Back in the early to mid 1970s, when I first got into practical pistol competition there were no classes. Everyone shot against everyone else. The one revolver shooter who threatened the auto pistols was a police officer from a neighboring town. He had a M-14 with a BoMar rib installed. Despite its 6" barrel length it was his duty gun, his PPC gun and his combat shooting gun. In several conversations with him I learned he gave up reloading when he found a ammo maker who would sell him custom 38 ammo loaded to his specifications and, since he bought 2000 rounds at a time it was cost effective.

I remember him telling me the load was a 158g RNL bullet over 3.5g of Bullseye. That was THE standard 38 Special loading in those days and had been for many years. In that revolver shooter's 6" Smith & Wesson it choreographed at 860 fps. He said in a 4" it would still top 800 fps by a respectable margin. And remember, this was a well known STANDARD load for the 38 Special. Nothing being said about "plus P" or plus anything else.

Today's +P is a joke, and that should be spelled with a capital "J".

Dave

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RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)