Many of us opt for small 38 special snub nose revolvers as our SD weapons. Easily concealable, practical and discrete these guns are hard to beat. Yet choosing right gun is only part of the story – the other part is choosing right load for the gun. This past weekend I made a range trip to test several of the old and new loads in my favorite carry snubbies. It turned interesting and I thought that range report would be in order.
The guns. For this shooting session I chose two .38 special revolvers: a humble S&W 442 – my everyday gun, and elegant 3rd generation Detective Spl in Colt Royal Blue. DS is a recent purchase of mine and I have to say that it is rapidly turning into my favorite carry piece. Everything about this gun feels right – size, grips, quality, capacity, pointability. Did I mention it looks great?
S&W 442
Colt Detective Special
The loads. Five loads were lined-up for testing.
Left to right are:
1. Speer 135 gr. GoldDot short barrel 38 spl +P
2. Buffalo Bore 158 gr. SWCHP heavy 38 spl +P
3. 38 spl +P+ handload:140 gr. Remington SJHP over 7.8 gr. VV 3N37
4. Remington 158 gr. FBI load (R38S12)
5. Last but not least, the handload pushing rugged edge of the 38 special caliber limit – 135 gr. Speer GoldDot bullet over 7.5 gr. 3N37
I decided to sacrifice for the sake of science, and broke one of the Buffalo Bore and one of the Remington loads. Now we can take a closer look at the bullets. Here they are: Speer 135 gr. GoldDot, Remington 140 gr. SJHP, Remington 158 gr. SWCHP and 158 gr. Buffalo Bore SWCHP-GC.
All bullets except BB were well within 1 grain of their advertised weight; BB turned out a little heavier – 163 gr. with the gas check removed.
Accuracy. Both guns shot like champs – at 15’ accuracy was between good and excellent with all loads.
Shooting impressions. The 135 gr. handload was very impressive - it clocked 1000 fps (SD 6; ES 12) in 442. Yes, that’s right - this
38spl load has same ballistics as Speer factory short barrel
357 magnum load! It generates 300 ft*lb muzzle energy while staying within CIP 38 spl limit – at least according to the manufacturer’s 2002 manual. Because it’s the same bullet and same velocity as in Speer factory load, there is no need for additional expansion and penetration testing. Flop-shank here in this forum and good folks at stoppingpower.net already tested Speer 357 mag factory load and found good penetration and reliable expansion. In as much as I liked this load I have to say that for SD it has one significant drawback – muzzle flash. Large, very hot, white muzzle flash…
I liked the 140 gr. +P+ load. I think it’s a nice one for training but not really practical for SD. In 442 it clocks 1050 fps (ME 343 ft*lb) but recoil was too much for me. Shooting it in Detective Spl was fun, yet not as much fun as BB. Buffalo Bore heavy 38spl +P load is in the class of its own. It was thoroughly tested by many others and several excellent reports are available. It will suffice to say that I was so impressed with the performance of Buffalo Bore load that I now carry it in DS.
As always Speer SB and Remington FBI factory loads worked well – reasonable recoil, good accuracy, and little if any muzzle flash. One unusual thing I noticed was that primers in the Speer factory loads looked a bit flat.
If it was a handload I’d be worried about excessive pressure, but it wasn’t a handload… Not sure what it means. Maybe to increase reliability, Speer uses soft match primers in this load. It makes sense because many inexperienced owners put reduced main springs in their J frame revolvers.
Conclusions. I had a lot of fun at the range and learned a thing or two about the guns and the loads. S&W 442 and Detective Special are very capable guns, each in its own right. Easily concealable and accurate they are pleasure to carry and fun to shoot. I regard these two among some of the best SD guns.
The 135 gr. GDHP +P handload has a good potential. This load has it all – excellent bullet, accuracy, ballistics, terminal performance. But the package comes with blinding muzzle flash. Is it a good carry load? I think it could be a good one… for me.
Buffalo Bore heavy 38spl+P is one of the most impressive loads I’ve ever shot. Kudos to Tim Sundles for bringing back old glory of the 38 special cartridge. With the right shooter it’s a hard load to beat in Detective Special or any small steel revolver.
Mike