.38 Special Gold Dots in a 4" barrel?

[65k10]

Sorry if this has been covered somewhere, but most of what I find is regarding 2" snubbies, so please bear with me.

I've read that the 125 gr. .38 special Gold Dots (and other HP rounds) don't expand well out of a 2" barrel. Is that a concern when fired out of a 4" barrel? I recently aquired a 4" S&W 64 and while I don't plan on using it for defense, I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least have a quantity of solid defensive ammo for it. I'm just not sure if Gold Dots would be adequate for this or if I should look elsewhere.

[RevolverRob]

125-grain Gold Dots seem to do fine from 4" and bigger guns. My bet is that your M64 will be more accurate with a 158-grain load though. The vast majority of fixed sight Smiths shoot POA with 158-grain bullets. My choice is the Remington +P lead hollow point (SGAmmo has it in stock).

I really wish Federal would make a 147-158 grain HST in .38 Special....

[Chuck Haggard]

From a 4" gun any of the big three makes a 158gr LSWCHP that works fine.

Both the 125gr and 135gr Gold Dots are a good choice as well.

[65k10]

Good to know. I'll look at that load from Remington. Thank you.

[Rich]

I think Speer still has gel testing showing 158gr GD and 125gr GD

[Rich]

125-grain Gold Dots seem to do fine from 4" and bigger guns. My bet is that your M64 will be more accurate with a 158-grain load though. The vast majority of fixed sight Smiths shoot POA with 158-grain bullets. My choice is the Remington +P lead hollow point (SGAmmo has it in stock).

I really wish Federal would make a 147-158 grain HST in .38 Special....

A 147-158gr HST

That is the best idea I ever heard of. I totally agree with ya.


Anyway every single S&W 38/357 fixed sighted revolver I've had has had a POA/POI = 158gr

Now my 357 S&W that came with adjustable rear sight like my 2 M19 . out of the box they shot POA/POI = 158gr

BTW I never had to re adjust the rear sight NIB S&W even includes my M5906 and M6906. I must be lucky

[SamAdams]

I think Speer still has gel testing showing 158gr GD and 125gr GD

I'll have to do a web search for that. I have a number of old school k frame service revolvers and have wondered how they would perform with a number of loads including the ole' FBI +P lead hollow point. But it seems most testing is for snubbies since LE hung up the 4 in barrel revolver.

[Chuck Haggard]

Just throwing out that the +P 158gr LSWCHPs were well tested and street proven from 4" service revolvers, and I've seen some use of the 135gr Gold Dot that tells me it works from the full size guns as well as snubs.

[Totem Polar]

^^^makes sense. The .38 135 GDHP in a 4" barrel is just going to be coming closer to the velocity of the (very tame) .357 snub version--which uses the same bullet, so it's already designed to work at higher than .38 snub speeds.


<edit: .38 rated at 860fps, .357 rated at 990fps, both 2" vented. I'd expect the .38 version to pick up +/- 75 fps from 4" duty wheelies; wonder if anyone's chrono'd the load?>

<more edit: just found an article citing the original press release; 975fps rating from 4" barrel--sounds about right until I can get some time to chrono the load myself, or we hear from someone who's done it. Sorry for the hijack, carry on...>