Going through some misc ammo

About How old are these Remington's?
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Also, I have some of this .38 special that says "not suitable for non-military purposes". What's so different about these ?
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Thx!

CYA. Probably not SAAMI spec.

My guess is all three boxes of 158 grain LHP are the FBI load of that era (pre 1973) at which time the +P designation took effect under SAAMI. I have a Remington box of 125 grain JHP- definitely +P power but not so marked.

Can't speak to the military rounds- MichiganScott's answer is probably right.

The winchester "super x" box must have been for Mississippi Law Enforcement. After looking closer, the shells are actually marked "+P".

I also have aquired close to 1,000 rounds of .38 wadcutters made from a company called "Star Reloading Co". I've ran a couple of these boxes through my taurus 357 (aka "test gun") with no issues ..

I would assume its all good to shoot.

Thx again !

These are FMJ bullets to comply with the military required use of such bullets under treaty obligation and lloaded to the mil spec of the time of manufacture which was not a powerful round. I have shot lots of FMJ .38 spl that was surplus from military contracts. The verbiage warning against use by Law enforcement is to dissuade the use of the less effective and over penetrating FMJ bullet for police work yet the military, mostly air force, armed their MP's with such ammo.

The others as already posted are police loads 158gr LSWCHP's that where the +P loads of the day before SAAMI set a "+P" standard. Such loads where called "police loads" or Hi-velocity loads or any other description the manufacturer decided to used to describe them.

The Remingtons are from the 1970's, the Winchesters are late 70's to early 80's IIRC. The military I'm guessing are from WWII era as they are loaded with 158 grain full metal jacket bullets. These are not the weak rounds mentioned above. In the 1950's the military shifted to a light 130 grain bullet with reduced velocity. This ammo pictured is loaded to 850 fps from a 4" barrel IIRC. Now days that would be +P ammo. Before the lawyer era most all standard 38 special, 158 grain ammo was loaded to 850 fps. Now that tort lawyers have arrived this same weight of bullet is only loaded at 750 fps in most cases. I would suggest not WASTING the fmj ammo at targets and instead keep it for times you need maximum penetration.

Star was a volume commercial reloader. I shot a ton of their stuff with zero malfunctions. It's not once fired brass as I recall rather loaded until they split. The military ball should have a year on the headstamp. These are " '91." Joe

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thx for the replies.

i'm keeping the military ammo, and shooting the rest