38 special Santa Barbara

[jayg]

would anyone here know how hot 38 sb military ammo is. i shot a few rounds thru my snubby mod 36 and then thought i'd better check. don't want to hurt myself or the 36 if this happens to be +p ammo. didn't seem to have too much felt recoil but that's not a good guide.

[Nevada Ed]

Any ammo that is above standard pressure has to have a label telling the buyer that it is near or at a +P level.

If not made in the USA and military ammo, you need to know what you are loading !!
Military ammo usually has a code that can be cross checked for pressures.

Good luck.

[ArchAngelCD]

All steel S&W revolvers can use slightly hot ammo. Not all of their revolvers that can safely shoot +P ammo are marked +P on the barrel because it's impossible to mark the barrel before SAAMI came up the the new .38 Special +P designation. (mid to late 1970's) Also, much of the ammo made today is way short of hitting the limits. I have seen .38 Special ammo listed as generating only 15,800 PSI and .38 Special +P ammo listed @ 17,500 PSI, barely reaching standard 38 pressure limits. Much of today's so called +P ammo is no hotter than the ammo that was in use when the revolvers were made 40 and 50 years ago. I'm told S&W says all steel revolvers with a model number are perfectly safe to shoot .38 Special +P ammo. (1957 and newer) All their steel cylinders made post WWII use good steel and are properly heat treated.

I'm not telling you what you should shoot in your revolver, I'm only giving you my opinion and telling you what I do... (and we all know what free advice is worth!)