...
But then the caveat is, I don't shoot +p's well in my 442.
...
But what I've come to the conclusion is that I think I'm just going to start carrying vanilla ole FMJ. All the time. ...
Now, the converse to all of this is I'm thinking about setting my wife up with my Detective Special and low recoiling rounds. Because I feel like it's better than a .22..... LOL. And even with wadcutters she didn't like the recoil.... Although she must just be better off with a .22.
Well, like some other folks have opined, I'd think you were over-thinking things a mite.
Not that it's wrong to give careful consideration to matters potentially involving the use of deadly force, mind you, but more that just focusing too much on the
gear might distract you from the really critical things. You know, things like a working lay person's awareness and knowledge of the applicable laws, your mindset, your health, your skillset background and practice regimen, etc.
Now, if it were any of the folks who I used to help train who came to me and brought this subject up, I'd be able to presume they'd already been exposed to, and learned, all of the relevant basics (since they were working cops). So, we'd get right to the gear and gear-user questions.
If they didn't shoot +P in their +P-rated Airweights, why not? Was it something we could correct with some remedial and/or extra training? We they interested in putting in the extra work to learn to better control their Airweight using +P?
If they weren't interested in extra work, then how might we make an adjustment to the gear, meaning the snub and the ammunition? Maybe a larger and/or softer set of grips? Changing to a standard pressure load?
If it was the increased recoil of the +P causing the problem, then what standard pressure load might offer
them the best compromise?
Personally, I'd suggest a standard pressure JHP over a solid, and unless policy mandated the use of a JHP over a non-JHP, I'd suggest a flat-nosed semiwadcutter or a RNL or jacketed ball, or even a target wadcutter over a RNL or jacketed ball. Why? Because the nose cavity
might create the potential for more effective wounding, even if it didn't expand, or at least the flat meplat (nose profile) of the semiwadcutter or target wadcutter might cut and crush more tissue.
Penetration? Coin toss whether some given amount will prove to be not enough or too much in any given set of circumstances. Misses, perforations (over-penetration) and even peripheral hits on anatomical areas (shallow and outside hits which result in wounding where the bullet punches through) are concerns, because those bullets are going to hit somewhere, or someone.
Obstructions caused by intervening limbs (like an arm)? I don't lose sleep worrying about those things. Neither do I lose sleep worrying about shooting at someone positioned at an angle, meaning having to make an oblique shot that has to defeat the greater distance and obstructing bones of the shoulder capsule, if someone is facing partially away from me.
I'm retired, so I'm no longer going to be putting myself into situations where I choose to invoke peace officer status and insert myself into someone's in-progress violent criminal attack against someone else. Maybe, like in an active shooter/terrorist event where I'm unwillingly caught up in the midst of it, but if that's the case I likely have bigger problems to overcome than worrying about a little more or less "penetration".
Anyway, some years ago I was speaking with a well known trainer who worked with LE. I won't name-drop here, but suffice to say that most gun enthusiasts who think about self defense and handgun ammunition would recognize the name.
So, he was asked by a large agency to participate in a pilot program where the agency was considering equipping its officers with 5-shot Airweight snubs for both on-duty secondary use ("backup), as well as off-duty use (since many cops don't want to carry a duty-size weapon on their own time). A representative group of people were used to test and assess guns and ammunition, and look at training methods that might be required.
He told me that one of the first things they'd observed was that even though there were some new JHP loads being offered specifically for use in short-barreled snubs, that the harsh recoil of the +P rounds was causing controllability and accuracy problems for most of the shooters. Hardly surprising, right?
The "solution" proposed was to adopt the use of the venerable target wadcutter. Granted, the already low velocity was reduced when fired from the sub-2" guns, but all of the shooters were able to make rapid and accurate hits suing that ammo. Ballistically, the WC target rounds were thought to offer plenty of usable penetration for the relatively close quarters defensive conditions anticipated as the likely role for the use of the little snub guns.
For personal reasons (distracted by a health issue of my own for more than a year), I lost touch with him after that, and never heard the eventual outcome and decision. Last time I spoke with him, he was of the strong opinion that good controllability and accuracy of the solid WC trumped the potential for expansion of one of the better JHP's that came at the cost of impaired controllability and reduced accuracy.
Now, while I don't mind using some +P loads in my all-steel and most of my Airweights (which are rated for +P), I have a pristine 37-2DAO Airweight that I don't want to abuse by using anything other than standard pressure loads. That being the case, I've typically used one or another 110gr JHP or a 125gr JHP, all of which are standard pressure and relatively mild shooting.
Last year I tried some of the Hornady FTX 110gr standard pressure loads. They felt even milder in recoil, and were nicely accurate in
my 37-2DAO, in
my hands. It became my standard load. Might expand, might not. Not a Round Nose or ball load, so it would seem to present a reduced risk of perforation of the threat. What's not to like? I ordered several boxes of it through a local store.
Now, if I couldn't get that load, I'd go back to the 110gr Hydra-Shok or STHP, or the American Gunner 125gr XTP. If they didn't expand, they might still do some cutting (nose cavity edges).
If I couldn't get those? I'd fall back on the old fashioned 158gr LSWC, or even the softer swaged lead Wadcutters (although I
really dislike cleaning lead out of cylinder charge holes).
The bottom line is it's
probably going to matter more
where I put those rounds ... and possibly how quickly and how many ... versus
what type of .38SPL bullets I put where.
To put it another way, one of routine drills is to practice to at least be able to shoot the old 5x5x5x5 drill, meaning shooting 2-handed and putting 5 rounds, in 5 seconds, into a 5" group from 5yds. I say
at least, because I've spent enough practice time so i can usually run that drill, cold, in 2-3 seconds.
I also tighten up the distance to 3 or 4 yds (I vary it) and run the drill shooting 1-handed, low/center index (modified "hip"/point), and try to keep the shots clustered into a group no larger than can be covered with my tightened fist, and do it in 2-3 seconds.
I'm more interested into being able to run the little snubs fast, controllably and accurately, then losing sleep about the specific ammo I might be carrying on any particular day. The ammo might have to vary, for one reason or another over time, but it's always going to be
me using the little guns.
I try to put my attention and emphasis where I think I can maintain some measure of control.
Just my thoughts, and I can't speak for anyone else.
Also, what your wife chooses for herself is something for her to decide, and hopefully her decision will be an informed one, based upon her perceived needs and abilities.
So, I'm off to the opening of my new, relocated and much larger private cigar club, and for the trip over the hill this afternoon I'm going to pocket(holster) one of my M&P 340's, which I think is presently loaded with Speer 135gr GDHP +P. The extra speedstrip I'll pocket with it is loaded with the Hornady CD 110gr FTX standard pressure load, though. YMMV.
As always ... TANSTAAFL.
