What do you carry in your 38 Special?

[OldWin]

Wow, that's news to me.

I haven't bought any in a few months but I never had trouble finding it in the past. If I stopped somewhere and they had it I would grab a box or two. I don't shoot a lot of it as I handload for practice. I have several boxes of it still.

Maybe they discontinued it, I will have to look around.

[TedH]

Well I was able to borrow an old Lyman HP mold from a friend and today I cast up some 140 gr. bullets with an alloy of 50-50 wheel weights and pure lead. Should be a BHN of about 8, which if I'm not mistaken is what these were designed for. Then they got the powder coat treatment. Kind of like my own version of the Federal Nyclad.

Loaded them on top of a +P charge of Unique. Hope to try some out this weekend. Doubt I'll have time for gel tests, but should at least be able to put them on paper and get a velocity.

20150205_184859.jpg

[Old Ironsights]

Powdercoat = cool... but why copper? Lime Green is better for Zombies...

[TedH]

Yeah, lots of guys are coating them all kinds of colors, but I like either black, or this copper color just to make them look like "real" bullets. Those bright colors kind of make them look like toy bullets and some idjit gets ahold of mine and thinks its not a real bullet and kills someone with it on "accident", then what? Probably over thinking it, but I like this color too.

[OldWin]

jruppert2,


Well color my face stupid.

That got bugging me about the bullet weight of the Hornady Critical Defence so I went and looked.
Sure enough, mine are 110gr. also.
Guess you were right. Sorry for the confusion.

I must have been thinking of 125gr. XTP's as I have those too.


Duh!......gotta love night shift.

[jruppert2]

Oldwin,
Thanks for the reply. I thought I was the one who was crazy. I bought a Ruger LCR in .38 special about a year ago and had spent a fair amount of time investigating an ammunition type for personal protection. Like I said in my previous post, the idea behind Hornady Critical Defense just makes sense to me. But I would have preferred a larger bullet if Hornady would have made it.

[OldWin]

No, I'm the crazy one apparently.

I like the Critical Defense load even with the lighter bullet.

I also use them in 115gr. 9mm.

For .45, I use regular XTP's in either 200 or 230gr.

[Charles]

A 150 grain flat nose full wadcutter ( H&G 244 ) over 3.5/Bulleye. This is a full charge load, but not +P that shoots to the sights and give good penetration and wound channel without expansion.

[TedH]

Got a chance to shoot some of the Lyman 140 gr. hollow points on paper and through the chrono. They hit right at point of aim on this target I shot off hand from 25 yards with my Taurus snubbie. Velocity was bookin' right along at 930 fps.

Soon as I get a chance I'll try some in the ballistic gel.

38 target.jpeg

[southfork]

What kind of expansion should one expect out of a snubby with the Hornady 110 grain Critical Defense loads? They were designed for full and easy expansion, right? If so, maybe they won't penetrate very far, especially if they must pass through heavy clothing. What do you think?

[OldWin]

What kind of expansion should one expect out of a snubby with the Hornady 110 grain Critical Defense loads? They were designed for full and easy expansion, right? If so, maybe they won't penetrate very far, especially if they must pass through heavy clothing. What do you think?

I'm not really 100% on that either. I haven't done any testing myself yet but plan to at some point.

I haven't been too concerned as I usually only carry a snubbie in the summer when cover garments aren't possible and everyone is lightly dressed.
The rest of the year I carry either my LW Commander or a 2.5" model 19.