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im buying lcr 38 spl, what carry ammo and speed loaders

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bullseyebob47

bullseyebob47

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do you use? i watched a lot of 38 snub ballistics gel videos. it seems even gold dot short barrel has trouble sometimes but still the best option. im really not sure what to carry.
 
You will get a lot of opinions on this topic as a lot of us carry 38 special guns. I think the GD are good rounds. I personally carry heavy bullets in my 38 as they shoot point of aim in my snubby and I like a slow moving bullet with some weight behind it for penetration. Expansion is just a bonus in my mind and penetration is critical, especially with the average size humans are becoming. I carry 150 grain Buffalo Bore hardcast wadcutters in the cylinder and 158 grain SJHP in a speed strip because they are easier to load than wadcutters. Try a bunch and you will settle on what works for you and what you become confident carrying. Speedloaders are just too bulky for EDC for me although I do carry them for my 357 in the backcountry when open carry is the method.
 
If you haven't purchased it yet. Go with the 357 model and shoot 38's. The extra weight is great for recoil. Sorry no help on the ammo.
 
As Crayfish noted, there are as many opinions on this as there are shooters. Here's mine.

Try a bunch of different loads and find the balance between what you feel comfortable shooting and what the gun shoots well.

For me, it's +P hand loads with 125gr JHP and two 5-round strips for my 637 Airweight.
 
Hornady Critical Defense 38 +P rounds have eclipsed everything on the market with the possible exception of the Barnes X bullet. Can't say as to the specialty loaders like Buffalo Bore, etc.
 
The only 38+P Ammo that I have herd Street Results from Police Departments Resently, is Speer Gold Dot 135gr. NYPD says it works well in their off duty and back up guns. That's what I go with. No jellow, no water, no wet newspaper test. Tested on the Street.
 
Haywood said:
The only 38+P Ammo that I have herd Street Results from Police Departments Resently, is Speer Gold Dot 135gr. NYPD says it works well in their off duty and back up guns. That's what I go with. No jellow, no water, no wet newspaper test. Tested on the Street.
Click to expand...
Same here. 135gr Gold Dot's.

One of these days I'd like to get my hands on Corbon DPX 110. It's not easy to find however.
 
Shooting The Bull Ammo Quest testing and videos are professionally done.

As commented Hornady Critical Defense is at the top. It has expanded 100% of the time in my backyard tests shooting through four layers of demin, four layers of cotton shirt into a barrel of water from my 2" snubbie. It is my everyday carry round.

However Remington 125 gr. Golden Saber non-bonded bullet performs very well in testing. Although it occasionally sheds it jacket it meets FBI standards. The best thing is it is much cheaper than Critical Defense. I brought a bunch when it was on sale and if it performs well in my backyard demin, cotton shirt, water barrel tests I am going to switch to it for my edc snubbie.

SG Ammo;

25 round box - 38 Special +P Remington Golden Saber 125 grain BJHP Brass Jacketed Hollow Point Ammo GS38SB - $11.95 ea. /$10.95 if 20 boxes or more.

This is cheap enough that you can afford to shoot it regularly for practice.

http://www.sgammo.com/product/38-sp...golden-saber-125-grain-bjhp-brass-jacketed-ho
 
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135 gr. Gold dot Short barrel +P, and FEAR NOT!

Some of the YouTube tests are professional, and in the ones I've watched, that load comes out very well, and as a plus, street reports are extremely positive.

OTOH, pick a premium load from any major manufacturer. They are all good; much better than what they had in the stone ages, when Super Vel was the only game in town!
 
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I actually have and carry an LCR and have tested a number of factory loads.

The two best in my testing are the Speer 135 +P Gold Dot, and the Rem. 125 +P Golden Saber.

Of the two I prefer the Golden Saber. Slightly less recoil. Slightly better accuracy. They both do well in gel tests I've seen.
 
i think like that sort of. for me 16 inches are minimum in gel. im not too big on the 12" and 13" in gold dot and saber. but someone says new york cops drop em with the gold dots, where could i read about this?
 
I don't remember wear I read about the Speer Gold Dot 135gr. 38+P. It was back when Speer first introduced it. NYPD requested they come up with somthing comparable to the 158gr. LHP. They also wanted somthing as close to their 124gr. Gold Dot 9mm. Duty Round. Massad Ayoob also recommends this round.
 
I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I carry speed strips loaded with 5 rounds for reloads. Very thin and goes in any pocket. Speed loaders are too bulky for me.
 
I suggest critical defense and bianchi speed strips. I pocket carry, and I carry the speed strips in a cell phone pouch on my side.
 
I am very confident carrying standard velocity WC or SWC in my S&W Model 36 and .357 LCR. I'm a believer in the "cookie cutter" concept and don't like to worry my remaining, aging brain cell about non-expansion nor under penetration, nor how many layers of clothing I'm needing to penetrate. Plus, I get to inexpensively practice with what I carry. 150gr WC and 158gr SWC always gives me point of aim impact.
 
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I/we now use standard pressure 158gr lswc hp in each of our Ruger lcr .38 specials. I preferred shooting them to the Golden Saber 125gr +p, which were snappy and had a lot of flash, but felt they would still be a good choice. We just decided to go with the easier shooting low tech, heavy slug.

I waffle on the 150gr hardcast wadcutters. The Underwood Ammo variety sent so much soot and black smoke into the air that it made me laugh out loud on the range.
 
I use std velocity wadcutters or semiwadcutters and HKS speedloaders. The Safariland speedloaders are also good. I'm not a fan of the speed strip in the pocket as a few rounds will fall off and wind up rolling around in the pocket.
 
Any opinion's on Liberty Ammo
Click to expand...

The Liberty ammo fragments with most of the petals / fragments stopping short of 5 inches. The remaining base tumbles and usually stops short of 12 inches.

I agree with Crayfish: "Expansion is just a bonus in my mind and penetration is critical" and if the projectile is not going past 12 inches, it is a no-go.
 
Crystal River Charlie said:
Hornady Critical Defense 38 +P
Click to expand...


That is what I carried in my 642-1. In HKS speedloaders. Just worked and were cheap enough to get a crap load.

I'm actually converting my 642-1 over to 9mm via a conversion cylinder. My new carry load will likely be Hornady 147 grain XTP. Being 9mm doesn't have a rim, I'll be moving to moon clips (S&W ones). From my limited experience with them (fired 50 rounds before the gunsmith starts fitting the cylinder with its own ejector rod, then loaded/unloaded them with my BMT loader), I cannot recommend moon clips enough. Cuts down on length, even more so with 9mm, and makes it easier to reload. Wish I cut my .38 cylinder for them before I had it refinished in NP3 Plus.
 
I'd bet moon clips would the best thing for fast reloads. I haven't had any luck with any speed loaders for any small frame snubbies. Always an interference with the grip and the speed loader, because the crane is so short on these guns and swing out is minimal.

So speed strips is what I use. I might as Ayoob suggested only reload 4 instead of taking the time to load a 5th because 1/3 more time = 1/5 more ammo. This is because you typically reload 2 at a time twice then one more takes as much more time as reloading two, so skip it.
 
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