.38 Special Wadcutter Velocity Survey (9/24)

[Ghost Dog]

Yep, you're right. Cortical and trabecular bone have significantly different densities and yield strengths which will greatly influence penetration depth. Throw in hard curved surfaces (primarily cortical bone) and deflection becomes a real issue making terminal performance a real crap shoot.

So...148 gr Wadcutters front or side of skull not edge, or through breastbone should have enough momentum to truck through and only lose a bit from the predicted....I would guess loses 2"

But, a .32 Long 100 gr wadcutter is a bit of an unknown way less energy and mass, so likely lose 3 to 3.5" would be my guess....do you think frontal would still be ok, but if arms in way first or side lateral then maybe would scrub it's velocity down significantly....

I was thinking of getting into .32 long, but ordered some .38 wadcutters to have as I age if I need them

Also, curious about 158 gr SWCHp that do not expand...they are long bullets so wondering how reliable might tumbling be if anyone has a guess

Someone commented that .380 ball regularly tumbles 6 to 8" in as lots of Euro LE tested in the past, though that ogive is far more likely to deflect or ride ribs...

Just as an aside, a well respected expert told me Hydrashok Deep is what he believes is best, assuming your not older and lw jframe recoil issues requiring wadcutter. I'd likely go 130+ Ranger and 135+ Gold Dot in 2nd and 3rd. The cheaper 125 gr+ sjhp I wonder if Wadcutters would do almost as much damage with less recoil.

I wish .44 spec was affordable as a .44 spec or Lost Rivers .44 Russian Wadcutter seems like would handle any man, critter, or actual smaller dog cayote bobcat mountain lion animal defense just fine while not too much recoil and being relatively quite.

[Dov]

So...148 gr Wadcutters front or side of skull not edge, or through breastbone should have enough momentum to truck through and only lose a bit from the predicted....I would guess loses 2"

But, a .32 Long 100 gr wadcutter is a bit of an unknown way less energy and mass, so likely lose 3 to 3.5" would be my guess....do you think frontal would still be ok, but if arms in way first or side lateral then maybe would scrub it's velocity down significantly....

I was thinking of getting into .32 long, but ordered some .38 wadcutters to have as I age if I need them

Also, curious about 158 gr SWCHp that do not expand...they are long bullets so wondering how reliable might tumbling be if anyone has a guess

Someone commented that .380 ball regularly tumbles 6 to 8" in as lots of Euro LE tested in the past, though that ogive is far more likely to deflect or ride ribs...

Just as an aside, a well respected expert told me Hydrashok Deep is what he believes is best, assuming your not older and lw jframe recoil issues requiring wadcutter. I'd likely go 130+ Ranger and 135+ Gold Dot in 2nd and 3rd. The cheaper 125 gr+ sjhp I wonder if Wadcutters would do almost as much damage with less recoil.

I wish .44 spec was affordable as a .44 spec or Lost Rivers .44 Russian Wadcutter seems like would handle any man, critter, or actual smaller dog cayote bobcat mountain lion animal defense just fine while not too much recoil and being relatively quite.

YMMV, but IMHO 32 S&W long wadcutters should be fine for civilian defense. I just want more field results.

22 rimfire from 16-20" barrel works fine for putting down cattle and such with contact head shots, and my layman understanding from listening to Veterinarians and people that work with cattle and horses is their skulls are lot tougher than humans. A 22 LR from carbine/rifle is basically same as 22 WMR from handgun. IMO the 32 Long is at least equal to that performance level.

Chuck Haggard and others have mentioned about lethality of 22 LR from carbine/rifle in their work as LEO, as I recall their comments have been all the shootings with 22 from long gun were homicides. Not attempted homicides.

Not lot of data on 32 performance, and that's probably going to stay the same going forward.

Lucky Gunner has done some testing, though think he uses Clear Gel?

Link to one of his articles, has chart showing 22 rimfire from pocket guns, as well as 32 & 38 snubs performance in gel.

https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/w...caliber-is-32/

[Dov]

As to the 44 special, I've used Speer's Blazer Aluminum cased 44 Special 200 GDHP for decades in my S&W 629 when it's doing nightstand duty.

It's not a Wadcutter but it is an enormous HP, you can fit a 9mm BPLE in the cavity of the 44

They also have same bullet in brass cased loading, but the Blazer has always been reliable in my gun.

Blazer note 50 round box https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1001523065?pid=462521

Brass version note 20 round box https://www.speer.com/ammunition/gol...9-23980GD.html

[Navin Johnson]

So...148 gr Wadcutters front or side of skull not edge, or through breastbone should have enough momentum to truck through and only lose a bit from the predicted....I would guess loses 2"

But, a .32 Long 100 gr wadcutter is a bit of an unknown way less energy and mass, so likely lose 3 to 3.5" would be my guess....do you think frontal would still be ok, but if arms in way first or side lateral then maybe would scrub it's velocity down significantly....

I was thinking of getting into .32 long, but ordered some .38 wadcutters to have as I age if I need them

Also, curious about 158 gr SWCHp that do not expand...they are long bullets so wondering how reliable might tumbling be if anyone has a guess

Someone commented that .380 ball regularly tumbles 6 to 8" in as lots of Euro LE tested in the past, though that ogive is far more likely to deflect or ride ribs...

Just as an aside, a well respected expert told me Hydrashok Deep is what he believes is best, assuming your not older and lw jframe recoil issues requiring wadcutter. I'd likely go 130+ Ranger and 135+ Gold Dot in 2nd and 3rd. The cheaper 125 gr+ sjhp I wonder if Wadcutters would do almost as much damage with less recoil.

I wish .44 spec was affordable as a .44 spec or Lost Rivers .44 Russian Wadcutter seems like would handle any man, critter, or actual smaller dog cayote bobcat mountain lion animal defense just fine while not too much recoil and being relatively quite.

Whom was “ The well respected expert” that told you HS Deep is what he believes is best?

Thanks

[revchuck38]

As to the 44 special, I've used Speer's Blazer Aluminum cased 44 Special 200 GDHP for decades in my S&W 629 when it's doing nightstand duty.

It's not a Wadcutter but it is an enormous HP, you can fit a 9mm BPLE in the cavity of the 44

They also have same bullet in brass cased loading, but the Blazer has always been reliable in my gun.

Blazer note 50 round box https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1001523065?pid=462521

Brass version note 20 round box https://www.speer.com/ammunition/gol...9-23980GD.html

FWIW, I've chronographed both versions and in the lots I tried the aluminum-cased version was about 100 fps faster than the brass-cased (~800 fps vs. ~700 fps).

Whom was “ The well respected expert” that told you HS Deep is what he believes is best?

Thanks

I'm not @Ghost Dog, but Revolver Guy did an article on this stuff and was very impressed. I haven't seen much of anything else though.

[dannyd93140]

I run these between 650 and 850.