I still use it in medium steel frame .38s. Great load, shoots to POA in fixed sight guns, good energy and expands in barrel >2".
As has been noted, back in the day.... it was a popular police duty load for .38 Special revolvers, or for agencies that used .357 Magnums but required it be loaded with .38 Special. Rarely do you hear a bad word about the load, given the vagaries surrounding "stopping power' in the actual event.
That was the FBI duty load adopted somtime in the late 70s or early 80s. When I started in 1986, we were issued either Winchester or Federal 158 grain SWCHP +P. This was prior to organized terminal ballistic gelatin testing by the FBI. Subjectively I thought the Federal load recoiled less, but the Winchester was more accurate.
Once got ballistic testing got underway in earnest after the 1986 Miami shooting, it was found that the Federal load was not only rather inaccurate, but had the least expansion and terminal effect. The Winchester load was better, at 50-75 fps higher velocity, and the Remington version gave the best performance. Based on contracts and availability, all three brands were used.
Expansion in a 1.9" J frame barrel was non-existent with the Federal load, small with the Winchester, and moderate with the Remington. All three were hard kickers in a J frame, even steel frame. Moving up to a K-frame 3'' and especially 4" barrel helped matters considerably. I generally loaded the Winchester, until the Remington became available.
In my own later-day testing, the Remington load gets about 860 fps in my 2" Model 10, and about 930 fps in my 4" HB current production. Other guns shoot the same load somewhat slower, a not un-typical result with revolvers. It penetrates 13.-14.5" of clear ballistic gel, and expands to .600". Groups with these guns run under 4" @ 25 yards. What's not to like?
I also load my own version, using the excellent Rimrock Bullets 160 grain SWCHP gascheck. Member ArchangelCD - sadly recently departed - convinced to try HS-6 for this loading, and it is a humdinger! Gives great accuracy and velocity. However, current loading data for this propellant is beyond lame, and actually gives poor results. Using older data +P and a magnum primer, that load does 1060 fps out of the 4" gun and 995 fps out of the 2", both with excellent accuracy out to 50 yards. This load penetrates 14-16" and expands to .630". Suits me just fine.
The FBI later moved to a Federal .38 Special +P+ 147 grain JHP-HS load, but by that time the writing was on the wall for the revolver, and 9mm pistols were already being authorized and issued.
- and will chrono that to see how it runs. If it’s faster I’ll switch to it, if not I have 25 rounds left of the older stuff.
