Softpoint .38 Special Ammo?

[ACP230]

I saw a deal on 158 grain softpoint .38 Specials a while back. They were Spanish and priced at $99 per thousand.
I had lots of car repair and computer bills to pay at the time, so dithered until the item was pulled from the ad.

I am not in great need of .38 ammo, but think I might have missed a deal.

Anyone used .38 Special softpoints? If so, how'd they do for you?

 

[dfariswheel]

Was the ammo a 1/2 jacket with a rounded or flat lead nose, and no hollow point?

If so, performance isn't really very good. The bullet doesn't expand very well at the velocities of the .38 Special.

The standard round nosed lead and these jacketed soft point bullets used to be notorious for failures to stop. They were know to police as "Widow Makers" for the numerous failures to stop felons.

The introduction of the modern hollow point bullets, especially in the +P loads replaced the older round nose and soft point ammo.

So, the Spanish ammo would be best used for practice, with some good modern defense ammo for actual carry.


Fortunately, one of the best .38 defense loads, the 158 grain lead, semi-wadcutter, hollow point +P, is also some of the cheapest .38 ammo.

 

[Jim March]

They'll work great for practice/target/plinking use. For defense? If you think those are gonna expand, think again .

 

[tech]

I bought 2k and love them. They shoot to the same poa of my .357 ammo so they are a cheap round to practice with. I have shot well over 400 without a problem. Another plus is they work well in my marlin lever action. You might call SOG the last time I ordered them they thought they were out and then found they were only out of the wooden crates they still had the battle packs for $100 per k shipped.

Mike