Two inch barrel .38 load of choice?

[314159]

"What reports?"

All I can say is, I read it on PF, somewhere... The gist of what was said on the internet (certainly my first and possibly worst mistake): Nothing in a 2 inch barrel consistently performed to spec. I couldn't be more vague, sorry. I'll look around and see if I can find my sources.

Anyway, I decided to go with the light recoil choice of full wadcutters even in my weighty 2 inch revolvers. Which still seems counter productive.

[SWAT Lt.]

This is purely an unverified anecdote, but...when I came on the job in 1993, we were told of an OIS in the 80s: foot beat cop with the 200 gr RNL shot a suspect square in the forehead. It was a "one shot stop", as the bad guy was either knocked out or simply fainted, but the story goes that the bullet lodged in the bone, was removed at the hospital, and he walked into jail virtually unscathed later that night.

I can't vouch for the story, but it was related to us by our (quite knowledgable) firearms instructors in the context of terminal ballistics versus our then-current revolver duty ammo (Remington 125 SJHP in either +P or magnum flavors, both of which did quite well for us).

My beat partner shot a armed robbery suspect after a brief foot chase. He drove through the lot of a convenience store one evening to check on the clerk. He waived at the clerk who did not waive back (because she was being robbed at gun point). Next thing he knew he's chasing the suspect who ran out of the store, gun in one hand and money in the other. He ran to the alley behind the store and turned and pointed the gun at the officer. The officer fired one round of Remington 125 gr SJHP +P from his issued S&W Model 67 and the robber dropped. Come to find out he struck the suspect in the head, the round skidded off, failed to penetrate the skull, and knocked him out briefly. Later, my beat partner told whomever would listen that he shot the guy in the head on purpose. While running, one handed, in low light, at a distance of about 10 yards. Right. I'd seen him shoot on the range more than once and knew better.

The Remington 125 SJHP +P worked well for us (and our county police) as well. I cannot remember a time in the 7 years I was there before we transitioned to 9mms, where an officer had to reload his revolver in an OIS . Many of those shootings were fatals.

[Dog Face Gremlin]

Going back to the 200gr. RNL....knew a few Detectives in CT. who carried them in their Colt Detective snubbies back in the mid early '70s....remember that big blunt profile of the round but after reading the performance data herein, I'm not surprised.

[blues]

Winchester 130 grain +P (RA38B) in my 642-1

[Bucky]

When I got my 642, I was amazed at the difference in POI changes across bullet weights. Mine seems to be set for 158s. I picked up a case of Federal’s version of the FBI load years back, so that’s what I use.