.38 Spl 130 grain FMJ

jimmyj

jimmyj

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Shopping on line for 158 grain standard velocity .38 Spl ammo.
Mostly what is available is 130 grain FMJ.
What are 130 grain FMJ ammo used for ?
Seems these bullets would print low with fixed sighted revolvers ?
 
I believe the 130 grain fmj is a carryover from the old military M41 cartridge. The load was low-pressure, supposedly for the aluminum-cylindered revolvers tried decades ago by the Air Force. It was reportedly very "puny". Current commercial loads seem to be "warmer". The lighter bullet uses less material and may be intended to keep costs down. It WILL impact a bit lower from a fixed-sight revolver, at least from my experience. It is, however, pleasant to shoot, of adequate power for paper punching, and one does not have to clean lead from the bore and cylinder throats. Other forum members: please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I use it at the range, either American Eagle or Remington. My employer supplied a case a year as practice ammo, so I got used to it. The free ammo switched to Speer 125gr FMJ in the last couple of years, but I still buy 130gr FMJ because it is usually very affordable.
 
I shot lots of the 130gr ball when I was active duty, and didn't particularly care for it. Utterly reliable, but mediocre accuracy. We used 158gr SWC to settle arguments about who was the most accurate shooter. The gate guards carried HP stateside.
The 130gr was entirely adequate for plinking, or to meet minimum qualification scores with the M15 revolver. My unit was the last one on base to turn in our M15s.
 
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Back in the late 80s we had a few old Victory and Model 10 revolvers in the obsolete weapons room so we were authorized to order and shoot the M41 round.

About once a year, I'd forecast and then order our yearly authorization of it and we'd have a fun day at the pistol range with it. I'd bring in my personal Victory S&W and exercise it at the same time.
 
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"Puny" loads are nice when you have arrived into your "Golden years"
and want to shoot a lot, even if the ammo is not that accurate.

As mentioned the war 130 had a JRN design and this new target load has a FP design to keep up with modern likes that lots of shooters now expect or think is neat.

For target work any low price ammo is good ..........
however a flat front does make scoring easier if you do that sort of thing.

I would like to see more coated target ammo, though, over the copper or plated stuff, for a little easier barrel cleanup...........

Have fun.
 
I have a box of Fiocchi 130 FMJ, it's got quite a decent kick to it, these seem fairly powerful - a little less kick than the Rem FBI +P.
 
mikerjf said:
I have a box of Fiocchi 130 FMJ, it's got quite a decent kick to it, these seem fairly powerful - a little less kick than the Rem FBI +P.
Click to expand...

From what I've read, Fiocchi tends to be a little warmer than similar loads by US manufacturers. My only experience with Fiocchi is their 148gr WC, which punched nice, clean holes in targets at 5 yards from my 2" 642 while S&B's 148gr WC created really big vertical tears at the same distance. My hypothesis is that the Fiocchi is loaded a bit warmer than S&B so the bullets stabilized better. Don't have a chronograph so I can't say for sure.

FWIW, when I shoot PMC 132gr FMJ, it definitely has less felt recoil than either the Speer 135gr SB-GDHP +P or the Speer Lawman 158gr TMJ +P (FBI load equivalent) I use.
 
If it's accurate and inexpensive, I'd certainly use it. With that light a bullet at moderate velocity, recoil should be minimal.
 
Its quite comfortable in light, small revolvers! When I bought my camp I found a bunch of that ammo on the back of a high shelf .

Shot it up and if I see it around at a good price I will purchase it.:cool:
 
I’ve shot a fair amount of it.
It’s a light load with not much recoil in light guns.
The last time I bought some was when ammo was in short supply and when you saw some you could use you bought it.
 
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ContinentalOp said:
From what I've read, Fiocchi tends to be a little warmer than similar loads by US manufacturers. My only experience with Fiocchi is their 148gr WC, which punched nice, clean holes in targets at 5 yards from my 2" 642 while S&B's 148gr WC created really big vertical tears at the same distance. My hypothesis is that the Fiocchi is loaded a bit warmer than S&B so the bullets stabilized better. Don't have a chronograph so I can't say for sure.

FWIW, when I shoot PMC 132gr FMJ, it definitely has less felt recoil than either the Speer 135gr SB-GDHP +P or the Speer Lawman 158gr TMJ +P (FBI load equivalent) I use.
Click to expand...


Euro ammo in general will be loaded hotter then US ammo. They do NOT follow SAAMI, but rather the Euro equivalent. It comes out about 4-5% hotter on average.
 
130 Gr. FMJ is almost useless IMO. As a target load it does not shoot POA = POI in any gun I've tried it in. As a defense load it is one of the worst. It is my understanding that originally it was a Military round for Pilots other Military personnel who carried an M&P Revolver as they could not use Lead or HP's according to the Geneva Convention. Why it has continued to be manufactured and why people still continue to buy it is a wonder to me. The Military has long since stopped using .38 Specials.
 
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I have shot a bit of it in the FMJRN variety, and don't really care for it. My cast 158 SWC's are more accurate in my revolvers, and punch cleaner holes in paper targets. If you don't reload, and cost matters, they are a good buy for informal range use, and are usually easy to find.

Larry
 
chief38 said:
130 Gr. FMJ is almost useless IMO. As a target load it does not shoot POA = POI in any gun I've tried it in. As a defense load it is one of the worst. It is my understanding that originally it was a Military round for Pilots other Military personnel who carried an M&P Revolver as they could not use Lead or HP's according to the Geneva Convention. Why it has continued to be manufactured and why people still continue to buy it is a wonder to me. The Military has long since stopped using .38 Specials.
Click to expand...

Just because they don't work for you doesn't mean they're useless for everybody. For range practice, they're fine unless you're trying to squeeze as much accuracy out of your gun as possible. Defensive drills at close range? Perfectly acceptable.

This is an older photo, but I shot this group at 10yds, 2-handed standing, with a stock trigger 642-1 using PMC 132gr FMJ. The white rectangle is a 3x5 mailing label.

1st5-1-20-2015.jpg


I should note that the reason my group was a little high was due to issues with the silver front sight and indoor range lighting...I ended up aiming just a tad higher than I should have. Since then I've painted my sights and that seems to have fixed the issue.
 
chief38 said:
As a defense load it is one of the worst. It is my understanding that originally it was a Military round for Pilots other Military personnel who carried an M&P Revolver as they could not use Lead or HP's according to the Geneva Convention. Why it has continued to be manufactured and why people still continue to buy it is a wonder to me. The Military has long since stopped using .38 Specials.
Click to expand...

I still don't want to be shot with it.:D
 
LVSteve said:
I still don't want to be shot with it.:D
Click to expand...

I agree with that - but I wouldn't want to be shot with a .22 Short either! Unless the 130 FMJ hit a vital organ or you were left to bleed out from a wound, the bullet wouldn't do much more than drill a nice neat hole.

Had it been sped up or made in a heavier bullet it might fare a bit better - at least in Military parameters. For civilian purposes I really don't see it as being worth buying.
 
As a note;

I just ordered 200 130gr JHP HST and was told they will ship tomorrow.

Will post 2" and 6" 38 special loads when I get time......
No .357 cases for this "Special bullet" designed for the .38 Special.

With the low case volume, this might be very interesting.
 
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