I am far from well-versed on ammo compared to you guys, so please excuse my ignorance. What is the difference between a "standard" .38 special and a +P, and can I shoot them in my Model 10-8? It was manufactured about 1988. And also, my revolver is used only for killing defenseless pieces of paper at the range, and stupid people who would sneak into my house at night to possibly harm my family & me. How much more power do they produce? Thank you in advance, Jeff Taylor, Pgh, PA, USA.

Your model 10 is plenty strong for +P. That said every firearm has a working life, even with mild loads. It would take a century of constant shooting with plinking loads to wear out a modern K frame. Though it can be done. The more pressure the shorter the working life of the firearm is. Think of it like a well built car, it will last for decades with moderate driving. Put it on a drag strip every day of the year, and it will be in need of repair in short order.

So I would say load for defense with +P, even +P+. Stick to standard ammo for plinking.

+P has a higher charge than a standard .38. .38 Special is all that's needed for the Range , +P is usually used for Defense.
.38 Special 17,000 PSI
.38 Special +P 20,000 PSI
Keep reading the forums you'll learn a lot , I just started couple years ago

Your 10-8 is perfectly capable of handling +P ammunition. Logically, one would want the most energetic load suitable for self defense, so many folks opt for +P ammo in their .38 Special carry guns. But in truth, the differences between standard and +P loads, while real, are not all that significant. If your gun turns out to be more accurate with standard loads, or if you prefer the slightly-lesser recoil of standard loads, you're not giving up much if anything in the way of effectiveness.

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Pisgah

10-8 will handle it but as you say why kill paper with a +P. Shoot enough to get comfortable and then if you use for home defense keep it loaded with them. For the range stay with the normal .38 special or reloads if you are into that.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

If you can get your hands on the latest copy of the Dillon Blue Press, there is a great article on different calibers, loads and pressures.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

Out of curiosity, I bought some +P for my 10-6 with the 4 inch heavy police barrel. Loaded it 1/2 regular and 1/2 +P. You could tell the difference in recoil but it wasn't that much. No difference in accuracy at 50 feet. Then compared it against some wad cutters. You could really tell the difference in recoil but accuracy was about the same. Will save the +P for home defense and keep shooting targets with the regular in the 10-6 and the wad cutters in the 1905, 4th Change.

I bought a box of +P, about all I will need, hopefully, for a long time! Just enough to get the feel of them, then I'll keep the rest for carry/self defense. With the regular FMJ's I can kill the middle of a paper plate at 25 yds. I just can't imagine getting back up and keep going after somebody after being hit with a .38! I suppose drugs will do that, but you still need your ticker to keep going. We aren't snapping turtles! But I've never had to shoot anyone, so I suppose nerves will mess with my aim. Thank yinz guys! Jeff.

The bullet type is as important as the load.

Defense bullets are usually some sort of hollow point, or a soft semi-wadcutter or hollow point semi wadcutter and sometime a flat nose design.

Range and plinking bullets can be wadcutter, semi wadcutters. Round nose bullets are cheaper, but not particular suited for SD.

Ordinary plated bullets are limited in the velocity the get due to the possibility of leading the barrel.

A lot of plus p ammo you buy nowadays is just a little harder puff than the standard loads. There are test results all over the web showing how different ammo acts under SD conditions. The accepted test is shooting into ballistic gelatin to check penetration and bullet expansion.

There are some companies that sell specialized ammo for defense that really has a bite to it. Buffalo Bore, Underwood, Double Tap and others. A model 10 is about as strong of a .38 as anyone needs and can handle any loading that is within specs for that round. Don't buy anything marked +P+ because there is no standard for it and you have no idea what's in them.

I've reloaded some .38 ammo for my model 10 that really got my attention. So much in fact that I backed down. Especially in my J frames where a full load was very uncomfortable to shoot.

PS: The purpose of the hollow point is to expand the bullet diameter to increase the size of the wound channel while at the same time limiting over penetration of the bullet where it exits the perp and hits an innocent back stander.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Is this it?

hxxps://www.dillonprecision.com/articles.html

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40 yrs Millwright Machinist

To toss a further wrench into this, there's two levels of 38Spl.

One is the "pre lawyer" and one is "post lawyer".

Perhaps it's more correct to say there is old technology testing and new technology testing. Copper units of pressure vs modern piezo electric test barrels.

Old loading manuals have standard 38Spl loads that are now considered +P, and old manual data for +P is off the charts for today's reloading manuals.

I load old standard 38Spl rounds for my revolvers which is 158g cast @ 850 ~ 900fps.

Do some research and you'll find this old caliber has some teeth. Use caution and work up some loads that are useful, the 38Spl isn't just a target load.

Here is a link to a table of SAAMI max pressures for several popular calibers.

SAAMI Pressure Table

Edmo

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TRUTH: Don't delete my posts!