Rate the 158gr LRN as a general purpose load

[goon]

goon,that 230gr FMJ would have passed completely through that washing machine. A .45acp FMJ does NOT equal a 158gr LRN .38sp. not even close. Thought fully digested. 20ga sheet metal is easily perforated by .22lr at the same range. I shot the same washing machine at the same distance with .30cal.U.S.carbine 115gr SP. The little .30cal passed through the entire machine(cabinet and tub).

But a .30 Carbine round would probably also shoot through a bulletproof vest...
Granted, I've seen a .22 LR shoot through car doors without problems. It doesn't speak well for a .38 round to have bounced off something that thin.
At the same time, I still have an old electric skillet lying around somewhere with a 230 grain FMJ shaped dent in it - at least if someone else in the famly hasn't picked it up and shot it to peices with something else by now.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

A bulletproof vest? I don't think so. At least not a new one.

 

[MCgunner]

Not sure why a Rossi is considered so fragile. They're strong guns and don't need to be fed powder puff loads. Though the all steel M88 was never rated for +P, I fired a LOT of 5.0 Unique/158SWC loads in it (pretty hot) and it never whimpered, was tight when I sold it.

Wadcutters don't just cut a nicer hole in paper, they're generally more accurate. For me, though, the bet general purpose load is a 158 SWC. It can kill with it's flat nose profile pretty well, yet is accurate, easy to cast, cuts a nice hole in paper, great practice, what's not to like about it? In front of 5 grains of Unique, it's probably BARELY into +P, barely over standard SAAMI pressure and seems to be quite accurate in all my .38/.357 handguns.

I've never been in love with round nose bullets in revolvers. Effectiveness in tissue is sad and they can be pretty inaccurate depending on the shape. My theory is that if it's a long tapered round nose, not a lot of bullet is engaging the rifling and the bullet can rock in the bore which is not good. Long, flat sides with a blunt round nose seems to work better, but there is no reason on a revolver that doesn't have to worry about a round going afoul of feed ramps, to have a round nose IMHO. Make mine SWC, thank you very much.

 

[MCgunner]

BTW, one very light load I shoot is lighter than light. I developed it to mimic .22LR in my 20" Rossi carbine. It fires a Lee 105SWC at 900 fps out of the rifle powered by 2.3 grains bullseye. I think that's about as light as .38s get, LOL. I have fired it from revolvers, hits way low, but is very accurate. It's really for my rifle, though, to give me small game versatility from the gun and that gun shoots it into 1.5" at 50 yards, good enough for squirrel hunting.

But a .30 Carbine round would probably also shoot through a bulletproof vest...
Granted, I've seen a .22 LR shoot through car doors without problems. It doesn't speak well for a .38 round to have bounced off something that thin.
At the same time, I still have an old electric skillet lying around somewhere with a 230 grain FMJ shaped dent in it - at least if someone else in the famly hasn't picked it up and shot it to peices with something else by now.

As I recall, the car door and engine block thing was cussed and discussed back in the 20s and 30s when finally the .357 came out to "shoot through engine blocks". Well, cars back then were made out of REAL metal, not the beer can aluminum crap cars are made out of now. I hit a Datsun that pulled out in front of me once in my 64 Chevy pick up once. That was an armored car compared to what I drive today. I didn't even notice where the hit was on my fender, but that Datsun was trashed. LOL!

 

[armoredman]

Watch the old movie Deadly Weapons - they shoot an engine block with a 357 mag, bounces right off.

 

[hhb]

158 gr. lead

Our County Coroner says 158 grain lead works fine.