Another very clean 10-7. Don’t $hit yourselves but it’ll be spending a few days hunting deer this year probably. And yes with 158 LRN’s

Very clean looking Model 10

Nice revolver, though I can't imagine why I'd pick a LRN.

Not a good bullet choice in my opinion.

Nice. Love a skinny barrel on a Model 10.

I spent half my law enforcement career carrying a .38 Special, and half of that time resenting the fact that we were required to carry 158 gr. RNL as duty loads. Finally they allowed +P JHP's and eventually we went to .40 S&W Sigs.

Now that I am old, I just love the .38 Special and think that the old 158 gr. RNL is just the perfect thing to shoot out of one. Must be a nostalgia thing. I have also thought of shooting a deer with it, just for old time's sake. I would shoot a nice doe behind the shoulder from 25 or 30 yards away, and I'll bet I would be cutting up a deer that evening.

It wouldn't be an ideal gun and cartridge combo for deer, but it would kill one as humanely as an arrow, if you put it in the right place. I would treat that .38 as if it were a bow, and go kill a deer.

I was a game warden and probably did kill 100 deer with a .38, so I know that the bullets do not bounce off.

As humanely as an arrow? A 158 gr. .38 Special lead round nose. You don't bowhunt, do you?

Yup, and I was a game warden and probably killed 100 deer with a .38 during my career. The bullets do not bounce off. The last deer I shot with my crossbow ran about 70 yards after a double lung hit with a Rage broadhead. I would expect a deer well hit with a .38 to be dead within 100 yards.

Saw quite a few deer taken with .22 LR as well. Neither the .22 nor the .38 are ideal, but they do kill deer if you hit them right.

When you get to animals bigger than deer, the equation tilts much more towards the bow.

Congrats - hope ya' smack a big 'un with it.

How is it that the game warden shoots 100 deer with a .38 Special? Did those 158 LRN exit?

Deer that are injured by cars, dogs and fences. Some of them are immobile and can be shot in the head. Others are still able to move and you take the shot that is presented. I remember one deer that had both rear legs broken in a fence. It could still run on the stumps of its legs faster than I could run. It was a pitiful thing to see. I took a shot at it and made a lucky hit and dropped it from about 40 yards...with a .38.

I did carry a .357 for about 4 years before we got semiautos and it definitely hit them with more authority, and the .40 worked about as well as the .357.

Please don't misunderstand me. When I said that a .38 is capable of taking a deer as humanely as a bow, I did not say that it kills identically to an arrow. My definition of "humanely" is that the deer does not suffer unduly and is recovered within a reasonable distance. The .38 with the 158 gr. RNL was not known as a fight stopper, but a lot of those people who were not "stopped" were dead within a minute or so after being shot.

The most important factor in killing is where the projectile hits, followed by penetration. All of the other details about the characteristics of the projectile are down the list from there.

And, yes, most of the .38 slugs, both RNL and JHP, did exit.

I shoot round nose bullets out of my auto pistols for practice. Never had a problem with it.

I imagine those deer were measured in feet putting them out of their misery. I have no problem using a .38 Spcl for deer but there are better bullets than an all lead RN. A Keith style bullet or WFN LBT style would be my preference in a lead bullet

👌👍Congratulations, I am glad that after over 40 years someone is going to put it to good use.

A much better choice in a bullet would be the 173 grain Keith SWC hardcast.. I just tested one today in 20% ballistic gel (not the 10% used by the FBI) And it penetrated about 30" which would be about 64" in 10%
I don't that lead round nose would penetrate more than about 10" in 20%

Most, but not all. Some were still moving and some were in inaccessible areas. I would prefer a Keith or LBT also, but the OP, for whatever reason, wants to use an RNL. Please understand that I am not recommending the RNL; I am simply saying that if the OP uses it properly, he will have venison in the freezer.

As a young pup at the beginning of my career, I did quite a bit of "corpse shooting" on dead deer, to see what my revolver bullets would do from various angles. I also shot up every abandoned refrigerator and old Studebaker that was dumped in the woods. I can testify that the .38 was much more impressive on deer bodies than it was on car bodies.

Are you hunting deer with those round nose bullets? That's what the OP intends to do, if you read his post.

173's are wonderful bullets. Heck a 158gr SWC is a great bullet too.

Thanks skeen!


jwp475 I’ve taken two deer with the 38 and one was a 170 gr Keith.

Don’t get all excited guys, the 158 LRNs will be going over 700 fps

Sounds like a plan. All ya gotta do is hit them with a car first, tangle them in a fence to keep them from running off and walk up and plug them. Drink a cup of coffee while you wait for the kicking around to stop and there you have it - dead deer. Congrat's!

Very nice specimen. I've got one just like it, also in brand new condition, but with the pinned barrel.

Wheweee!

Caliber and certainly bullet choice wouldn't be my 1st choice for a hunting handgun!