Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best Bullets For .357 Mag/.38 Spl?

Since I don't go to town much, my everyday carry gun is now an 8-shot Model 63 full of Stingers (sometimes with a couple of shot loads on top) insted of the hammerless 2-inch .38 I was carrying. One or two Stingers on target beats any number of .38s around the edges.

If I go anywhere that I consider really dangerous, I pack the 7-shot L frame full of 158 XTPs over 18gr of LiLGun or 158 LC SWCs over 14.9gr 2400 (bear load?).

Pappy,

Read about the CCI Velocitors. I used to use Stingers in my M63 until the Velocitors came out.

Much more accurate than the Stingers. They hit harder. 40 Grain bullet. Less flash in that 4" revolver. I really like them.

In rifles, they take over the Stingers @ 50 yards energy wise. Their energy @ 100yrds is the same as Standard velocity are at the muzzle.

Try them, you'll like 'em.

Stingers are a couple hundred fps faster out of a pistol though. I need to shoot them both through some laundry soap and see which one makes the biggest hole. Both are tough to find, but I've got enough for carry of each.

Don't want to be shot with either, regardless.

But with a 32gr vs 40gr with the Velocitors. They both expand well out of a handgun.

I like the heavies. Good looking mushrooms they make.

Ditto on not being shot with either.

I load "The Warden"s 38 with 148 full wad-cutters (her preferred load) and, after some reflection, don't consider her under-equipped at any self-defense distance.

My .38 defense load is a 148 gr hard cast wadcutter over enough Unique to scoot it along at 850fps.

In the .357 I use the same slug but bump the velocity to 1000fps.

Don't be hesitant to shoot good +P or +P+ handloads from your .38 revolvers, if they are +P rated. The 19, no worries. The October 2016 issue of Handloader Magazine had a very comprehensive article about .38 +P and 38-44 loads. They used a Smith 1.85" and 6" barreled revolvers, and one conclusion was that it required 800 fps to insure expansion of commonly-available hollow points. Some commercial ammo expanded, others couldn't. So load for the snubby, knowing you will get better velocity/expansion from a longer barrel. Pick whatever bullet shoots best in each individual gun. The best loads for one gun will probably work well in the others.

Otoh, some prefer standard, target Wadcutter bullets loaded to about 700-800 fps. In my experience, hollow-base wadcuttters, loaded with hollow base foremost tend to keyhole at 25 yards.

When I was competing in IPSC, I loaded RCBS 150 gr. cast and commercial cast 158 gr. bullets over 5.5 gr Unique, which chrono'ed at 860 fps from my 4 in. barrel. 357 brass, standard primer.

Nowadays, I figure that a hot .38/mild Magnum load will be sufficient, so I have gone to 6 gr Unique, 5.7 gr Universal, and ~11 gr. 2400.

I carry 38 Spl. Speer 135 gr. +P ammo, with Remington Golden Saber 125 gr., and the "old" Remington LSWCHP 158gr. +P as back-up. I load the jacketed components for ~900 fps. For plinking, I have several hundred cast 158 Hornady swaged SWC reg and HP, and RCBS 150 gr SWC.

I know many will disagree, but I think the cast/swaged SWC have reached their useful peak at about 1,000fps. After that, it is mostly blast and recoil. Swaged SWCs and wadcutters shouldn't be shot above what good loading manuals suggest, unless you enjoy scrubbing lead out of your barrel.

To be sure, it has its detractors, but modern 38 special +P ammunition is a perfectly capable and effective round.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but 357 Magnum ammunition seems to be somewhat harder to find of late, and 38 Special, especially +P, more prevalent. Maybe I'm fantasizing, but I think a lot of shooters have discovered they like less recoil and muzzle blast, and they can shoot the 38s better than the 1400 fps "Blue Whistlers" from the 357 Magnum.

158 GR Keith SWC if you like cast bullets and the 158 gr Speer Gold Dot in the jacketed bullet. Win 296 or H110 for the Jacketed Bullet and 2400 or Unique for the Cast.

Looking at the 158g Gold Dot Gel test, average expansion was .515 with 23" of penetration. Assuming no expansion from a Keith 158g SWC (1/8" less than the expanded GD) launched at 1150fps, would the penetration be much more than 23"? I don't know. I load 6.5g of Unique under a 158g Keith and keep it in camp, woods and sometimes at home for 2-legged psycho defense -- don't feel under gunned at all. In fact, I know my follow-up shots are faster than with full bore loads. If you're set on Unique and a jacketed bullet, you could always load 7.5-7.8g under a 158g XTP -- it's no slouch. Of course with Unique, if shooting in a rather confined space, everyone may die of smoke inhalation!

Just my opinion but the 110- 125 gr jhp is probably best for the 38 sp. While the 357 can operate with heavier bullets. With 110- 125 gr bullets the 38 sp is essentially the equivalent of a 9mm speed wise. If I used heavier bullets in a 38 I'd probably use Keith style cast as velocity will be too low to provide reliable expansion of many jhp bullets. Actually my favorite bullet is a 148 gr bevel base wc over about 3-4 gr of unique but Im mostly interested in shooting walnuts and hedge apples off of logs.