Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 38 Special: 125 gr Vs. 158 gr Lead

The 38SP is a fairly mild round and is the biggest my wife can or will shoot. So, I am trying to reload some SD rounds and want decent ammo. I like lead bullets just cause they are cheap and right now can actually be purchased! Pretty much everything else is not avaiable/back ordered/etc.

Looking at 125gr HP vs 158gr HP, which I can buy today.

Have to stay under +P pressures for her revolver, which limits velocity. I have lots of primers and a selection of various pistol powders.

What is your pick between only these two choices?

The 125 for sure. The extra gain in velocity will give better expansion.

Dont know a thing bout hp's in the little 38 spec, a bud uses full bore wadcutters in his and swears by 'em for painful DEEP cutting penetration.

I know he has used em on man and beast.

Gunner

I'm going to assume that she's carrying a revolver with a barrel less than three inches, since that's your typical "carry .38." Don't depend on expansion, especially since you're not loading to +p pressures. It's just not going to happen. Not enough barrel length to develop the velocity you need for that.

The next best way to go is a destructive meplat, i.e., a front of the bullet shaped such as to inflict the maximum damage without depending on expansion. You want to avoid a "bullet shape," and prefer a blunt, broad, sharp edged, and flat, shape. The very best in this regard is the 148 grain target wadcutter. Only problem with that is that when you push them to normal self-defense velocities (beyond typical target load pressures) you get really bad leading of the bore, for one thing, and the blunt meplat quickly gives way on impact. The solution is "hard cast" lead.

Buffalo Bore produces a load just like this, designed specifically for snub nose revolvers. It's expensive, but then you will not likely be target shooting with them. They are generally going to be kept in the gun while carried, but not used up at the range, so might as well take the plunge and get them. Here's a link.

Sharp shoulder 125 fp. I think T Lee is also using something like this. Maybe he will be along shortly.

Ernie

Go with the 158 gr lead. You're not likely to gain enough velocity to expand the 125s. The 158s will penetrate well and make good wound channels. Don't worry about one shot stops. You're not likely to get that from a .38. Just load the 158 gr lead SWCs, keep shooting until your assailant goes down and don't worry about being "cool." The key is marksmanship. Make sure that there are practice sessions at least every two weeks. You're not going to stop anything with a larger caliber gun if you don't hit what you're shooting at. Stress is your enemy, practice is your friend.

Real Hawkeye,

The lead bullets I can get are "rated" at 1200 fps to not cause a leading problem. Seems it would be very difficult to get a bullet to that speed out of a snub 38 at regular pressure.

Would the SWC give severe leading if it were rated for 1200 fps?

I know not much about lead bullets issues.

158gr Lead in this camp also. I'd be looking at a SWC Hollowpoint.

I'd not want a JHP 158gr

Don't worry about leading. A self defense gun is not shot a lot. And for training and practice you can use harder cast bullets. I have shot thousands of 38 spl rounds, and carried one every day for 20 plus years. Have used every type of cast bullet there is, from round nose, which I don't recomend, to the lead semi wadcutters, which are not a bad option, to lead semi wadcutter hollow points, which is what I would recommend. We used the one everybody called the FBI load, a 158 LSWCHP. The ones we used were +P, but there really isn't that much difference in velocity. And leading, even after a long day at the range was not a problem. In plain clothes, I carried a S&W model 10 with a 2" barrel. It worked fine.

I think I would recommend the 158 grain over the 125 grain because the heavier bullet should penetrate better to get into the vitals or spinal column.

Come on T LEE. Advice and jokes needed here!

I load the Speer swaged lead 158gr SWC Hollowpoint in front of a light load of Unique for the wife's snub. It's still doing 800fps or so.

Got to go with #2 Kid to shoot some 4H skeet. Back later to check in on all the expert advice.

Thanks!

Terry is sleeping in this morning. If I remember correctly, what he loads is the 158 grain RNFP that is commonly used in Cowboy Action Shooting. I've shot a pickup truck load of those myself, and wouldn't hesitate to keep a cylinder full of them for ne'er do wells.

I'm also in agreement with Gunner on this. You should be able to load 148 grain full wadcutters and get a very effective self defense round.

No, I was speaking specifically about "target wadcutters," which are made of the softest lead. Any other lead round is made of harder lead so as to prevent leading at higher velocities.

My opinion only, and I don't have the experience of most here, but I don't much like the idea of hollow points in a somewhat marginal round .

And a cylinder full of those into centre mass would be more than enough to end a violent confrontation. If I still had a 38 Spl, it's what I would do as well.

Buffalo Bore standard vel 158gr swc hp.

Heavier is my choice in a 38 also - the "FBI" load mentioned is a good choice.

The 38 got a bad rep because so many were used by police, who are in general not good shots, and they missed a lot. The 38 is as good as the 9mm and better than the 380.

I have lots of choices and I still carry a 38 more often than any other pistol.

They also make a hollow-point 158 grain lswc with extra soft lead designed to expand at typical snub barrel velocities.

And most of the bad rep for stopping power was when just about all cops carried round nosed bullets at standard velocity. These actually worked OK prior to the "war on drugs." Since (and likely due to) the "war on drugs," however, the use of exotic drugs by criminals has increased such that cops were frequently having to shoot assailants all hopped up on them, thus requiring more traumatic wounds (than those typically inflicted by round nosed bullets from .38 Specials) to be stopped.