I am looking for some input on which load to use in my carry gun. The gun is a S&W 65 with a 3 inch barrel. Here are the loads that i am thinking about, but please feel free to offer any other ideas.

1. Speer GoldDot 38 Special 125 gr. GDHP
2. Cor Bon 38 Special +P 125 gr. JHP
3. Remington 38 Special +P 125 gr Semi Jacketed Hollow Point.

Thanks

Nothing really wrong with any of them. Bullet placement is far more important than bullet choice.

Have you spent any time considering bullets that are heavier than 125 grains?

I would add Speer SB .38 +P and Rem. and Buffalo Bore 158 gr. SWCHP +P to that list. I'm with Nitesite. I feel better about heavier bullets in that caliber, but as he said none of the loads you listed sound like losers either. See which weight bullet shoots to point of aim in your gun, then try some of the better loads in that weight. You'll know the best one based on how you and the gun shoot together.

4. Remington .38 Special +P 158gr LSWC/HP Part #R38S12. (The FBI Load)

Remington's or Buffalo Bore's 158 grain +P LSWCHP.

any of those will do nicely, especially out of a 3" tube, if you can hit what you are shooting at with it. i personally like the heavier bullets.

I agree with flop-shank: Speer's Short Barrel ammo (135gr +P) would be a great choice. It's a bit heavier, and it was specifically designed for good performance out of short barrels.

Most dealers sell it in 20-round boxes for nearly a buck a round, but the 50-round boxes are available on GunBroker for just $0.26/round.

In my 3" 65-5, I carry either:

180-grain hardcast .357 handloads at 1230 fps (hiking)

145-grain Silvertip .357s at 1170 fps
(in town)

158-grain LSWCHP .38 Special +Ps (FBI Load)
(in town)

158-grain hardcast .38 Special handloads at 1185 fps (hiking)

A .38 Special +P 125-grain load is considerably slower and less powerful than a standard 9mm loading. The loads you propose certainly might work fine, but I would worry about whether these light .38 rounds would penetrate adequately in the (surprisingly likely) event that some barrier penetration was required before it could hit the vitals of an assailant.

I keep Remington 125gr. Golden Sabre .357s in both my 3" 65s, most of the time. Speer 135gr. .357 Short Barrel is good, also. Both are highly controllable, have little flash, and beat the socks off anything in .38 Special guise, at least for factory loads. Also, both my 65s shoot 125-135gr. bullets to the sights, and shoot higher than I like with 158s. I refuse to back all the way off into .38-land in .357s, even if they are K-frames! (Okay, go ahead; somebody start touting Buffalo Bore...I agree already, it's good stuff.)

Wait a minute. You are carrying a 65............

So do I. And my ammo of choice in that handgun is Remington's full power 357 loads. 158 grains for fall and winter, 125 grains for spring and summer.

I like the old fashioned semi-jacketed hollow points with lots of exposed lead that those two loads offer. DEEP penetration with the 158s and excellent penetration + explosive fragmentation with the 125s.

If you can control them, by all means carry 357s. I know shot placement is king and penetration the queen, but I'll take all the power I can get provided I can control it.

quote:

A .38 Special +P 125-grain load is considerably slower and less powerful than a standard 9mm loading. The loads you propose certainly might work fine, but I would worry about whether these light .38 rounds would penetrate adequately in the (surprisingly likely) event that some barrier penetration was required before it could hit the vitals of an assailant.

I would agree whole heartedly with Erich on this. I wouldn't even consider a defensive 38spl round that wasn't in the 150gr + area. It would need to go at least 1000fps out of a 3" bbl to be effective, IMHO. The more you practice the higher the velocity of the round you could get proficient with.

'course that is why most folks that take their 38's out on the town with them roll their own!


In the old days when the police force was using 110gr bullets out of the 357mag they had an enormous amount of instances where that bullet wouldn't even penetrate a car windshield. With the bullets Erich and I suggest that wouldn't be a problem!

quote:

Originally posted by smith crazy:
I wouldn't even consider a defensive 38spl round that wasn't in the 150gr + area. It would need to go at least 1000fps out of a 3" bbl to be effective, IMHO.

Skip, I find myself disagreeing with that statement.

There is nothing wrong with a 158-gr LSWC (or LSWC-HP) doing ±900-fps from a K-frame. Same with a 148-gr DEWC at nine hundred.

Both would be quite controllable and probably shoot close to the sights.

In my opinion, of course.

quote:

Originally posted by smith crazy:
'course that is why most folks that take their 38's out on the town with them roll their own!

With all respect, Ummm

No... they don't.

Those who do, good for them. I happen to be one who does.

But yours is such a broad and sweeping statement that I have to pull the yellow card on that one.

Wyatt,
My EDC is a 65-1 4"use to be my duty revolver until we where forced to the autoloader world.I sent this one off to Magnaport,had their standard porting done,action job and forcing cone recut to 11 degrees,I always carried the full house Federal 125 magnum JHPs pretty much year round,occasionally carried the Ranger 180 grain SXTs during the winter,I've settled with Blackhills 125 XTP hp loading in the red box for social work when I'm not loading my own,which my handload probably exceeds the BlackHills load 21 grains of H-110 underneath the 125 grain Hornandy,then my woods load is 168 LBT HCSWC over 15.5 grains of H-110 and a magnum primer,these penitrate like no tomorrow.I still like getting the Remington componets in the 125 and 158s due to the scalloped jacket hps.They open up great.The Hornady 158 XTP FlatPoint is a good performer if you load your own,icarry this round in a 6" 19 and Marlin 1894 CP which makes a great woods combo.
Equalizer

quote:

But yours is such a broad and sweeping statement that I have to pull the yellow card on that one.

nite,
Did you take your disagreeable pill or something?

Let me fix the offensive statements cause I would hate to have it said I couldn't accept constructive criticism!

900fps with a 150gr + area bullet would be OK, not my first choice but OK.

My statement about "most folks" could be changed to "some folks" I suppose but what I was trying to say was that folks that want a 150gr + bullet going even 900fps out of a 3" bbl are probably going to have to load their own to get that level of performance. I know to get the bullet velocity/weight combination I would want (1000fps) I would have to make my own.

The point trying to be made was that the 38spl rounds that folks try to pass off for the latest and greatest self defense rounds simply aren't. They aren't the greatest and they certainly aren't full performance for the 38spl.


So nite, accept my corrections and forgive my broad statements. They were intended to be broad in contrast to what folks try to pass off as the "norm" for the 38spl nowadays.

p.s. I hope your agreeable pill comes up in the pill box rotation today!