I finally finished up with my test of +P loads in my M49 S&W.

I tried to make the little 110 Jhp Sierra and Winchester bullets work but with seven powders and three primers the best I could get was a target/practice load at 860 fps that shot 1" low with 4 of 5 at 1.16 inches at ten feet.
I did get a "Cor-Bon" type load with a maximum amout of Unique at 996 fps that shot well but I do not think a 110gr is a bullet that I want to trust my life on for penetration and getting the job done, 100% of the time.

I did get the Speer Gold Dot and Remington 125 gr Jhp bullets to work for me with a fps from 889 to 903, where the bullets performed well and had around 222 ft/lbs of energy with around 4.38 ft/lbs of recoil in the litthe snub nose.

The factory Speer 135 has a recoil of around 4.78 ft/lbs with the same energy.

Now for the FBI 158 lead test.........

The factory Remington FBI load can go from around 880 to as high as 890 fps in snub nose revolvers depending on their shape and conditions. My box gave 851 fps, 254 ft/lbs of energy and the recoil from handloads.com read out at 5.86 ft/lbs.
My most accurate reload with 4.5grs of powder gave 822fps, 237 ft/lbs of energy and only 5.31 ft/lbs of recoil plus it shot at POA with 5 at 1.5 inches at ten feet.
I did have one powder with a heavy crimp post 948 fps with over 730 ft/lbs of RECOIL that I only fired 3 of the 5 reloads, since I knew this was just a wee bit over what might be called a maximum load, per the recoil and noise, that it made.
This was a maximum load in a alliant manual but I think the very heavy crimp, put it over the spec's and what my revolver was made to handle.

For me a 125gr at around 888..........

or a factory 135 or 158 FBI is about as good as it gets for the 38 snub nose for maximum power loads.......... but this does not leave out the standard loads that have also worked over the years in stopping a threat.

As I stated in the beginning I do not like the little 110gr JHP but I would HATE to have two of them rattling around inside my body !!