Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 38 Special plinking/defense load.

Some may disagree as to importance in the age old question of what is more important expansion or penetration. I for one feel penetration trumps expansion by a long shot, without penetration you won’t get to the vitals. The best commercial defense plinking load that is low cost and penetrates greatly from a sub 2” J frame is the Hornady 125 XTP. 13 - 17 inches of penetration with minimal expansion a true 900 fps load from a sub 2” that is not a +P.

I've almost 100% positive that it's against the law in at least 46 states, and a few territories, to shoot anything but lead out of a 38 special.

I'd load wadcutters and call it done.

I've got a bunch of those speer swaged 158g hpswc bullets. I'm just starting to load them and I'm going to use 5g of universal because I have a few cans of universal I needed to find a use for. We'll see how they do from my lcr and 360pd. Hoping for around 900fps from 2" barrels.

Bb

My experience is that you seem to need about 850 fps to get 158 LSWCHPs to open up. Not bad recoil, but not plinking either. Of course from a 3" that will not take as a hot a load as required in a 2"

I think the best overall .38 bullet is probably the 135 gold dot. I have shot it at many different velocities, from 900 fps to 1300 fps and it doesn't care how fast you drive it-- it holds together well and expands with very sharp cutting edges to about 0.60. It doesn't get any bigger when you drive it faster-- it just goes deeper. It's a very predictable bullet.

The remington 125gr golden sabers were available super cheap for a while. They open up around 900 fps, get very big and sharp and cut well. Only downside is that as you drive this bullet faster you get more expansion rather than more penetration. At 1100 fps they still held together but opened up to about .75 as I remember. Very sharp edges and definitely cutting a .75 hole.

What might make the decision in the end is what the sights are regulated for.

Wadcutters are also fine but in a 3" you can definitely squeeze enough velocity out to make an expanding bullet work. Big difference between a .75 or .60 hole and a .358 hole.

Do what? Please provide your source for that? I have never heard anything remotely like that. However, I have been wrong before. Just ask my mother-in-law.

Sarcasm.

Meaning that the 38 is a great cast bullet cartridge and it's all I ever shoot in them.

I haven't shot any of those swaged semi wadcutters in years but back when I did they leaded the bore terribly when pushed much over 850 fps. In fact, they were the reason I began casting bullets for handguns. The want I had to drive a lead SWC to 1,000+ fps required a hard cast slug.

I've heard they can foul pretty bad. Even speer says not to load them over 1000fps. I'll try for 900 and see how they do. I'm hoping to find a window where they are going fast enough to expand but not leading the bore like crazy. I'll get them to 900 fps and see how they do on milk jugs. I've got a few thousand I need to use up. If I have to ill slow them down and just plink with them.

Bb

The trick to eliminating leading and improving accuracy lies not in using a harder lead bullet. A "soft" bullet of, say, bhn 9-12 will work wonders in those regards, as well as expand reliably if driven 800fps and faster. Size the bullet for a slight interference fit in the cylinder throats - ignore barrel groove diameter - and use a good lube. (Hot powder gasses blasting past the too small bullets is what causes leading in throats, forcing cones, and bores.) I know that going softer is counter intuitive, but a soft bullet will obturate to fill out and seal those gasses in, and a hard bullet won't.

Those Speer lead SWC's are good bullets, but they make them on the small side so as to work in all guns. (Yes, Virginia, there was/is a large discrepancy in throat diameters over the years. It's why I keep .356, .357, and .358 diameter bullet sizing dies handy so as to match my bullets to the particular gun.*) That, plus the minimally efficient dry lube they use, is why the Speers aren't the greatest choice when working up loads at the upper end of the scale.


*I have three .38's I load/have loaded for: a 40's vintage Colt Officer's Model Match took .356's, a 60's vintage S&W K-38 took .358's, and my current 1949-vintage S&W K-38 takes .357's.

Lee Liquid Alox helps that leading.

Just don’t respond to the dang trolls

These speers are already sized a little small so I'll just have to see how they do in my guns. Would it be worth trying Lee alox over the top of the factory lube? I'm hoping for 900 fps.

Bb

I used Lee Alox over the Speer 158 grain swchp, and it did help, but not eliminate, the leading in my revolvers with that bullet.

For the guys reccomending full wadcutters, I completely agree and that's what is in my wife's j frame, with short barrel gold dots in the speedloaders to facilitate reloading,
exactly as someone mentioned above.

I would add this though, pick a wadcutter that has a sharp leading edge rather than a beveled leading edge. That sharp edged wadcutter performs better on soft tissue than the rounded edge and penetrates just as well.

3.5 grains BULLSEYE + 148 grain hard-cast double-ended (not hollow base) wadcutters.
Left out the powder, but it was in the link.

Shoots well in my S&W 649-2 and S&W 60-4 (3" bbl)-both 38 specials.

Just loaded 5.5gr power pistol under 158gr [actually weigh 164gr] Keith bullets for Moms 38 Special, they ran 922 over the chrono, I would NOT bet against them for defense, and surely fun to plink with, very comfortable load with a mild report to boot.

These are some loads that i got and use some of the powders for my air weight pistol in 38 spl.

Bullseye-2.8 to 3.7 speed is 710-875 fps
Reddot-3.0 to 3.9 speed is 750-895fps
Green dot-3.0 to 4.2 speed is 675-890 fps
Unique-3.8 to 5.1 speed is 710-955 fps
700x-2.8 to 3.6 speed is 700-855 fps

They come from an old Lyman load book.

I use the lower load because my hand has arthritis and they don't hurt it.