Underwood 150gr. wadcutter if you can find them. Underwood has some .38 extreme penetrator they are currently producing available.
I like Fiocchi wadcutters. I fired a cylinderful into my swimming pool and the recovered bullets showed absolutely no deformation or rounding of the shoulder - just rifling marks.
I bought several 100rnd bags of the Georgia Arms wadcutters back before covid in anticipation of a j-frame class I was signed up for. The class got canceled due to covid, so I've been shooting the stuff on my range trip. Absolute garbage, making me glad I didn't take them to class. They're more than a foot low at 25yds out of my 2" LCR. I can get them dialed in with my adjustable sighted 6" K38, but the extra barrel and adjustable sights is what makes that possible. They're fine at short distances from the LCR. Next time I'll just use my handloads instead. I had just started loading wadcutters and wanted some "factory" ammo to rule out reloading mistakes in class...I should have trusted my abilities and 23 years experience. :|
Chris
I have shot Georgia Arms ammo off and on for years (they used to be really cheap and sold at local gun shows) and never hand any issue with their jhp loads in .32 Long, .32 mag (xtps) and .357 mag (gold dot). I didn’t like their low end .44 mag lead semi wadcutter load because I found it quite Smoky and dirty. These .38 wadcutter are just loaded too light for the bullet hardness / diameter maybe. Group fine in some revolvers and just pattern in others.
I bought a big box of Bayou Bullets coated 138 button nose wadcutters and plan to load up several hundred of them to play around with. May even try some in 38 Short Colt and Long Colt cases in I have the time.
Those kick like a mother f*****. The whole reason for a wad cutter is reduced recoil and improved shootability leading to improved accuracy and more practice.
If I was going to put up with that much recoil I would choose and expanding projectile.
Notably more recoil with the Buffalo bore than the spear Gold Dot 135 grain plus p 38 special