38 Special Hornady 158 gr XTP
- Thread starter JackAsinus
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The videos are true. Waste of $$ as a defensive snubbie load.
OP
JackAsinus
I'm a jack ass.
Thanks for the insight guys. I appreciate the information.
Take a look at Winchester 'Silver Tip' standard pressure loads. These performed well in my crude tests and were very controllable in my 3" SP101 38Sp.
GasGuzzler
Hunter
Why would anyone use an expensive aftermarket bullet for .38 Special? 160 grain lead RNFP is 1/10th the price and more effective from a fairly low power cartridge. I might have some of those XTP's but I bought them for .357 if I do.
So they don't get sued by the bad guy for lead poisoning?
Lt92
Single-Sixer
Nope .. expensive hardball IMO....better with 148gr wad cutters
Best expanding 38SP I've seen was a swaged150-158 GRAIN hp. Doesn't require full power or +P loading and produced tennis/baseball ball sized permanent cavities in wet newsprint media. A real attention getter.
magnum0710
Single-Sixer
In my experience none of the XTP bullets expand at 38 velocities even loaded to +p levels. If you're a hand loader you might be able to get somewhere with the 110 grain XTP with a max +p load of Power Pistol. From what I've seen the XTPs are really designed more for 357 magnum.
There are a few 38 loads I'd reccomend, I'll start by saying I put penetration above expansion. Expansion does no good if the bullet won't go deep enough to hit something vital. For standard pressure 38 I'd go with a solid bullet, I like the SWC myself but a lot of guys like full wadcutters. For +p loads I like the Federal version of the FBI load, the Remington version is very good too but I prefer the Federal myself. The Winchester 125 grain SJHP is another favorite, Remingtons version is good too but again the Remington would be my second pick. The 125 grain Remington Golden Saber is a very good but I prefer a little more penetration myself, same with the Gold Dot Short Barrel. Both are very good loads but they're not my first picks, I just prefer to be closer to the 18 inch maximum rather than the 12 inch minimum. The Federal FBI load and the Winchester 125 SJHP are my 2 top choices.
There are a few 38 loads I'd reccomend, I'll start by saying I put penetration above expansion. Expansion does no good if the bullet won't go deep enough to hit something vital. For standard pressure 38 I'd go with a solid bullet, I like the SWC myself but a lot of guys like full wadcutters. For +p loads I like the Federal version of the FBI load, the Remington version is very good too but I prefer the Federal myself. The Winchester 125 grain SJHP is another favorite, Remingtons version is good too but again the Remington would be my second pick. The 125 grain Remington Golden Saber is a very good but I prefer a little more penetration myself, same with the Gold Dot Short Barrel. Both are very good loads but they're not my first picks, I just prefer to be closer to the 18 inch maximum rather than the 12 inch minimum. The Federal FBI load and the Winchester 125 SJHP are my 2 top choices.
I'm not going to start an argument about penetration vs expansion but another extremely good option for 38 Sp is the 125 grain Win Silvertip HP. Not a +P load so safe for most any revolver. I went down this path because we have a S&W 14 and I didn't want to beat it up. Definitely not under gunned with the W-W Silvertips in a 4" barrel.
GasGuzzler
Hunter
Right ... at the end of the day it's just a .38 Special and should not be asked to do .357 tasks.
