As any fule kno, I am not a huge fan of .357 Mag ammo unless fired from a rifle like the Marlin 1894:
…or at least via a revolver with a 6″ barrel, such as the Python or S&W 686:
(Of the now-discontinued Ruger GP100, we will not speak.)
With any of the above, though, the .357 Mag is wonderful and I would certainly trust it with my life.
However, I don’t have a 6″ .357 revolver, only a S&W Model 65 with its 4-incher:
…and the .357 doth beat up my wrists most foully. (As any woman of experience will tell you, an extra two inches in the tube makes things so much better.)
Anyway, this is a long and roundabout way of telling you that all my .357 ammo lies inside Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere, to be unpacked when or if I ever get a suitable means of less-painful delivery thereof.
So today we’re talking about the .357 Mag’s smaller sibling, the .38 Special which, as any fule kno, can be chambered with confidence in any .357 Mag revolver (but not, of course, vice versa)
Now I’ve always regarded the venerable .38 Spec as a decent, perhaps even marginal self-defense load; but with the advent of proper self-defense cartridges such as Hornady’s Critical Defense, these reservations have mostly disappeared. Indeed, all my .38 revolvers are loaded with said ammo, and I don’t feel at all undergunned on the few occasions I take them out for some fresh air, in place of the 1911. I have no actual reason for doing this, unless it’s because the “1911 pants” (i.e. those with 1911 holsters strapped to them) are in the laundry basket and I’m left with the “revolver pants”.
Okay, so if I’m “stuck” with .38 Specials, then which ones should I keep in stock? On the basis of “more is better”, would the .38 Spec +P be even better than “ordinary” .38 Spec? And is there any serious difference in recoil between the .38 Spec and the +P anyway, given that I’ve become a total recoil wussy in my old age?
This, of course, calls nay shouts out for a range trip, so off I went to Texas Legends, using my S&W Model 65 (“bedside”) as the delivery device. The ammo I took was this selection:
Hornady Critical Defense .38 Special 110gr Flex Tip, which lives in all my revolvers, whether .357 Mag or .38 Spec, bedside, carry or fun guns.
Then some +P:
…and lastly, some budget FMJ, just for kicks (so to speak):
And for those who weren’t paying attention, the specs for each:
110gr Flex-Tip (i.e. hollowpoints)
125gr JHP
130gr FMJ
Now one would think that the difference in bullet weights as well as the added +P charge would make a difference in felt recoil between the different cartridges, but let me tell you: it didn’t. All the ammo felt exactly the same, as I discovered when I loaded two of each into the cylinder.
So all that taken care of, I settled down for a little practice with each, doing single-action “aimed rapid” (one or two seconds between trigger pulls, each shot under a cocked hammer). Then for the hell of it, I loaded up two cylinders each of the Win +P and Herter FMJ, and went for “double-action rapid”, as fast as I could reacquire the target and squeeze the trigger. Here are the results, all at 20 feet (7 yards).
Next time, I’ll do the same test with the old 6″-barreled S&W, just for the hell of it.
Let’s see if I can’t tighten up the groups a little…