For those of you with 38's and the S&W 642 in particular...What hollowpoints or whatever do you find work best for concealed carry/defensive purposes? I have a 642 in layaway at a local fun shop and am trying to plan for when I'm able to bring it home. Thanks.
Best 38 HP's??
- Thread starter OlBoyFrye
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From their website;
38 Special +P Gold Dot® Ammunition
For 2004, Speer® introduces a new +P loading with a heavier bullet for better performance. The new load carries a newly-designed 135 grain Gold Dot hollow point built for 38 Special velocities. It features a broad, deep cavity and has true bonded-core construction, patented* two-step cavity formation that establishes expansion parameters for both core and jacket, which has made Gold Dot the fastest-growing handgun bullet for “missioncritical†work.
FEATURES & BENEFITS
• Velocity of 975 ft/sec from a 4" vented test barrel
— Insures sufficient velocity for optimum terminal performance, even in 2" barrels
• Uni-Cor® technology
— True bonded-core technology virtually eliminates core-jacket separations
• Special cavity design
— Give full expansion at 38 Special velocities
• Nickel-plated brass case
— Armored for real-world environmental conditions
• CCI® primers
— Non-corrosive and non-mercuric
— Sure-fire ignition under tough conditions
PART NO. DESCRIPTION
23921 38 Special +P 135 Gr. Gold Dot Hollow Point - 20 per box; 500 per case
38 Special +P Gold Dot® Ammunition
For 2004, Speer® introduces a new +P loading with a heavier bullet for better performance. The new load carries a newly-designed 135 grain Gold Dot hollow point built for 38 Special velocities. It features a broad, deep cavity and has true bonded-core construction, patented* two-step cavity formation that establishes expansion parameters for both core and jacket, which has made Gold Dot the fastest-growing handgun bullet for “missioncritical†work.
FEATURES & BENEFITS
• Velocity of 975 ft/sec from a 4" vented test barrel
— Insures sufficient velocity for optimum terminal performance, even in 2" barrels
• Uni-Cor® technology
— True bonded-core technology virtually eliminates core-jacket separations
• Special cavity design
— Give full expansion at 38 Special velocities
• Nickel-plated brass case
— Armored for real-world environmental conditions
• CCI® primers
— Non-corrosive and non-mercuric
— Sure-fire ignition under tough conditions
PART NO. DESCRIPTION
23921 38 Special +P 135 Gr. Gold Dot Hollow Point - 20 per box; 500 per case
tbeb
Member
The new Speer 135 gr. load mentioned above will probably be a good one. For now I'm going to stick with a +P 158 gr. lead hollowpoint by Federal or Remington or Winchester. If you want a little less recoil then I'd use the +P Speer Gold Dot or Remington Golden Sabre 125 gr. JHP.
QuarterBoreGunner
Member
What tbeb said; until the newer loads like the new Gold Dot get a little street cred, I'm sticking with my old school 'Metro Load' 158grn LSWCHP +Ps. They beat my hand up pretty good in my Smith 637 Airweight, but it's an "OH **IT" gun, not one that I shoot for fun too often.
Al Thompson
Moderator Emeritus
Huge Gold Dot fan here, but in .38 I agree that until we get some street results with the 135s, I'm sticking with the 158 LSWCHP +P's. 
Jim March
Member
There's three current 38+P hollowpoints I trust from a snubbie:
1) Winchester 130grain "Supreme" 38+P - has a HUGE hollowpoint cavity. I have five of these in a speedloader, because the LSWC-HPs are a bit screwy in that area when you're moving fast.
2) Plain lead 158grain hollowpoints - the aforementioned LSWC-HP+P. "Old faithful". Not high tech, but work. Old out-of-production Cor-Bon are supposedly the hottest, followed by Remington, followed just a hair behind per most tests by Winchester. I have some Winnies around right now in my snub, as they're the easiest to find.
3) The Speer Gold Dot 125grain +P as loaded by Speer, Georgia Arms, Proload, Black Hills, probably others.
Speer is about to ship that new 135 that was apparantly designed to beat the Winchester 130 Supreme. I'll be very interested in seeing some lab tests, and they have the on-paper potential to dominate.
