Remington UMC 130 gr

[Waveski]

The local Walmart has Remington UMC .38 special 130gr fmj at a rather attractive price ...
Muzzle energy is stated as 185 ft lb , muzzle velocity 800 fps. That seems like a fairly mild load.

I am pretty careful about feeding my revolvers. I lean towards heavier bullets and mild velocities ; I no longer use any +P. The 130 gr bullet is not what I usually buy , but the price is very tempting.
(Another economic round I see from time to time - Fiocchi 125gr . 261 ft lb/970 fps - is one that I shy away from ; just don't see much point in slamming a forcing cone with such a fast light projectile...)

Is there a downside to this particular round that I should know about?
Comments?

 

[Waveski]

Should I have posted this in “Revolvers”?

 

[JONWILL]

For plinking it is fine. While not a preferred load it will punch holes in an attacker

 

[Riomouse911]

Great range ammo, cases are great for reloading as well. Go ahead and buy if the price is right.

A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of Remington frangible .38 when it was on clearance for 7 bucks/50. I still reload those cases today.

Stay safe!

 

[Zendude]

You have to do a little research before comparing advertised velocities. The barrel length used for the test can vary.
The Remington 130 FMJ load not a +P load. It’s not a soft load like some wad cutter loads though.

 

[ThomasT]

Neither of those loads you posted are particularly hot. And +P is for the most part a gimmick and a joke. If your 38s are able to handle real 38 special loads they should be able to handle the normally weaker +P loads. I have posted this several times but maybe you should read it. Your guns are much stronger than you give then credit for.

http://shootingwithhobie.blogspot.com/2009/01/p-phenomenon-by-saxonpig.html

 

[Cokeman]

What’s the attractive price?

 

[Drail]

Is the OP asking about .38 Spl.? And what gun and barrel length?

 

[Drail]

125 gr. at 970 is not going to do any damage to a barrel or forcing cone. That's subsonic speed. It would make a great load for a snub but I srill prefer a heavier bullet especially if you are NOT going to drive it over 1000 fps.

 

[Waveski]

125 gr. at 970 is not going to do any damage to a barrel or forcing cone. That's subsonic speed. It would make a great load for a snub but I srill prefer a heavier bullet especially if you are NOT going to drive it over 1000 fps.

Up until a year back I was buying ammunition based mostly on price. (I know ...) I became dissatisfied with the mixed bag in my stash. I decided to stock up and organize for retirement , and I wanted to establish something of a standard. Out went anything loud and snappy ; I settled on the basic criteria outlined in the opening post. I never liked the 970 fps Fiocchi , except for the price.

Is the OP asking about .38 Spl.? And what gun and barrel length?

12 or so S&Ws , ranging from 100 year old 5" barrels to a couple of snubs. The ammo in question is for informal range & plinking only.

What’s the attractive price?

$69 per box of pak of 250.

 

[Waveski]

Thanks to the mods for moving my thread to the proper section.

 

[Missionary]

Good morning
Those are an option down here. We tend to pull the projectiles and insert our own 160 gr cast (range scrap) wadcutters. Far more accurate from our SW and Colt revolvers. The pulled 130's are then dropped in the hot pot and the lead melted out. Jackets are sold as copper scrap.

 

[Taipan01]

I've got a bunch of Remington UMC cartridges, .223's, 357's and your above mentioned 130 grain in 38 special. As like yourself, I found a great deal at a large sporting goods shop. In my case, it was buy one get two free. Of the lot, I only tried one box of the 38's as I needed the shells for a reloading write-up. I had either already reloaded what I had on hand or had enlarged the flash hole for wax bullets with the others.

Here's what I thought of them at the time:

"I’ve never used it (UMC) before and though I’ve not heard anything really super positive about it, I didn’t think it was so bad. It wasn’t excessively dirty nor did I feel any differences in recoil (though I didn’t bring the chrony) and accuracy was acceptable on the 10 yard range, a bit low but not outside the 7 ring sans my own errors. Though the head stamps are R-P, I find the thickness at the mouth a bit thin. I don’t think it’ll matter as I’ll be using a heavy roll crimp. Anyway, that’s enough on that. Now I’ve my shells, though only 50."

