Gordon
Member
Identical 1955 nickle plated J frame 2" guns, one .38 S&W (Terrier) and one .38 spl (Chief's Special) ran a cylinder full of Winchester .38 S&W 145 grain lead loads from the early 90s and got 590 FPS with very low variance; 9 fps difference between hi and low ! Very mellow low recoil load with a medium sized POP. Fiocchi 145 FMJ got up to 630 FPS with a sharper crack but still didn't hurt my unprotected old ears, , but had 27 fps variance . This load penetrated 6" of red wood the other only about 4" but flattened out a bit.
The .38 Spl. Chief I only fired Rem LRN non Plus p 158 grain loads from maybe 10 years ago just to see the difference. These loads were quite a bit louder and had some snap to the recoil, I put on the muffs after the first shot. They averaged 724 FPS with 21 fps variance and penetrated 6" of redwood with flattening.
Either load would put the hurt on you, but the .38 S&W sure is sweet. I am gonna make up some 148 grain hollowbase wadcutters to upset in the bigger bore over a few grains of Bullseye to get the old S&W into the low 600s for fun and a woman's defense weapon. I can't see increasing the weight to 200 grains as the recoil would go up and the sight were right on at 50 feet with the factory 145 grain loads. The .38 special , I know what it is capable of and I carry a 442 a lot with 800 fps loads.
Many probably aren't interested in the good old .38 S&W but there it is.
The .38 Spl. Chief I only fired Rem LRN non Plus p 158 grain loads from maybe 10 years ago just to see the difference. These loads were quite a bit louder and had some snap to the recoil, I put on the muffs after the first shot. They averaged 724 FPS with 21 fps variance and penetrated 6" of redwood with flattening.
Either load would put the hurt on you, but the .38 S&W sure is sweet. I am gonna make up some 148 grain hollowbase wadcutters to upset in the bigger bore over a few grains of Bullseye to get the old S&W into the low 600s for fun and a woman's defense weapon. I can't see increasing the weight to 200 grains as the recoil would go up and the sight were right on at 50 feet with the factory 145 grain loads. The .38 special , I know what it is capable of and I carry a 442 a lot with 800 fps loads.
Many probably aren't interested in the good old .38 S&W but there it is.