>38 Special self-defense bullet

[ronc80]

New guy here. I'm still gathering components. To load 38/357. First what is +p? Second the only thing I'm lacking is powder. What is a good powder for both. The price and availability doesn't make it easy to get more than one right now. I have cast 125gr fp, 158gr swc and 110gr hornady xtp.

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[jimbires]

New guy here. I'm still gathering components. To load 38/357. First what is +p? Second the only thing I'm lacking is powder. What is a good powder for both. The price and availability doesn't make it easy to get more than one right now. I have cast 125gr fp, 158gr swc and 110gr hornady xtp.

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+P is plus pressure

 

[ronc80]

New guy here. I'm still gathering components. To load 38/357. First what is +p? Second the only thing I'm lacking is powder. What is a good powder for both. The price and availability doesn't make it easy to get more than one right now. I have cast 125gr fp, 158gr swc and 110gr hornady xtp.

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+P is plus pressure

Ok so plus pressure. Is that adding more powder, seating bullet deeper, faster burn rate powder, slower burn rate, all of the above, or non of the above?

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[Guy Miner]

+P is a designation used to indicate that the ammunition was loaded to higher than normal specifications. More or different gun powder is how it's done.

It's an effort to get more power out of various cartridges, not just the 38 Special.

Standard loads kick less and are easier on both the shooter and the gun. Some guns are not rated to handle +P ammo. Check with the manufacturer.

Regards, Guy

 

[Slimfinn]

Second the only thing I'm lacking is powder. What is a good powder for both. The price and availability doesn't make it easy to get more than one right now. I have cast 125gr fp, 158gr swc and 110gr hornady xtp.

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Spend a little time on the hodgdon load data site or speer load data, you will likely find several powders that will work with all of those bullets, in both 38 and 357. I use universal for 38s and some 357, and H110 for my hot 357's

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/?_ga=2. ... 1603225192

https://www.speer.com/reloading/handgun-data.html

 

[Brinky72]

I second the nod for H110 or VV N110. I’ve used both in 44 mag and 357 mag. I was issued a S&W 640 357 for a secondary carry a few years back. Good gun. We either ran full house Federal 158;grain Hydra shot/ hi shock rounds or the 38+P 140 versions. They were accurate and effective. I’d have no qualms running those.

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

There are several powders that work well, as mentioned above.
I use Unique, 2400, Titegroup, and IMR 4227.
All of those will give you optimal velocities.


Hawk

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[KinleyWater]

Oh, I mentioned 30-06 and use against people. Probably something that doesn't happen much in urban areas. Didn't happen much here, but the only two instances I know of were clearly fatal.

Rural area. Lots of hunters. Lots of firearms enthusiasts. Yup, the 30-06, or any other hunting rifle, is a pretty serious firearm.

Re the 223/5.56, be careful on ammo selection. A cop shot an armed bad guy from 70 yards, in the teeth...

The bullet shattered on impact with the teeth! Messed the fellow up pretty badly. Dropped him instantly, but didn't kill him. Interesting. That officer was from a nearby agency and they'd specified light, fast, varmint ammo for their AR-15 patrol rifles. I'd purchased 55 grain bonded soft points for ours, from Federal. During my career we never shot any bad guys with the 55 gr bonded ammo but it worked great on mule deer that had to be put down, so I had every confidence that it would do just fine on a suspect, if necessary.

Guy

+1. I've seen what a 556 can do and sometimes won't.

 

[diverdown]

Agree with Guy in all respects. I've seen my fair share of Bullet holes in people and shot placement is the key. I still think of the incident in Brooklyn, NY many years ago when a person was shot by the police 47 times with a 9MM using ball ammunition (that's all they were allowed to carry at that time) The person survived believe it or not. Then again one of our guys took out a perp with the .38 special 158 grain semi wadcutter FBI load. The bullet entered between the nose and the left eye. Death was instantaneous. Another perp was hit in the spine with the same load. It dropped him but he was crawling to his M1 carbine before stopped with a 2nd round. A while back an extensive study over a period of 17 years was conducted by a forensic expert (I believe on LAPD) in regards to one shot stops, handgun bullet efficiency and penetration qualities. The 9MM, .40 cal and .45 were categoried. As it turns out the 9MM came out slightly ahead of the other two calibers, but in all cases handgun calibers need proper bullet placement.