I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but much of the standard "non +P" ammo out there is loaded with bullets that are so soft and/or to such a low velocity that proper shot placement might not be good enough; if heavy clothing or an arm gets in the way of your otherwise perfectly placed shot your bullet just might run out of steam before it can get the job done. Sure, the old standard swaged 158 gr. LRN has killed a lot of people, but it has also gotten a lot of people killed by failing to penetrate adequately.

Some factory loaded 158 gr. JHP has done less than 700 FPS in my 2" Model 64. That's downright pathetic, and there's no excuse for it. I can safely exceed that by 200 FPS in my "weak sister" 64, and by an even wider margin in my Model 60. And it's interesting to note that my 9mm (J Frame) Model 940 can exceed the ballistics of most if not all of the factory loaded "high performance" .38 Special factory loads on the market. And the 9mm can do it with considerably less case capacity than the .38 Special, with the same 2" barrel.

Much factory loaded .38 Special ammo leaves a lot to be desired, including the +P. It's too bad that the +P designation still creates so many misconceptions.

Dave Sinko