Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevada Ed
There is a lot of room between 755 and 890fps out of a 4" 38 special, to where one might be able to up the odds a little for the home owner.
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That rings an important point in my head and explains "obsessive" (or what I call "practical") need for hotter .38. In general you can say the .38 special, 6" revolver or 10" test barrel can shoot something over 1100 fps with a 125 grain bullet
Well, for defensive purposes, that's fine. But add in a 158 gr. bullet out of a 2" barrel suddenly you are talking about 700-800 fps., which I wouldn't want to be hit with but most in the defensive shooting community don't consider that to be adequate.
I solve that problem simply by using a .357 gun and loading low end .357 rounds. I use this in the house.
The Cor Bon and Buffalo bore people make rounds that do better with heavy bullets out of short defensive weapons and I feel as a handloader, I should be able to do the same.
Part of the reason for this is that one of my carry weapons is a Chief's Special .38. with a 2" barrel that some feel is minimal for real world use. I'd like to see more J frames with 3" barrels.
The smallest semis that I have are 3" unvented barrels.
So, what I'm trying to do is get a good defensive load out of a 2" .38 Special. I don't think I'm alone with this. In the meantime I'll look for guns that I think are more suitable for my philosophies, like a 3" J frame with a little longer barrel, maybe in .357.
And I really can't afford to shoot much in the line of Cor Bon and Buffalo Bore all the time. If I can duplicate a load to practice with, I'll be happy to buy a box of gourmet ammo to keep in the guns.