38 special = defensive round?

[hoptob]

Doc540 wrote in 642 Club Part Deux thread:

I was shooting up a hodge podge of old .38 ammo, and that round was one of a group of Remington-Peters rounds.
[…]
They were factory loads and hotter'n shlt. I'd only fired about eight or nine rounds when that one split in the cylinder of the Model 36.

It is a very interesting testimony because .38 special caliber cartridge of Remington-Peters manufacture, with 158-grain lead round nose bullet is the round which killed Lee Harvey Oswald.

I don’t have velocity data available for this round but here is a scan from contemporary reloading manual (Speer #5, 1961) showing what .38 special caliber loads USED TO BE like around the time Jack Ruby took his shot.


click on the thumbnail to enlarge

I think we still use some of these loads. We just call them... 357 magnum.

Mike

 

[Firepower!]

What would be a good .38 Special in 2'' barrel that would handle +P ammo?

 

[geekWithA.45]

What would be a good .38 Special in 2'' barrel that would handle +P ammo?

Just about any smith snubby meets that call.

 

[RandomMan]

I don't mind .38 special, but I believe in +P loads, for sure. At minimum, you need to get a good standard pressure round (like the Buffalo Bore standard pressure rounds), otherwise I don't feel you'll get either adequate penetration or adequate expansion.

Excellent rounds to look at, the Remington FBI 158-Grain +P LHP, the Speer Gold Dot 135-grain +P Short Barrel Load, and the Corbon 110-grain +P DPX load.

-Rob

 

[Soybomb]

I think you could do a lot better, but you can also do a lot worse. I like a 2" jframe with Winchester's X38SMRP, the 148gr super-x wadcutter in the cylinder for low recoil and a speed strip of the speer 135gr +P short barrel loads for extras. In a gun with a longer barrel the 158gr lswchp becomes a decent choice too since it gains enough velocity to expand after clothing.

 

[bayouboy]

Two words on the 38- Jack Lord.