What is the military designation for the 38 Special Aircrewman (Model 13) revolver ammunition please? Is it M41?

What are the specs on this ammo?
Riverok

Yes, M41. They made a lot of it and it came in a variety of boxes. 130 grain bullet, 950 FPS out of a 6 inch barrel.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

If you shot a round into the ground, and were very lucky, you might
kill a worm with that ammo.

"Yes, M41. They made a lot of it and it came in a variety of boxes. 130 grain bullet, 950 FPS out of a 6 inch barrel."

While the milspec MV for the M41 is shown as 950 ft/sec, that was highly likely to have been fired from a special test barrel (possibly unvented) somewhat longer than that of a typical revolver. My MV tests of GI M41 ammunition from two different revolvers both having 6" barrels indicate that the average MV is more in the 800 ft/sec range. The SD is only around 25 ft/sec, so an MV of 950 ft/sec would be mathematically impossible to achieve from a 4" or 6" revolver barrel using M41 ammunition. The spec peak chamber pressure is given as 16,000 PSI. I have seen stories that a special lower velocity M41 round was made for use in the USAF revolvers having aluminum alloy cylinders, but I have been unable to find any reliable evidence in support of that. Does anyone know better?

One could truthfully say that the M41 round's ballistic performance from an actual revolver is somewhat below that of many 9mm pistols. Some may know that later on, the USAF adopted a much more powerful .38 Special round with ballistics more like those of the .38-44 using the same 130 grain bullet as the M41.

The original 130 gr load went about 700 fps in a 4 inch barrel.

The PGU-12/B went about 950 fps. Looked to me that they just pushed the bullet farther down into the case. I saw somewhere that the original load was 3.5 gr of Bullseye. Seating the bullet deeper will raise pressure.

This cracked me up. I've never been a crazy, high power freak but anytime I've seen those rounds I had to wonder, Why? I think I bought some at a gun show once and wasn't impressed.

I’d like to snag an original box of it for the Victory Model my grandfather returned from Europe with in the fall of 1945.

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Some Might Say.

M41 would not be the correct ammo for a WWII Victory Model. You need this:

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I’ll keep my eyes peeled, thanks Kwill1911...

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Some Might Say.

A box of the WWII-era .38 Special GI ammunition is not the easiest to find today, especially the red tracer variety. As seen, the military issue Ball .38 Special ammo came packed in a civilian-style box. The mention of a steel bullet jacket on the front label and the absence of an index number in the lower right corner are what you should look out for. Every box of the WW II GI Ball ammo I have ever seen has been in somewhat less than high condition, and I imagine that a very high condition full box would probably be considered a genuine rarity, with a price to match. I believe that Remington was the sole manufacturer during the war.

Thanks everyone. Fortunately, I could load my own ammo if necessary.

Now that's a crimp!

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213th FBINA

There is a reason for that, Check this old thread.
PGU-12/B .38spl anyone got pictures?