Crazy new .38 Special ammo!

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Yeah, I saw these a week or two ago.

Interesting - but I'd have to mark the cases. I wouldn't shoot these in my .38 snub, it would be too hard on it IMO. SP-101 or the levergun only.


To avoid any chance of mistakenly shooting it in a gun that couldn't handle it, I'll probably pass. Good that they're around, though; always good to have another option.
 
I wouldn't feed a gun a steady diet of them, but they look ok for a couple of shots and a chamber full during a walk in the woods.
 
If their numbers are correct then I wouldn't use them... but I may be overly careful.

Also... Is Buffalo Bore the brand that advertises "overly optimistic" specs for their ammo or is that another brand?
 
From reviews bbore seems pretty close (they list speeds tested in specific guns/barrel lengths).
 
There is no free lunch, Physics is pretty consistant. actual numbers from BB website for the guns listed, 158 gr lead hardcast bullet.

1112 fps -- Ruger SP 101, 3 inch barrel, 38 SPL
•1043 fps -- S&W Mod 66, 2.5 inch barrel, 357 mag.
• 989 fps -- S&W Mod 340PD, 1 & 7/8 inch barrel, 357 mag.
•1027 fps -- S&W Mod 642 (pre dash), 1 & 7/8 inch barrel, 38 SPL

For sure these will be hard on a 642 and the velocity is 1000 fps out of that 1 7/8" barrel.

Quote:
"In the super lightweight alloy revolvers (around 11-12 oz.) the bullet will not jump crimp under recoil provided you do not subject an unfired round to more than 5 or 6 firings."
 
As cool as this is, I can't really think of a use for it. What would it be good for?
 
Mike it's Doubletap that's got the worst reputation for not quite making what they said they would.

Buffalo Bore has had a good reputation as an expensive, outdoors-oriented hot ammunition maker.
 
jon86 said:
As cool as this is, I can't really think of a use for it. What would it be good for?
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It'd be nice for a lever gun or some other hunting carbine.
It being a +P load, it offers similar deep penetration without having the recoil of a .357 magnum.
Plus, if all I had was a +P rated snub nose (for CCW) I'd probably load these going into the woods..beats buying a new gun just for woods walks.
 
My S&W Model 10-7 that I purchased new in 1979 came with a brochure for ammo marketed under the S&W name (I suspect manufactured by Fiocchi). There was a load using a 125 JHP at a claimed 1300 FPS. A 158 was also listed. I don't recall the velocity but it was very high compared to today's standards.

So much for the myth of the 125@925 +P being a hot load.

OK, I clicked the link and that is a 158 at 1255. That is a very stout load.
 
While propellants have advanced just a little in the last few years; allowing maybe 10% higher velocities without boosting pressures from those that produced similar results, the real increase comes from the slippery lead boolits! For years we got higher than jacketed velocities out of our cast boolits, especially those designed with short to moderate bearing surface. In the later 80s when I first had a chronograph, I would find my 158 grain lead boolit .38 special loads with full charges of 2400 powder were giving me 1100fps in 4" barrels and mid 900s fps in 2" barrel. A "tamped" load of 2400 in a a .357 Magnum with a 158 grain gaschecked boolit would go 1450fps in a 5" model 27 and the cases would NOT be sticky.
The "trick" is the shorter CAST boolit bearing surface with its slippery properties and the slow burning powder. 2400 actually was messy with unburned powder being ejected and I am sure there have been improvements on that. I also KNOW Lil Gun powder, tho not with out some draw backs of its own, gives higher velocities with lower pressures than 2400, for instance!
 
I carry an alloy .38 snubby. I wouldn't carry THOSE in it. I would only shoot those rounds in, well, perhaps my model 10. It's a steel K frame gun that could maybe handle it. BUT, I don't think I'd burn much through even my K frame, don't wanna loosen it up prematurely. It's a great shootin' old gun with normal .38s and I wanna keep it that way.

I'd like to see someone with an Ohler and strain gauge test this stuff. I bet it's over SAAMI +P. I cannot say for sure, of course, but normally you don't get something for nothing.

I was always of the opinion that if you wanted a .357, buy one. Don't try to make one out of a .38. JMHO, though. I have 3 .357s and 3 .38s. I'll feed 'em just as I have been. They've all held up well.
 
I was always of the opinion that if you wanted a .357, buy one. Don't try to make one out of a .38. JMHO, though. I have 3 .357s and 3 .38s. I'll feed 'em just as I have been. They've all held up well.
__________________
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My thoughts also want a bigger boom buy a bigger gun, it's like trying
to turn a Smart Car into a race car,why. :D
 
^^^ Ooooh... now that would be kewl. A Smart Car with a V8 transplant!! Heck, let's go with a nitro-methane guzzling big block. Can anyone say, "twisted metal"? :D
 
Wow, I'm flashing back. It's either my 1970's copy of Cooper on Handguns, or some of Cooper's other stuff I read in the mid 70's, that listed a heavy .38 Special load (Red Dot, I think) that jolted a 158 gr. SWC up to 1,000 fps in a 2" barrel. At the time, the good Colonel felt that was the best you could do with the .38 Special. Sounds like maybe Buffalo Bore thinks he wasn't so far off. ;)
 
We tested BB's .38+P several years ago.

4" s & w 158 lead hp 1190 fps
125 jhp 1287 fps

1 7/8" j frame 158 lead hp 1006 fps
125 jhp 1091 fps
 
BB's market niche is HOT loads, always was
sounds keen, targeted market niche for those who think they want/need it

I want to shoot "357s" out of a revolver, snubbie or otherwise
throwing them out of a 357 gun works for me
if you enjoy pain, get a 357 airweight snubbie, enjoy

PS
for all the 'keen factor", might not be a real bad notion to pay attention to the bullet jump advice limits/caveats in liteweights, right there in their own advert
apparently, you can only have just so much fun

sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you
 
Boolit usually refers to a cast lead bullet.
Click to expand...

I think I'll just stick with cast BULLET. :rolleyes: I don't like "SHOTTY", either, it's a SHOTGUN.:banghead: Some things just annoy me, sorry.

One thing about Buffalo Bore, and the reason I've never shot any, can be viewed on their site....PRICE. Handloads work for me, have for a long, long time. This sort of .38 performance is beyond any published handloads I've got in my manuals, though. I can duplicate BBs 180 .357 magnum, their heavy .45 Colt +P loads, they're on the ragged edge of acceptable, but this one I'll not even try.
 
The only Buffalo Bore ammo I've used was some 9mm 124grn+P+ and all I can say about it is the accuracy is non-existant. every shot was a wild-flier. Sorry for that being not quite what was asked about, but I wouldn't buy anything else from them.
 
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