Hello
Most of the 38 Special reviews that I did were shot with two guns.
A Taurus 85 Ulta Lite 2 inch barrel and a Smith & Wesson model 15 with a 4 inch barrel.
First I do forensic exam of the ammunition. Next I shoot a group while chronographing with each gun. 10 yards with the 2 inch Taurus 85 and 25 yards with the 4 inch Model 15. Chronograph is a Oehler 35P
Then the ammunition is shot out of each gun into a 55 gallon plastic barrel of water. The bullets are then recovered, photographed and then measured for expansion. In cases where the bullet fragments and loses its jacket, a weight is taken with all the recovered material and also a weight taken with just the lead core.
Here is the link to all the photos of the review;

38 SPL FED 110gr. HydraShok — Postimages

Data Sheet



Rather disappointing results from the 2 inch gun. It almost looks like it was trying to implode rather than expand. Almost had another blow through on the bottom of the barrel, but I cut out some hard plastic matting and positioned it on the bottom to absorb some of the energy of bullets that don't expand in water.



The bullet that was fired in the 4 inch gun did much better.

It's too bad that 38 Special has to be loaded at the pressure level that SAMMI dictates. Many of these loads are at that critical velocity threshold between expansion and no appreciable expansion. Physics is physics.

This ammunition is labeled low recoil and so it is. Very pleasant to shoot. I wonder why Federal doesn't offer this product in a +P variant.

It is my opinion that most hollow point bullets with the jacket extending all the way to the meplat of the bullet need significantly more than 900 fps velocity in order to initiate expansion. The exceptions being the Speer Gold Dot as it is actually a plated bullet, not a gilded metal jacket, Federal's HST as it has very long skives in the jacket, and Remington's Golden Saber, which has deep, spiral cut skives in the jacket. Beyond those, expansion is more likely to come from soft swaged lead hollow point bullets or bullets that have a jacket that stops well short of the meplat, leaving a good amount of soft lead exposed around the hollow cavity.

That's my opinion, it may only be worth what you paid for it.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

While anecdotal information is of limited value, I will share this story. In the late 1970's the Portland (OR) police carried 110 grain JHP .38's (Remington). After two shootings with pretty poor performance we went to the 125 gr. JHP (which proved to be some better, but not a lot). In the first one an officer shot a woman in the hand at close range (2" J-frame). The bullet hit the back of the hand, exited the palm, and then struck her abdomen. Didn't break the skin but left a nasty bruise. In the second incident the officer fired his 6" K-frame at point-blank range, hitting the offender in the mouth. The bullet broke several teeth. The ER doc retrieved the bullet from the guy's throat with forceps; it had caused no appreciable additional damage. Neither bullet expanded. 'Course bullet technology has come a long way in the past few decades.

I am not a lawyer, but I believe that what you call anecdotal, they call direct evidence, meaning something someone saw and will swear to. I think that the other kind is called circumstantial.

Any lawyers?

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Formerly Model520Fan