If modern 38 “Short Colt” is loaded with .357/.358” bullets, all well and good, but it’s not 38 Short Colt anymore. The 38SC used a heeled bullet at .361, which should not be used in a revolver chambered for 38 Special.
.38 special loads that are so weak they will regularly stick bullets in a 4" barrel are still loud enough to make your ears ring without hearing protection.
Chased my tail on that one for a while before I gave up
Do you reload? If so, a lot of Bovine Persons are using 105-125 grain .38 bullets and the lightest powder charge that the shot timer will "hear."
Post 4 has one "recipe."
A couple of posse members here load a 125 gr cast bullet and 2.9 gr of Clays.
CAUTION: Use cast bullets for such light loads. It is quite possible to stick a jacketed bullet or just its jacket with these very light loads.
If not, see Post 6.
Also, Magtech has a very mild .38 Special Short. How that differs from .38 Short or Long Colt, I do not know.
https://magtechammunition.com/products/38-spl-short-125gr-lrn/
Especially out of a handgunBelieve it or not, even a .22 will damage your hearing over time if you don't use hearing protection.
I use this same exact load and cant imagine anything being must lighter than that or cheaper to load. I usually buy 2000 HBWC from Zero Bullets and load up 1000 and when almost gone load the other half. Not only light, I've found very few guns in my days that wouldn't shoot this load very accurately.First handloaded cartridge I made was a .38 Special 148 grain wadcutter over 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Made them for my Charter Arms Undercover. It was a nice round, pretty quiet, almost no felt recoil, and very accurate.
25 or so years ago, when they had regular gunshows in Grayslake, Illinois, I bought several boxes of 38 Special loaded with 100 grain wadcutters loaded to the same velocity as 32 S&W Long 100 grain wadcutters. This meant they had the same felt recoil as a 32 Long, which is to say practically none. They were also wonderfully accurate from an S&W Model 15. (I probably had to adjust for elevation, but the groups were very tight.)
When the seller stopped showing up at Grayslake, I looked elsewhere for them, but no one had heard of such a load. Later, when I got on the Internet, I rummaged around there, but I found nothing again. I may have even asked here.
I think the seller had some kind of gimmick, like using zinc in his bullet alloy to keep the weight down while retaining similar dimensions to a lead 148 grain wadcutter, but it has been far too long for me to remember with any reliability. They did no harm to the guns I used them in, anyway.
because of the barrel/cylinder gap.I suppose I could get some 38 Special Wadcutter rounds for the revolvers then. Thanks!
But not sure why the Perfecta 38 Special rounds sounded SO much louder than 9mm. :-/
They have 100grain wadcutters here, but you’ll have to hand load them.
http://www.mattsbullets.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65
Speer also makes primer powered plastic shells and bullets, bullets if not striking very hard surface bullets can be reused, powerful enough to kill a squirrel at 7 yds. I used them in an urban area for yrs and had a freezer full of collared doves and a few squirrels. Accurate out to 10 yds, great for paper punching in the garage!!Primed case with a wax bullet.