American Rifleman: Testing the 38 Special

[willie]

I hear you. About the FBI load. I have a few boxes of Federal, and just now examining them, I verified that the bullet is swaged and not cast. Swaged, as you know, are softer. For your purposes you might search for swaged h.p. bullets. Or(and don't laugh), use a drill press to make your own from available solid nose varieties. Good luck.

Would you take time to use once fired .38 Spl brass that has crimped primers? You would have to remove the crimp. I have a batch from the border patrol from many years ago.

[Malamute]

This all does, however, make me wonder about a lead hollow point and some of the modern coatings. I wonder if I can convince Acme, Missouri, bluebullets or somebody into either making a coated bullet or coating someone else's bullet for me. A soft lead bullet with a durable protective coating might work well.

Ive seen some commercial casters that offer coated bullets. I didnt bookmark them, as they werent what I was looking for, but some are doing them.

[revchuck38]

FWIW, you can get swaged LSWC-HPs here. I've shot some of them but never tested them for expansion. I've probably gone through 10k of their swaged RNLs when I was shooting IDPA. They're good bullets but somewhat messy to load due to their soft lube. I went through ~700 rounds of them at 830 fps from my M67-1 during a one-day class with no leading.

[Tokarev]

FWIW, you can get swaged LSWC-HPs here. I've shot some of them but never tested them for expansion. I've probably gone through 10k of their swaged RNLs when I was shooting IDPA. They're good bullets but somewhat messy to load due to their soft lube. I went through ~700 rounds of them at 830 fps from my M67-1 during a one-day class with no leading.

Those are probably pretty comparable to Speer 158 and Hornady 158 swaged HPs. Probably pretty similar to what Federal and Remington use in their ammo too.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[Tokarev]

I shot a few Remington 158 +P and a few Double Tap 148 full wadcutters into gel this morning. You guys probably won't be too surprised by the results.....

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[willie]

See this link for Hornady swaged .38 158 gr h.p.'s. These are closeouts and may be the last offered. Other sources list them as discontinued. http://trackofthewolf.com A search will find them.

[Tokarev]

FYI for those subscribed. I've posted 148 and 158 results in a new thread.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk