I've always been conservative and avoided +P rounds. Any thoughts on whether a S&W Model 15 will handle them safely?
.38 Special Ammo
- Thread starter MADMIKE
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Your Mod. 15 will safely handle +P ammo for defensive purposes . If it were mine , I wouldn't use it for general target practice . Too expensive for that anyway .
BTW , way back in my LEO days , we were issued 125 gr +P JHP .
BTW , way back in my LEO days , we were issued 125 gr +P JHP .
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what you need is a light weight (high velocity) plus P bullet in hollowpoint form to cause it to expand when it hits the body. I'm not a scientist in this issue but I do keep a 38 special as my house gun and use the old PMC "Copper Tube" rounds. I figure to shoot close quarters.... no more than 20 feet.
Durango
Durango
For all you S&W and .38 experts, what's the best round for this S&W.
5-shot Lady Smith. Believe it has a 1 1/2" or 2" barrel.
5-shot Lady Smith. Believe it has a 1 1/2" or 2" barrel.
The above S&W is a model 36 and it has the 1 7/8" barrel.
It depends on your intended target. I handload everything and tinker with the loads until I find the load that best suits a particular gun for a particular purpose. For self defense I think any of the premium off the shelf personal defense ammo would work fine.
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I respectfully think that, for home defense purposes, people are over-thinking the ammunition except for the question of over-penentration.
The typical scenarios for which I prepare are a burglar who happens to be armed or a known-armed home invader He/she is not after me personally, he's after my stuff, and he is not likely to remain downrange to express an opinion on my choice of loads. If he does remain downrange, it will be because he is unable to express opinions on my choice of home defense loads or my marksmanship. Another factor is that I may not be the person doing the shooting, and a full-size .38 revolver is the best compromise I could find between getting the job done and being easy to use for someone unaccustomed to firing firearms, recoil, etc.
If I were preparing to repel an invader who was after me or my family personally, I'd look at heavier guns, but there would still be the over-penetration issue, and I would still prefer revolvers, due to their immunity to feed jams. I would probably keep the .38 and add a short ("barely legal" for manueverability) shotgun with a wide range of loads on-hand. Actually, I plan to do that.
I do the same (keeping a broad range of loads in speedloaders in the safe) with the .38, so I can weigh factors like weather (thickness of clothing) and whether I'm alone in the house.
The typical scenarios for which I prepare are a burglar who happens to be armed or a known-armed home invader He/she is not after me personally, he's after my stuff, and he is not likely to remain downrange to express an opinion on my choice of loads. If he does remain downrange, it will be because he is unable to express opinions on my choice of home defense loads or my marksmanship. Another factor is that I may not be the person doing the shooting, and a full-size .38 revolver is the best compromise I could find between getting the job done and being easy to use for someone unaccustomed to firing firearms, recoil, etc.
If I were preparing to repel an invader who was after me or my family personally, I'd look at heavier guns, but there would still be the over-penetration issue, and I would still prefer revolvers, due to their immunity to feed jams. I would probably keep the .38 and add a short ("barely legal" for manueverability) shotgun with a wide range of loads on-hand. Actually, I plan to do that.
I do the same (keeping a broad range of loads in speedloaders in the safe) with the .38, so I can weigh factors like weather (thickness of clothing) and whether I'm alone in the house.
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Thanks for the information re +P in the Model 15. I have avoided it since I didn't want to find out by experimentation and I'm not the original owner of this weapon.
I have been using the .38 Special for 15 years, nowadays I
use Speer 125 Grain +P Gold Dot. I also use Corbon 125
grain +P.
use Speer 125 Grain +P Gold Dot. I also use Corbon 125
grain +P.
I kept Winchester PDX1 in my .38SPL revolver. Never shot anybody with it, but those paper bad guys never fought back!
I'm not an expert, but have read that barrel length with the .38 may dictate which ammo you use. For 4+ inches, the FBI load (all lead semi-wadcutter hollowpoint) seems to be good, according to the experts. But, it may or may not expand out of the shorter barrels, not enough speed perhaps?
For shorter barrels, Speer's Short Barrel load or Corbon's DPX load using the Barnes-X all copper bullet, are what the experts tend to recommend. I believe Doubletap also loads the all copper projectile in .38.
This info. looks legit in my opinion:
http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm
For shorter barrels, Speer's Short Barrel load or Corbon's DPX load using the Barnes-X all copper bullet, are what the experts tend to recommend. I believe Doubletap also loads the all copper projectile in .38.
This info. looks legit in my opinion:
http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm
That's a very interesting link... Thanks a lot!
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