1) Winchester 130grain "Supreme" 38+P - has a HUGE hollowpoint cavity. I have five of these in a speedloader, because the LSWC-HPs are a bit screwy in that area when you're moving fast.
2) Plain lead 158grain hollowpoints - the aforementioned LSWC-HP+P. "Old faithful". Not high tech, but work. Old out-of-production Cor-Bon are supposedly the hottest, followed by Remington, followed just a hair behind per most tests by Winchester. I have some Winnies around right now in my snub, as they're the easiest to find.
3) The Speer Gold Dot 125grain +P as loaded by Speer, Georgia Arms, Proload, Black Hills, probably others.
Speer is about to ship that new 135 that was apparantly designed to beat the Winchester 130 Supreme. I'll be very interested in seeing some lab tests, and they have the on-paper potential to dominate.
Mannlicher
Member
if you handload, the old Speer 146 grain SWHP is still darn hard to beat.
Jim March
Member
Well...yes and no.
That 146 is jacketed where the bullet rubs against the barrel on it's way out, but exposed lead past that. The good news is that at speeds above 1,000fps, there's no barrel leading.
The bad news is twofold: first, lead being slicker than copper, the 146 will tend to move about as fast for the same pressure as a 158 plain lead.
Second, I'd think it needs just a BIT more speed than the 158 to fully expand (to get the jacketed area to stretch out), although I doubt the difference is significant. The 158 plain lead is effective at around 850fps and generally gets there even out of a 2" barrel in factory loads, unless it's a wimpy Federal
. You could drive the 146 at that speed but...why? You're down a bit on peak energy due to the bullet weight difference and plain lead won't gunk up the barrel very badly below 900 - 1,000fps.
If you have a very strong 38Spl gun or a 357, then you're in good shape - get the 146 cookin' along at about 1,050 - 1,150fps and yes, works great. Neatly bridges the gap between full-on 357 and 38+P.
But you're over SAAMI spec for 38+P at that point, and if the gun isn't a really beefy critter, you better understand your pressure curves with your powder type REAL well or you'll spike into the red. UNLESS you've got a 38Spl gun with a 6" barrel and get your speed that way - I'm thinking mainly of those folks with 2" - 3" barrels and marginal rating for +P at best.
On the other hand, if you're going to run down below 950 - 1,000fps, you might as well just stay with the 158 lead classic.
Upshot: I see that 146 as the foundation for a nice "mellow but effective" 357 "lite", versus hotrodding the 38+P...at least for most applications. (It would ROCK as a 38Spl rifle load but how common are those?)
That 146 is jacketed where the bullet rubs against the barrel on it's way out, but exposed lead past that. The good news is that at speeds above 1,000fps, there's no barrel leading.
The bad news is twofold: first, lead being slicker than copper, the 146 will tend to move about as fast for the same pressure as a 158 plain lead.
Second, I'd think it needs just a BIT more speed than the 158 to fully expand (to get the jacketed area to stretch out), although I doubt the difference is significant. The 158 plain lead is effective at around 850fps and generally gets there even out of a 2" barrel in factory loads, unless it's a wimpy Federal
. You could drive the 146 at that speed but...why? You're down a bit on peak energy due to the bullet weight difference and plain lead won't gunk up the barrel very badly below 900 - 1,000fps.If you have a very strong 38Spl gun or a 357, then you're in good shape - get the 146 cookin' along at about 1,050 - 1,150fps and yes, works great. Neatly bridges the gap between full-on 357 and 38+P.
But you're over SAAMI spec for 38+P at that point, and if the gun isn't a really beefy critter, you better understand your pressure curves with your powder type REAL well or you'll spike into the red. UNLESS you've got a 38Spl gun with a 6" barrel and get your speed that way - I'm thinking mainly of those folks with 2" - 3" barrels and marginal rating for +P at best.
On the other hand, if you're going to run down below 950 - 1,000fps, you might as well just stay with the 158 lead classic.
Upshot: I see that 146 as the foundation for a nice "mellow but effective" 357 "lite", versus hotrodding the 38+P...at least for most applications. (It would ROCK as a 38Spl rifle load but how common are those?)
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