What’s your .38 Special carry ammo?

[jtcarm]

If you’re going by published tests, be sure to look at the details and not just the averages.

On Lucky Gunner, the Remington 158 LSWCHP +P shows a respectable average expansion of .54 from a 4” barrel.

Drill down the detail, though, and one bullet out of five expanded to .75, skewing the average. The other four showed no significant expansion.

https://www.luckygunner.com/38-speci...rounds#geltest

[Chuck Whitlock]

Ok, an honest question to everyone regarding lead...
Depending on where I'm going and what doing a speedloader in a belt speedloader holder might have some 158sjhps in them. But for a speedstrip that might go in jeans, or similar stuff in coat pockets I don't like the thought of lead shaving off in there being in my clothes. Constant lead exposure vs very small percentage chance of needing a revolver reload so I'd rather some JHPs that I know won't really expand and hit a little low vs having lead in a pocket...at least that's what I've told myself. Just throwing it out there, since seeing post about RNL reloads makes me wonder. I guess in belt loops or in a belt holder ok, but in pockets is not ok to my brain.

While I hadn't thought about lead exposure before, I reckon it's minimal compared to being it aerosol-ized while firing.
My reasoning for using jacketed bullets is that, eventually, SWC and SWC-HP will get mushed into RNL.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Yeah, that 110gr standard pressure Critical Defense load does 13" in heavy clothing and opens up to .50. (For whatever reason the hornadyle.com site has gel data whereas hornady.com doesn't.) If we're being realistic about what a .38 can do out of a 2" barrel that seems to be ideal if the gun is regulated for lighter weight bullets.

The light recoil is either a bonus for some people or a must-have for others.

While the recoil is reasonable, this round shoots very low-left in my snubs.

[Ghost Dog]

For 2" or under
110's too low or too low left. What if you're engagement distance isn't within 7 yards, but a 12/15/22 yard outlier?

125+p Golden Saber looks a little hit an miss on expansion, though I'd be mostly ok with it.

I know 135+p short barrel Gold Dots were the authorized load for lots of departments, but it's a hard bullet and relatively slow velocity. I honestly wonder real world how often it expanded vs not especially through thick layers. Not sure if anyone here can chime in? I wouldn't feel horrible with it, & know it's on the recommended list. But is the borderline threshold 3LD?, what if 5 lighter layers and a puffy coat over the hoodie? The 125+p can be found sometimes but was tested out of a 4" barrel. I don't think it performs shorter than that?

So the 130+P's looks to me to get it done best. Hydrashock Deep expands while still going the deepest, and only goes deeper with longer barrels. The Winchester 130 +p rounds give a bit bigger expansion but at the cost of like 2" less penetration from the snubs. Still likely deep enough though.

You can easily enough train with 130/132 fmjs if you want or just know 158s hit a bit higher.

The old Remington 158+p LSWCHP was amazing, but none of the big ones make it with soft lead like that anymore until you go to boutique BB/UW & maybe DT but those are rather pricy.

Who has a large stash still of 147+p+ Hydrashoks?

So for me, it looks like 130+p's are the best with Hyrdrashok or Winchester if not available. If you can handle the recoil of these, I don't see the benefit over a WC. I guess I should preface that by I don't do Revolvers under 16 ounces, and I am not an AARP member...yet.... You also get better metal/car door & windshield penetration should that just happen to be the situation you end up in.

I'd argue same with .32 H&R...with the Federal 85 gr JHP that will expand well even through 2LD and pretty dang good frontal deformation through 4ld essentially making a BIGGER WC, or the old DT 75 gr (looks like they stopped making it and now 60 gr that I haven't seen much testing on?) I don't see why one would pick WC over those, though I understand it's popular on here.

I'd imagine that some of the more borderline to me loads like the Golden Saber or Gold Dot are more reliable expanders from 3" then 2" or less...

[jh9]

While the recoil is reasonable, this round shoots very low-left in my snubs.

True, it'll do that in a lot of guns. Folks will definitely want to check POI before buying a ton of it.

With the new Lipsey's guns (presumably?) being regulated for a tip of the front sight = 135gr JHP / 148gr wadcutter I'm hoping it'll having matching POI/POA with a drive-the-dot hold and 110s. Otherwise pinned sights and lasergrips for the win.

[Chuck Whitlock]

125+p Golden Saber looks a little hit an miss on expansion, though I'd be mostly ok with it.

I know 135+p short barrel Gold Dots were the authorized load for lots of departments, but it's a hard bullet and relatively slow velocity. I honestly wonder real world how often it expanded vs not especially through thick layers. Not sure if anyone here can chime in? I wouldn't feel horrible with it, & know it's on the recommended list. But is the borderline threshold 3LD?, what if 5 lighter layers and a puffy coat over the hoodie? The 125+p can be found sometimes but was tested out of a 4" barrel. I don't think it performs shorter than that?

So the 130+P's looks to me to get it done best. Hydrashock Deep expands while still going the deepest, and only goes deeper with longer barrels. The Winchester 130 +p rounds give a bit bigger expansion but at the cost of like 2" less penetration from the snubs. Still likely deep enough though.

I'd imagine that some of the more borderline to me loads like the Golden Saber or Gold Dot are more reliable expanders from 3" then 2" or less...

From snub barrels, I don't really even care about expansion. As long as I get the right penetration, expansion is a cool bonus, if it happens, but is probably dead last on the list of my considerations.

[Velo Dog]

If you’re going by published tests, be sure to look at the details and not just the averages.

On Lucky Gunner, the Remington 158 LSWCHP +P shows a respectable average expansion of .54 from a 4” barrel.

Drill down the detail, though, and one bullet out of five expanded to .75, skewing the average. The other four showed no significant expansion.

https://www.luckygunner.com/38-speci...rounds#geltest

Take another look at their results.

From the 4" barrel every bullet expanded between .51-.58 inches

[Velo Dog]

From the 2" barrel only one bullet properly expanded to .53"

[jtcarm]

Take another look at their results.

From the 4" barrel every bullet expanded between .51-.58 inches

I stand corrected.

The results I referred to were 2”.

Looking at the raw average is still deceiving.

[jtcarm]

From the 2" barrel only one bullet properly expanded to .53"

Exactly.

That bullet expanded to a whopping .75, which skewed the average. The other 4 had no significant expansion.