 

[243winxb]

The views look good. https://www.targetsportsusa.com/rem...130-grain-full-metal-jacket-l38s11-p-753.aspx

5 stars. Good brass cases too.

 

[Cokeman]

Mine doesn’t have that ammo at that price.

 

[Gordon]

That is a modestly loaded WW2 era load that was used by military up thru 1980s- at least. It is very mild shooting. I think the original load was rated 850 fps out of a 5" barrel. Looks like they are taking 2" barrel stats now . Anyway for plinking and blasting it is good, Also a good load for those old 100 year old .38 Spl, and cowboy guns where allowed .

 

[entropy]

Stating the caliber in your first post would have helped. As Gordon says, this was the military load for .38 Spl. until those revolvers were turned in in the mid-80's. I fired many of them through the various S&W and Colt 4" revolvers I had in my Arms Room; they were issued to aviators and aircrew, as my BN had a Dust-off unit in it. It is indeed good plinking ammo, very mild. As riomouse says, the brass is good for reloading also.

 

[Zendude]

The Fiocchi 970 fps was obtained using a 7.7 inch test barrel. I think the Remington 800 fps was obtained from a 4 inch barrel.
The two loads are pretty similar then.

 

[Waveski]

Stating the caliber in your first post would have helped.

Well , can't argue that. All those numbers , and I forgot the most pertinent one. Edited to add.

The Fiocchi 970 fps was obtained using a 7.7 inch test barrel. I think the Remington 800 fps was obtained from a 4 inch barrel.
The two loads are pretty similar then.

Except that the Fiocchi round is reported at 261 ft lb vs the Remington at 185. Does barrel length affect muzzle energy? And , could the barrel length difference - 4" vs 7.7" account for 170 fps?

I ask because I do not know , not trying to be a wise guy.
Side note: 7.7" does not seem to me to be an appropriate test barrel length given the fact that 7.7" is significantly longer than the average revolver...

 

[Zendude]

Energy is a function of mass and velocity, so a faster bullet of approximately the same weight will produce higher energy.

Longer barrels will increase velocity. A good resource that illustrates how much effect barrel length has is “ballistics by the inch”. I don’t remember the exact website address, but it shows tables of the different velocities vs barrel length for specific cartridges.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

What bullet weight are your revolvers sighted in for (or the fixed sights set for)? Changing bullet weight will affect point of aim.

Other than that - seems like your normal mild plinking load.

 

[golden]

This is the old AIR FORCE load. It is a standard pressure load and is easy on you and your gun. I use it for practice in my .38 Special revolvers, as my carry loads are 130 grain +P FEDERAL HST hollow points or REMINGTON 125 grain +P sjhp, which I use in guns with a 4 inch or longer barrel.
The 130 grain fmj load is a good practice load. It has mild recoil and is completely controllable (by me, at least) in a 5 shot snub nose. It recoils only slightly more than 148 grain wadcutters used for target shooting.

I wish REMINGTON would bring it out in a 100 round box to make it cheaper. Their 100 round box of +P .38 Special sjhp makes it cheaper to buy the +P load than the 130 grain fmj, $32.00 versus $33.00 or more for the 130 grain fmj using 50 round boxes, when shopping at WALMART.

I would not consider the 130 fmj for self defense. It is a weak load that will perform no better than the 158 grain round nose lead ammo which earned the nickname of "the widow maker" among LEO'S forced to use it.

Jim

 

[Waveski]

Well guys , based on all that I have heard here I "rounded up" 500 rounds of the aforementioned ammunition at a cost of $137.50 (plus sales tax of 05%). not too bad a price for an acceptable general shooting round. What was good enough for the Air Force is good enough for me. I'll do that again soon when funds allow.

Retirement stash of .38 sp is nearing 5k ... how much is enough? "Strike while the iron is hot" seems to apply to this situation.

Thank you all.

 

[Deanimator]

The local Walmart has Remington UMC .38 special 130gr fmj at a rather attractive price ...

.While I'd never willingly use it for self-defense since it's akin to .38 Long Colt or the worthless GI .38 Special ball round, it's perfectly acceptable range ammunition.

I've shot it out to 200 yards in my Smith 14.

 

[Hondo 60]

I don't think I'd try hunting with it.
(maybe rabbits or other small critters)
But I've shot a bunch of it for the brass.
It's as accurate as any other factory ammo I've tried.