out of a pocket rocket, only with an updated bullet design?

[Tamara]

So there's a pretty good chance you're back to sub 1000 fps out of a pocket rocket...?

Waitin' to see what the chrono says.

[Stephen]

Amateur gel test on YouTube. 890fps on his chrono out of an LCR. 90 grains at 890fps sounds a lot like .380.



Edit: here's another backyard gel test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98FYy29WGlA

[41magfan]

The original +P Super-Vel 110's would approach 1200 fps in a barrel at least 4" long, but even those wouldn't break a thousand out of a 2" tube. Pretty much every so-called +P load since has been a bit unimpressive when compared to the original "boutique" label that started it all.

[Wheeler]

I used to have 500 rounds of the Treasury Load that I carried in a 3" Model 65. In a show of bravado several years ago I shot it up in matches to prove to myself that I could be competitive with real carry ammo.

[Tamara]

I'll be chronoing a string from a 2" Model 64 and a string from... uh, lemme think... I guess a 4" Model 19.

(I need to buy a junky 4" Model 64 or 65 po-po trade-in gun for this sort of thing. I hate scrubbing guns after only 10 rounds, but I also hate coonfingering a pretty blued piece with sweaty hands at the range when it's hot and humid out and then putting it away dirty. I'd use my usual, slightly scruffy .38-44 Heavy Duty, but it's got a 5" tube.)