Federal 38SPL 158 GR. LRN

[REP]

I shoot about 6 to 7 times a month and quite offten because of weather or time of day I end up at a local indoor range. The indoor range that I shoot at requires brass factory ammo be used but does not require it to be purchased from the range. My ammo for choice in both my 38's and 357's has become the Federal 38SPL 158 GR. LRN. This ammo I can usally find rather cheap and buy it at 20 boxes at a time. The surprising fact is this ammo is some of the most accurate centerfire I have ever shot. I have never done better with any handloads lead or jacketed. Just thought I would put this out there for the guys who shoot factory loads and do alot of plinking. It's a great small game load too, works great on large snowshoe hares.

 

[bananaman]

Rep, I have used these in the past, but the lot that mine came from shot very dirty. ( thought I was shooting black powder, smoke cloud ) Outside shooting range. Shot well though. Now I load all of my .38's. I can load under $6.00 box. Accurate & clean! Bob

 

[chief38]

REP,
If you have read any of my posts on this you will see that I have been touting the 158 grain RNL bullet as the most accurate for a long time now. I believe the reasons for this are:

1) the 38 spl. revolvers were built around this bullet configuration & weight.
2) the shape of the bullet allows it to "fall" into the chambers without any distortion or scraping of lead
3) When the bullet leaves the chamber and enters the forcing cone, it does so without being shaven like some of the wad cutters, semi wad cutters, etc. which makes the bullet a little more accurate.
4) because of this shape bullet, there is little to no leading which can throw the POI off a bit.

The 158 grain RNL is my go-to target shooting round. About the only thing it does not do is make nicely cut holes, but I can certainly live with that!

Chief38

 

[Larry from Bend]

Good to hear about the Federal accuracy --- I always seem to have pretty good results with Federal products.

 

[roaddog28]

My model 10 4 inch and M&P 4 inch is more accurate with the Federal 158 gr LRN then any ammo I have ever used in these two revolvers. I have to agree the S&W 38 specials were made around this type of ammo.
Howard

 

[photoman]

I'm surprised your indoor range will let you shoot lead bullets. Most are moving toward prohibiting them due to EPA and/or OSHA regulations.