A number of years ago I inherited an early 90s Rossi M88 stainless snub nose 38 special. It honestly is a beautiful little revolver and once in a while I'll get the itch to carry it instead of my usual EDC (Glock 26). As this revolver is not specifically rated for +P ammo I've found difficulty in finding a standard pressure round that preforms consistently well from the very short barrel.
The other day, with a newly minted Cabela's gift card in hand, I wandered across an offering I'd never seen before - Winchester Kinetic HE 110 grain standard pressure 38 special. Though I'm normally not a big fan of light for caliber loads I figured I'd pick up a box and give it a try.
I fired 10 rounds of this standard pressure ammunition into calibrated organic ballistic gel and must say I was surprised and pleased with the results.
NOTE: I am certainly no ballistics expert, just a backyard hobbyist. I don't have the funds or facilities to follow the full FBI/IWBA protocol so here are the test criteria I used:
- 3.5 inch calibrated gel at a temperature of 39 degrees F.
- All shots fired from 8 feet
- Shots fired from Rossi M88 with 2 inch barrel
- Front of block covered with 4 layers of cotton T-shirt material
Results:
- 7 shots penetrated between 12 and 13.5 inches. All of these expanded nicely to about 1/2 inch diameter
- 1 shot penetrated to 11.5 inches and expanded to a little over 1/2 inch. I'd call this one good even though it technically was a little under the FBI 12 inch minimum.
- 1 shot penetrated to 10.5 inches and expanded to around .65 inches. This shot was short compared to FBI standards but I'm still thinking it would be pretty effective in an SD situation.
- 1 shot failed to expand and penetrated to 18 inches. Though this shot was a failure in terms of expansion it did still offer ample penetration without "overpenetrating" the block. Most tests I've seen where a hollow point fails to expand the bullet acts like a FMJ and sails right through the block. This one at least stayed within the FBI 12-18 inch penetration window and could have certainly been effective.
The following photo is one of the bullets I recovered and represents the expansion of these rounds.
10 shots is hardly a huge sample size but in my mind these results show this offering by Winchester to be a consistent and adequate standard pressure performer in a snub nose barrel. Recoil was very manageable and the rounds shot to point of aim in my revolver. Again, I am no ballistics expert so take my results for whatever they may be worth. As of this writing, I've been unable to find any other test data for this load online so I'm hoping to see others test this round soon to see if their results are comparable with mine. As for now, this will be my carry round of choice in my standard pressure snub nose 38.
The other day, with a newly minted Cabela's gift card in hand, I wandered across an offering I'd never seen before - Winchester Kinetic HE 110 grain standard pressure 38 special. Though I'm normally not a big fan of light for caliber loads I figured I'd pick up a box and give it a try.
I fired 10 rounds of this standard pressure ammunition into calibrated organic ballistic gel and must say I was surprised and pleased with the results.
NOTE: I am certainly no ballistics expert, just a backyard hobbyist. I don't have the funds or facilities to follow the full FBI/IWBA protocol so here are the test criteria I used:
- 3.5 inch calibrated gel at a temperature of 39 degrees F.
- All shots fired from 8 feet
- Shots fired from Rossi M88 with 2 inch barrel
- Front of block covered with 4 layers of cotton T-shirt material
Results:
- 7 shots penetrated between 12 and 13.5 inches. All of these expanded nicely to about 1/2 inch diameter
- 1 shot penetrated to 11.5 inches and expanded to a little over 1/2 inch. I'd call this one good even though it technically was a little under the FBI 12 inch minimum.
- 1 shot penetrated to 10.5 inches and expanded to around .65 inches. This shot was short compared to FBI standards but I'm still thinking it would be pretty effective in an SD situation.
- 1 shot failed to expand and penetrated to 18 inches. Though this shot was a failure in terms of expansion it did still offer ample penetration without "overpenetrating" the block. Most tests I've seen where a hollow point fails to expand the bullet acts like a FMJ and sails right through the block. This one at least stayed within the FBI 12-18 inch penetration window and could have certainly been effective.
The following photo is one of the bullets I recovered and represents the expansion of these rounds.
10 shots is hardly a huge sample size but in my mind these results show this offering by Winchester to be a consistent and adequate standard pressure performer in a snub nose barrel. Recoil was very manageable and the rounds shot to point of aim in my revolver. Again, I am no ballistics expert so take my results for whatever they may be worth. As of this writing, I've been unable to find any other test data for this load online so I'm hoping to see others test this round soon to see if their results are comparable with mine. As for now, this will be my carry round of choice in my standard pressure snub nose 38.
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