The .38 Special that I have is most likely to be used against someone invading my home so it is loaded with Glaser safety slugs. The Safety Slugs are designed to cause large, shallow, incapacitating wounds that are unlikely to be fatal so the criminal gets to face justice (and I avoid a wrongful death civil suit from the thug's family) and virtually no chance of the round penetrating the wall and killing a family member if I miss.
Once those are expended, I fall back to a 158 grain jacketed hollow point on top of 4.0 grains of Bullseye. I know Bullseye is now hard to find, but these were loaded in 1993. Hi-Skor 700-X and Titegroup have similar burn rates, are more readily available and load data is widely published.
Please note that some manuals (i.e. Hornady 4th Edition, Hercules 1992 guide) classify 4.0 grains of Bullseye as a +P load while others (i.e. Sierra 11th Edition, Data included with Lee dies) do not. As always, consult published data and work up loads from starting load figures (or if starting loads are not given, reduce the shown charge by 10%) checking for pressure signs on each test firing.
I find loading .38 Special particularly unnerving because the powder charges are so small that there is a real possibility of a double (or even triple) charge and a double charge might not be picked up by visual inspection prior to bullet seating or check-weighing after loading. My reloading checklist has a special section for .38 Special that includes a second visual inspection from a different angle and random check-weighing of the powder charge before seating bullets to minimize the possibility of a double charge.