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Old July 5, 2012, 02:09 PM   #109
Webleymkv
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Join Date: July 20, 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 10,435
Quote:
But modern bullets like the Speer Gold Dot, Winchester PDX-1, And Hornady Critical Defense have made +P ammunition obsolete.
Of those bullets, only the Hornady Critical Defense is even available in a non-LEO loading in standard pressure. While Speer does make a 125gr standard pressure Gold Dot .38 Special loading, it's a LE-only loading that is rarely seen for sale to the general public even from vendors like SG Ammo and Ammunition to Go that regularly stock LE-only loadings. Also, Speer's 125gr Gold Dot .38 Special loading, in both +P and standard pressure form, is generally regarded as inferior to their 135gr Short Barrel Gold Dot loading which seems to expand much more reliably in four-layer denim tests particularly from short barrels. The 135gr loading is only available in +P.

The vast majority of standard pressure .38 Special hollowpoints available are of rather dated design such as Winchester Silvertip, Federal Hydra-Shok, Federal NyClad, or Remington Express SJHP. Most standard pressure .38 Special loadings use rather light bullets (110gr seems to be the most popular) in order to achieve high enough velocity to expand within the 17,000psi pressure limit of the cartridge. Unfortunately, a bullet this light that can expand reliably at what is still relatively low velocity usually penetrates rather poorly. The only non-boutique standard pressure .38 Special hollowpoint loadings with bullets heavier than 110gr that I am aware of are Federal 125gr NyClad and Hornady 125gr and 158gr XTP. The NyClad simply uses dead-soft lead which expands even at very low velocity (though penetration suffers just as with the 110gr loadings) while the XTP's don't expand reliably in the first place (the XTP is a rather tough bullet which really needs fairly high velocity to perform well).

The only non-boutique standard pressure .38 Special expanding-bullet loading that I consider adequate for self-defense is Hornady's 110gr Critical Defense. This loading, due to it's lesser, though consistent, expansion can usually manage 12" or at least reasonably close to it in 10% ballistic gelatin. That being said, unless the gun or shooter could not handle it, I think that a good +P loading such as Speer 135gr Short Barrel Gold Dot or Remington 158gr LSWCHP are better choices still.
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