For the past several years, my goto carry round in 38 has been Remington Golden Saber 125gr +p. The Golden Saber did pretty well in the Lucky Gunner tests (
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/rev...llistics-test/), they're widely available and relatively inexpensive. The recoil with the Golden Saber in an airweight is stout - you don't want to shoot a lot of these.
I've been intrigued by the Federal HST 38+p 130gr Micro since they were introduced. I've always liked wadcutter style bullets. In fact, most of my reloading of 38 cal these days is with wadcutters. Also, I carry 9mm 124gr HST (non +p) in my GLOCKs.
I finally saw the HST Micro 38 cal version for sale at a local Walmart and bought a box. After seeing several tests on them (including a Lucky Gunner test), I decided that I'd carry them if they shot well in my 442.
I went to the range today to test for aim and function (I knew they'd function, more to see where they hit). I shot from 7 yards, two-handed standing at a comfortable pace (not slow fire, but not rushed). In the first attached target you can see they grouped well. The top three holes were the first three shots... then I started pushing a bit and the low two shots are the result.
I then shot with my reload wadcutters, and the next two targets are the those. I put 100 rounds of my wadcutters through the gun and called it a day at the range.
The recoil on the HST was NOT bad at all. I think Federal really hit a home run with these rounds. They have done well in all the tests I've seen online, they group well and the recoil very manageable.
I came home, cleaned up the 442 and stoked the cylinders with 5 fresh Federal HST 38+p 130gr. Found my new carry round.