Best +P Carry Round For The 340PD?

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Old cop

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For those who regularly carry/shoot a 340PD what is your +P carry round (not interested in .357)? I want to make sure to avoid anything that will jump crimp.
 
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I would recommend Hornady American Gunner 125gr XTPs.
 
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I have never had a Winchester .357 STHP jump crimp in my 340PD, but I don’t shoot very many of them and my supply is old - not recent production. Probably any of the jacketed .38 Special +P loads intended for self defense would be OK, but I would test a few of them.

Edit - sorry, somehow I overlooked your “not interested in .357” note. Not sure how I missed it. :o The only factory .38s I’ve used have been Remington 125 gr. JHPs with the scalloped jacket. That was quite a while ago and I can’t recall if they were +P, but they worked fine. What was left of those eventually went to my daughter. They were on the slow side. Just a bit over 800 FPS.
 
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When I carry my 340 M&P, it’s loaded with Winchester PDX 1 .38 Special +P.
130 gr. JHP Bonded…

After firing and cleaning it, I always dry the cartridge chambers to make sure there is no oil on the walls. I also wipe the cartridges dry before inserting them …. Still have an old Bianchi speed strip with an extra 6 rounds that goes into the watch pocket of my Levi’s….better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
 
With over 7,000 Remington 357 Magnums sent downrange, my 340 has never jumped a crimp either. My 340 has never seen a round of 38 fired in it.

However if I were to restrict my self to 38 Special ammunition it would be the 125 JHP Winchester +P loading
 
I p/u a 50 round box of Remington HTP 110 grain +P recently. Anyone know anything about this as it relates to the 340PD?
 
The +P 135gr Gold Dot Short Barrel or the +P Buffalo Bore 158gr SWCHP GCs.

If recoil is a primary concern, then the Gold Dots.
 
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I carry 135 grain Gold Dot-Short Barrels in my 360PD. Of the .357 variety, but would start with the +p version of the same if restricted to .38 S&W Spl.
 
Old cop said:
For those who regularly carry/shoot a 340PD what is your +P carry round (not interested in .357)? I want to make sure to avoid anything that will jump crimp.
Click to expand...


Old cop, After chronographing some 38 special Speer GDHP 135 grain SB loads in my 340PD I found them only going around 830 ft./s, too slow to reliably expand. Further research led me to a fellow who is doing some research on snub loads. He Concluded that J frame 357‘s Do not achieve the same velocities for 38 special loads as the J frames with 38 cylinders. I also believe there is some anomaly that occurs between different generations of the gold dots hollowpoint 38 short barrel load. In case you should have the opportunity to chronograph the 38 short barrel load, I would do so to see what velocity they are operating at. Speer advertises these as performing at 860 ft./s. When I asked Speer how well they were perform under that velocity they did not have much to say.
 
I checked the buffalo bore standard pressure lswchp in the 340 pd. Shot 4 measured the fifth. I did this twice, and the fifth bullet in each case only moved forward 1/10 of an inch. I never checked Buffalo Bore’s standard .38 full wadcutter for crimp jump. It would have a lot of bullet jump to jam up the gun.
 
When I did use my M60 for CCW it was loaded with Buffalo Bore 158 Gr. LSWCHP-GC +P's. I also started using the Speer 135 grain Gold Dot Hollow Point +P in the Summer months when penetration was not as pertinent.

Swapped out my 38 Spl. for a Sig P365 and now carry 124 grain Federal HST (std. vel.).
 
I know you said you weren't interested in .357mag but the Speer .357mag 135gr GDHPSB is really only about 150fps faster than the .38spl+P and acts like a .38spl +P+ and gives about 1,000fps with the excellent Gold Dot bullet. I'm sorry for the thread drift but it is a solid choice as the .38spl version 'in a snubby' is very border-line as to velocity. 800fps no expansion 860 is supposed to give full expansion 'or so they say'. Who-ever they is, I'd feel better with 900fps. JMHO-YMMV.........
 
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Since you're thinking defense rounds out of a snubby J, I'd consider 148gr wadcutter match loads since expansion of hollow points -- any hollow points -- out of a 2" barrel is iffy at best.

Otherwise, the old standbys have been mentioned and are decent. I settled on Speer's short barrel load and if you can find the .357 version, it's only slightly hotter than their .38+P, but perhaps just enough to increase the chance of expansion yet not enough for crimp jump to be a serious concern.
 
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