+P 38 Special Hand Load

[Dave T]

After seeing so many examples of poor performance from even +P rounds out of a short barrel 38 SPL revolvers I have decided a wide-flat nose bullet profile going ~ 900 fps might be a better solution. To that end I order a couple hundred LBT 150g FNB-GC bullets from Montana Bullet Works. I prefer the wide flat nose to any SWC after seeing some tests showing the so called "cutting shoulder" on the SWC does no good and has little to no affect on the wound channel.

I have both Winchester 231 and Alliant 2400 on hand and at today's prices I'm not going to go looking for some designer powder I either can't get or can't afford. I did a fair bit of searching and came up with two +P rated loads, all be it from older references (20+ years), for both 231 and 2400. I'm not going to list the loads here but they did come from legitimate reloading manuals and not out of my fevered imagination. After loading both powders behind the LBT wide flat nose bullets I headed to the range to meet a friend who wanted to shoot the same day. Fortunately for me he was bringing his easier to set up chrono so I left my 39 year old Model 33 in the shop.

The guns chosen to test were my every day carry, a S&W 386 Night Guard with it's 2.5" barrel, and a Model 10-10 with a 4" HB and a comfortable for me round butt grip. We chronographed the 231 loads first and got a disappointing five shot average of 826 fps from the 2.5" 386. The 4" M-10 gave a much more respectable 917 fps for five shots. Then it was on to the 2400 load. Even with the 386's shorter barrel the 2400 load made it to 912 fps for five rounds. Out of the 4" M-10 2400 pushed the 150g bullet to an average of 1002 fps.

Both loads were about the same in terms of felt recoil. Fired primers had nicely rounded corners and all fired cases ejected easily from both revolvers. And they easily held minute of Adam Henry (think about it for a second) out to 15 yards or so. That's kind of my "get off me" & "stay away from me" outer limit.

I was actually hoping the 231 would have performed better as I have about twice as much of that powder than I do 2400...but the chronograph don't lie. As I get older and the arthritis in my hands gets progressively worse the Buffalo Bore Heavy 38 Special +P 158g SWCHP_GC I've been carrying for years is becoming unpleasant and I practice with a hand load that duplicates the factory round. 900+ fps with that wide flat point is starting to look pretty good so I've developed a plan. I'll load the 2400 rounds in nickel Star-Line brass for carry and the cheaper 231 rounds in brass Star-Line cases for practice ammo.

And, before someone starts yelling, I'm not worried about carrying "hand loads" as defensive ammunition. Since my carry gun is a 357 Magnum and I would be carrying rounds that don't even approach Magnum performance, I can't see some prosecutor making an argument that I'm a crazed killer. Anyway that's my story of the search for a WFN 38 Special +P load.

Dave

PS: After proof reading the above (hope I got everything spelled right) I've decided to post the loads I was shooting after all. They did come out of my collection of reloading manuals, meaning Lyman, Speer, Hornady, Sierra, Hodgdon, and or Winchester tested these loads and found them OK. The 231 charge was 5.2g and the 2400 charge was 10.5g. There, I feel better now. (smiley face goes here)

[OlongJohnson]

minute of Adam Henry

In NATO, that's Alpha Hotel.

[Dave T]

In NATO, that's Alpha Hotel.

LOL - I learned it as an Deputy Sheriff in Arizona. We used it on the radio as the powers that be frowned on cursing or vulgarity.

Dave

[Lester Polfus]

What benefit does this offer over carrying wadcutters?

[Dave T]

First they load from my Safariland Comp IIs significantly better than wadcutters, and because they are a gas check bullet they shoot very cleanly. After over 150 rounds through the two revolvers I had at the range that day a couple passes with a good fitting brass brush and the barrels and chambers were spotless.

Back in my PPC days I shot a lot of swagged wadcutters at ~ 700 fps and my bull gun didn't clean up as easily as these hand loads did going from 826-1002 fps.

Dave

[willie]

What benefit does this offer over carrying wadcutters?

Another benefit over wadcutters is that the 2400 load would serve as an excellent field load. The selected bullet would not shed velocity as rapidly as a wadcutter and would maintain accuracy out to 100 yards. With it a fair shot could hit gallon milk jugs, and a good shot could bounce quart cans when shooting a 4inch quality revolver.

[jtcarm]

Another benefit over wadcutters is that the 2400 load would serve as an excellent field load. The selected bullet would not shed velocity as rapidly as a wadcutter and would maintain accuracy out to 100 yards. With it a fair shot could hit gallon milk jugs, and a good shot could bounce quart cans when shooting a 4inch quality revolver.

I’ve been looking for the exact same thing: a bullet with a big, wide meplat that I could push to about 1,000 FPS in .357 brass.

I just got this mould from Accurate. It looks about as close to a full wadcutter as you can get.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...bullet=36-170A.

I haven’t had a chance to load any yet.

[Rick R]

I’ve been looking for the exact same thing: a bullet with a big, wide meplat that I could push to about 1,000 FPS in .357 brass.

When I recently decided to shoot more .38/.357 I bought the four cavity hollowpoint version of this mold from NOE,

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/wp-c..._T4_Sketch.jpg

I haven’t drug the chrono out to the range yet but sized to .359” and conventionally lubed they shoot well out of my 2 1/2” GP100 or 6” Security Six as peppy .38 or mid-range .357 loads without leading. Cast 15:1 as a hollowpoint the one I shot as a +P load into gallon water jugs expanded to .60ish”. A benefit of the plain based design is not needing to source gas checks in our brave new world.



I wouldn’t consider myself unarmed if the only ammo I had was loaded with the WFN version cast of wheel weights and loaded to +P territory.

[willie]

I’ve been looking for the exact same thing: a bullet with a big, wide meplat that I could push to about 1,000 FPS in .357 brass.

I just got this mould from Accurate. It looks about as close to a full wadcutter as you can get.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...bullet=36-170A.

I haven’t had a chance to load any yet.

This bullet design was popular with bowling pin shooters.

[Zeke38]

Sorry I don't have a picture at present but just received 500 125gr LSWCs from Rimrock Bullets. They look like the old 358156 with the lower end cut off. They weight 128 grains on my scale and they shoot to point of aim in my 3" KC and a friends 638 2". Using some loads from Brian Pearce for his top of the line 38+P loads from a couple of years ago. They are accurate.