I have several S&W revolvers but like to carry my ruger LCR 38 when I'm going somewhere quick. Here's what's going on. I've shot revolvers for about 60 years so I've had quite a bit of trigger time, but never shoot them at the range (that's for my semi autos). Last time I went, I thought why not giver the LCR a little exercise. It was loaded with Hornady SD loads so I shot them first. At 20 feet, they were all right there around the center. The only 38's I had left was PMC 132gr FMJ. They were all over the place to the point where it was disturbing. After 20 or 30 rounds of the PMC, I quit. Are the more expensive SD rounds really that much better than the cheap range ammo in a snubby? What do you guys shoot at the range in your snubby? It's too expensive for me to use the SD ammo for target.

To me, for self defense purposes, as long as the gun fires you'd be OK with any ammo. The reason I say that is because, in a self defense situation, you'd probably be shooting at a very close target. You don't need a lot of accuracy in these cases. I know I'll be criticized for saying this but that's my humble opinion.

I'm an old guy and, when I was much younger, snubbies were referred to as "belly guns" probably because you'd be that close when you needed to use one.

Not so much that but PMC is not what I would classify as top tier ammo.
Anyway, I've decided that if I go back to a pocket snubby as I have before as my primary I'm only going to shoot wad cutters out of it.

I just want to buy some time/get them off of me and hopefully to saftey/cover, then as before I go underneath and come out with the heat. Right now I can't draw quick enough as I could when I had a front pocket snubby. So, it may be back to two gun carry for me.

I applaud your effort because shooting the Ruger .38 LCR was pure brutality for me and I never even made it to 40 rounds. Got home, cleaned it up and sold it. If I go back to two gun carry it will be with another 642 or I'm gonna splurge and get me a M&P 340.

__________________
Mulebuk Sam and the Governor

If you can keep all your rounds in a standard paper plate when rapid firing you can protect yourself.

__________________
Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

I can't think of a reason why the PMC would be particularly bad.

But sometimes a gun does very will with one load, and bad with another -- for some unknown reason.

Just figure out what your gun likes and is reliable with and don't worry about the fact that some loads don't work well.

You might try the Hydra Shok 110 gr short barrel, low recoil load. It's supposed to be good in lightweight 38 snubs.

I load all my center fire ammo. For the range, I load a 158 grain Xtreme plated semi-wadcutter pushed by 3.2 grains of Bullseye. Very accurate and comfortable load for punching holes in targets. This load doesn't beat me up even when I use it in my 2 inch Chief.

my personal experience , and that of a couple of others was that we found point of aim = point of impact @ 20yds was only achieved shooting 110 gr and some 125gr loads in testing 2 smith airweights and 1 ruger LCR . These were not reloads , +P factory ammo from several different sources. Your results may vary .

I'm not sure on the ammo but when you describe shots as being all over the place, this is indicative of a fouled, leaded barrel. The difference between compatible and incompatible ammo in a particular handgun is often measured in an inch or two. None of the major ammo makers are making ammo so bad that they won't group from a clean barrel.

I believe you may have touched on something here. When I cleaned it, it was pretty dirty. Cleaned it and will try again next week.

I bought a .40 Cal Glock 23 once upon a time and was distressed that it wouldn't group on a fiesta sombrero at 25 feet with 180 grain factory W-W white box ammo, while my partner was shooting nearly one hole groups with the same ammo, same lot number, bought at the same place at the same time. Turned out that particular Glock 23 preferred light bullets, the lighter the better. Since I wasn't going to shoot 135 grain CorBons out of it, it made its way out of my accumulation.

Guns are like women. They don't all like the same thing.

__________________
CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Yes. Of course some has to do with you and how good you shoot but quality SD rounds perform better. Their performance is in terminal ballistics. I have a friend who can miss with 200 rounds from a revolver at 7 yards. It's not the gun or ammo....just him.

Here's a target we both shot. Gun was a model 13 with 4in barrel using range fmj ammo. Mine are all in the center. Any other holes you find belong to my friend. Target was at about 7 yards.

His shots.
(Face) 2 in the black near min. Two in the 8 and 9.
(Torso) right shoulder
(Paper) top right above the head.
There is a 6th shot somewhere too. He was aiming at my shots


Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

With the belly I got,ain't no room for any gun!Gotta carry 'em somewhere else!!!
Qc

I honestly don't remember the last time I shot anything but cast bullets in a revolver.

Before I got into reloading I liked to shoot the PMC ammo you mentioned because I found it to be very mild shooting and accurate for me. Maybe the gun you have likes a hotter load or different bullet.
I also liked the PMC because I found it cleaner than most other brands.

__________________
Accuracy supercedes Speed