I think the Federal Gold Medal Match .38 Special 148 grain wadcutter is the best choice in commercial loads and the most widely available in my area.

It is not realistic to expect vehicle door or windshield penetration from a .38 Special wadcutter, but they do have very good penetration in ballistic gel with very low recoil and high accuracy.

The chart below shows the Winchester 148 gr wadcutter with very consistent performance, and the Federal load will be almost the same as it is loaded to the same velocity.

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/rev...llistics-test/