Please recommend standard pressure .38 Special ammunition for a 2" revolver
- Thread starter wdlsguy
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http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#standard38
Looks like the best of the standard pressure loads.
Looks like the best of the standard pressure loads.
Hornady 125 XTP, Magtech 158 SJHP (38E), Speer std pressure Gold Dot (maybe hard to find, look on www.le.atk.com), Federal 110 Personal Defense, Winchester 110 Silvertip, any good 158 std pressure SWC. Some recommend the old 148 wadcutter. You've heard about Buffalo Bore. I still have a fair number of Nyclads but would go with Federal 110 PD in summer and 158 SWC in winter. That's just me.
+1 on the Hornady 125g XTP and the Federal 110g Hydra Shok Personal Defense round.
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ArchAngelCD
Member.
dodging230grainers,
He's asking about standard pressure .38 Special ammo, not .38 Special +P ammo.
wdlsguy,
It seems the new Buffalo Bore Standard Pressure Heavy .38 Special ammo is the best choice at the moment for older .38 Special revolvers. If you want a light round then the Federal 110 gr Hydra-Shok rounds mentioned above have gotten good reviews.
Be careful with Hornady XTP bullets, it's been reported they don't expand well at .38 Special speeds.
I was lucky enough to find 3 boxes of 125 gr Federal Nyclad .38 Special ammo a few months back. I shot off half a box to check the accuracy but will save the other 120+ rounds in case I need it in the future.
He's asking about standard pressure .38 Special ammo, not .38 Special +P ammo.
wdlsguy,
It seems the new Buffalo Bore Standard Pressure Heavy .38 Special ammo is the best choice at the moment for older .38 Special revolvers. If you want a light round then the Federal 110 gr Hydra-Shok rounds mentioned above have gotten good reviews.
Be careful with Hornady XTP bullets, it's been reported they don't expand well at .38 Special speeds.
I was lucky enough to find 3 boxes of 125 gr Federal Nyclad .38 Special ammo a few months back. I shot off half a box to check the accuracy but will save the other 120+ rounds in case I need it in the future.
I use factory wadcutters in a 2" .38 J frame because:
1. The bullet is already in an efficient shape. A hollow point has to expand a bit to get to be the same shape.
2. Low recoil offering better control and faster follow up shots.
3. Adequate (14" in gelatin) penetration.
4. There is nothing OTC easier on the gun.
1. The bullet is already in an efficient shape. A hollow point has to expand a bit to get to be the same shape.
2. Low recoil offering better control and faster follow up shots.
3. Adequate (14" in gelatin) penetration.
4. There is nothing OTC easier on the gun.
That's true, ArchAngelCD. OTOH, few standard pressure .38 loads expand out of a 2" barrel. Or, if they do, don't penetrate very deeply. Your point is a good one, though.
Check out the buffalo boar standard velocity ammo. I tested different ammo and the only one I found that did work was the federal Nyclad 125 standard velocity ammo. I shot my rounds through four layers of cotton and both expanded to .500 and .550. I have not tested the buffalo loads yet but I find that Winchester silvertips will not expand, too light a load. I load my Colt with 4 rounds of 125 Nyclads and two round of Remington SWC. Remington SWCers give great penetration at standard velocity. Try and find some Nyclads if you can or try the buffalo loads. I have plenty of Federals Nyclads for a long while, so that is what I use. Save those Nyclads you have!
I ordered a couple boxes of the Buffalo Bore 20C's yesterday. Thanks to all for the suggestions.
I would have gone with the 150 gr WCs, personally. Keep in mind that the problem with +P ammo in older revolvers is not the pressure, but the recoil. It stretches the frame over time (several hundreds or thousands of rounds). Use ammunition which generates no more recoil than standard .38s in the era in which it was manufactured, and you shoud have no problems.
weregunner
Member
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2349.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2759.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2689.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=1803.0
Standard pressure loads. There are some in these links.
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2759.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2689.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=1803.0
Standard pressure loads. There are some in these links.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
weregunner,
I'm just curious, why do you keep linking to another forum to make your point. I for one would like to know what you have to say but if I wanted to visit another forum, I would instead of being here.
I'm just curious, why do you keep linking to another forum to make your point. I for one would like to know what you have to say but if I wanted to visit another forum, I would instead of being here.
weregunner
Member
In this case I tried using the search for the same exact data here from recent threads and it wouldn't show. Has more to do with my dial up service than with anything else.
The other forum handles the same queries constantly and I know where to find the answers to the queries if I can.
Might have guessed by now that one can be a moderator at another forum and a member here.
Staff and members at the other forum are also here in sizeable numbers.
So I go with what I know. Trying to explain some of these info threads can lead to being long winded. So if it is already down in print, that's what I go with.Granted it's not as personal.
Going to upgrade the computer service here in the near future and then links here will be more forth coming. What the problem is here with my computer I cannot say.
The other forum handles the same queries constantly and I know where to find the answers to the queries if I can.
Might have guessed by now that one can be a moderator at another forum and a member here.
Staff and members at the other forum are also here in sizeable numbers.
So I go with what I know. Trying to explain some of these info threads can lead to being long winded. So if it is already down in print, that's what I go with.Granted it's not as personal.
Going to upgrade the computer service here in the near future and then links here will be more forth coming. What the problem is here with my computer I cannot say.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
It is a real pain when your computer doesn't work properly. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't complaining about your links, I was just curious as to why.
Hope you get your computer straightened out soon.
Hope you get your computer straightened out soon.
weregunner
Member
Sometimes things work out here on the searches and sometimes they don't. I'm familiar more with several other forums as well as to where to pick up info.
No problem here. I'd be curious in the same way if I saw the same thing as you do.
No problem here. I'd be curious in the same way if I saw the same thing as you do.
The puny, inefficient 158gr roundnose 38spl load has probably ended more gunfights in the USA than any other round. Ammunition simply doesn't matter as much as shot placement.
158 grain Keith style lead. Load 'em up to a normal .38 pressure (or find a friend that reloads).
Out of a snubbie, it's my opinion, your not going to get high enough velocity to get full expansion of "fast and light" rounds. There just isn't enough barrel to get the projectile movin'.
Hope this helps!
Out of a snubbie, it's my opinion, your not going to get high enough velocity to get full expansion of "fast and light" rounds. There just isn't enough barrel to get the projectile movin'.
Hope this helps!
That had some merit 20+ years ago, although even then the old-school 158gr lead hollowpoints usually do expand out of snubs, when the lead is soft enough.
Today, it's easy to get 125gr/135gr class JHPs that expand out of snubs...almost all +P Gold Dots from various ammo houses will do so, and the Winchester 130gr ain't half bad and a bunch of Cor-Bon 110/125gr loads works, although they stretch the term "+P" to the max (read: don't shoot 'em in weak guns).
Buffalo Bore changed the rules around by managing bullet energies similar to everybody else's +Ps, yet kept peak chamber pressure down below +P. So those are now the absolute kings in terms of standard pressure.
The neat thing about 158gr lead hollowpoints is, if they don't expand at all, you still get a bullet shape identical to the Keith-profile Semi-WadCutters (SWC) that JaxJim advocates. So there's NO reason to go his route, period.
If you really don't believe expansion will happen, go with the Buffalo Bore 148gr full wadcutter. That load will tear a maximum-size hole with no expansion, and being harder lead it will hold it's "sharp edge" longer in tissue.
JaxJim: check out Brassfetcher's site:
http://www.brassfetcher.com/
Almost all of the 38Spl data is from snubbies. LOTS of expansion going on.
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