38 Special 130grn HST discontinued.

[Ndbbm]

Just a fyi for anyone interested. I got an email from Midway that it was discontinued.


Jason

[OlongJohnson]

That may mean only that Midway has dropped the SKU, not that Fed stopped listing it.

[WDR]

That may mean only that Midway has dropped the SKU, not that Fed stopped listing it.

Last I looked at .38 loads on the Federal website, it was still there. But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they dropped it. It was an odd enough round that most folks looked past it. Profile being poor for reloads from strips or speedloaders doesn't help it... Nor did reports of poor accuracy. I shot a small amount, and it patterned, rather than grouped. Terminal performance wasn't really up to par with other HST loads either.

[OlongJohnson]

I do recall Midway doing a "factory seconds" blowout of bullets that pretty much had to be that one. Could be another indicator that Federal didn't plan to load any more as early as last year.

[LtDave]

Last I looked at .38 loads on the Federal website, it was still there. But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they dropped it. It was an odd enough round that most folks looked past it. Profile being poor for reloads from strips or speedloaders doesn't help it... Nor did reports of poor accuracy. I shot a small amount, and it patterned, rather than grouped. Terminal performance wasn't really up to par with other HST loads either.

My testing of the HST didn’t result in anything to write home about. Groups were just OK, and POI was different in every gun I tried (mostly J frames). None of my guns were POA=POI.

[JonInWA]

Over the years, I've been pretty pleased with Remington Golden Saber (or whatever name they're marketing it at a given moment) 125 gr .38 Special +P.

Best, Jon

[RevolverRob]

Not a big surprise, it wasn't anything fabulous.

They really need to get over it and enlarge the 147-grain 9mm HsT a couple of thousandths, load it +P+, 950fps. It'll work. It'll suck to shoot, but it will work.

[03RN]

Not a big surprise, it wasn't anything fabulous.

They really need to get over it and enlarge the 147-grain 9mm HsT a couple of thousandths, load it +P+, 950fps. It'll work. It'll suck to shoot, but it will work.

Maybe in a j frame. 158gr swc at 1k fps from a 4" gun is down right reasonable.

But I agree. Same with speer. A 147gr gold dot @ 1k fps would be nice

[03RN]

Over the years, I've been pretty pleased with Remington Golden Saber (or whatever name they're marketing it at a given moment) 125 gr .38 Special +P.

Best, Jon

I still have a few hundred rounds of the Magnum version. It's a pretty accurate round and I've found that a 125 XTP at 1200fps shoots to the same poi so they're print near interchangeable.

[SAWBONES]

I shot a small amount, and it patterned, rather than grouped.

That was my experience too.

The .38 Special HST accuracy (to say nothing of precision) was hopeless in my "snubbies", both those of dedicated .38 Special sort and in .357 Magnum examples.

I really wanted to like it, but a round whose POI was so unpredictably and inconsistently different from POA was useless.
I still have a couple boxes of it sitting on a shelf.