Many thanks to these posters for prior 'likes' of some of my posts and for their info today. Interesting data on the Fed LHP. Guess I'll have to use the remainder of my case as practice ammo!

I am a little ticked that the LHP has been watered down from its original 60s-70s ballistics. The 1972 LE HG Digest has a chart of chrono'd velocities on p. 188. From a 4" M-10, the W-W LHP (38SPD), the 'gold standard,' is chrono'd at an average 1014 fps. Modern factory charts (usually hopeful) show this load at about 880-890 fps in 4": this is a significant drop in a cartridge not terribly powerful to begin with.

I'm quoting a writer who said the original LHP brought the .38 up off its knees, as many LEOs will confirm. Now the mfg-ers have dropped the MV and brought it back down to its knees. I still have several boxes of the original loading, the all-yellow 1969-70 box, so I'm OK.

Am I flogging an awfully dead horse? Maybe. However whiskey proofs have decreased in the past 2+ decades in too many instances, and 80 proof Jack Daniels is NOT the same drink as the previous 86 and 90 proof whiskeys. Same with the LHP.