Ammo For Aluminum Snubby .38

T

Thirteenth Star

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I'm looking for appropriate ammo for an aluminum snub-nose .38, both target ammo and home-defense. Since this is an aluminum frame gun, namely a Colt Cobra, the +P ammo that people like to use in their steel snubbies isn't appropriate.

Any good suggestions?

I've found these two thus far:

1. Winchester Silvertip 110 grain JHP (X38S9HP)

2. Federal Low Recoil Personal Defense 110 grain Hydra-Shok JHP load (PD38HS3 H)

Comments on these or further suggestions? Thanks.
 
There are decent standard pressure loads.I don't know the specifics of those loads but Silvertips have been redesigned and perform much better now. As for the 'low recoil' loads , in 40S&W the low recoil loads don't perform well in tests despite the fact that all other 40 loads work very well [there is no such thing as a +P 40 load].
 
Thirteenth Star said:
I'm looking for appropriate ammo for an aluminum snub-nose .38, both target ammo and home-defense. Since this is an aluminum frame gun, namely a Colt Cobra, the +P ammo that people like to use in their steel snubbies isn't appropriate.

Any good suggestions?

I've found these two thus far:

1. Winchester Silvertip 110 grain JHP (X38S9HP)

2. Federal Low Recoil Personal Defense 110 grain Hydra-Shok JHP load (PD38HS3 H)

Comments on these or further suggestions? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Wadcutter.
Cheap, effective ( nasty) at short range.
Buy a good cleaning kit..
 
silvertips are generally well thought of. Don't know if you've looked at any of the frangible ammo but MagSafe makes a standard pressure .38 (expensive). Also the Federal "Chiefs Special" ammo which is standard pressure "nyclad" bullet which is supposed to allow good expansion at low speeds.
 
Gringogunsmith said:
Wadcutter.
Cheap, effective ( nasty) at short range.
Buy a good cleaning kit..
Click to expand...

I'll go along with that.

I have a little model 60 Smith and Wesson, and on some very impromto testing found that with a two inch barrel alot of those hollow points don't even open up. And with the low velocity from a short barrel, penitration is not too good either.

The old wadcutter target loads at close range will do as well as anything else as long as your shot placement is good. Just practice alot till you have really good shot placement. Like gringogunsmith said- cheap and nasty. :thumbup:
 
Is this for carry or for home defense? If for the latter, you may wish to consider the frangible loads such as Glaser. These dump ALL of their energy into the target and, if you miss, tend not to penetrate walls and injure someone on the other side. I take "Occupied California" to mean Southern California, so I doubt if heavy coats will be a problem. I have read that heavy coats can stop some of the frangible rounds.

Edited to say Glaser rather than Cor Bon. Damn, I must have been half asleep when I posted. :(
 
I own an Airlight S&W and was a little taken back when I realized my choices on ammo were slimmer ( duhh on my part).
Like the other guys mentioned , I read that good old wadcutter round will do the trick nicely.
The cost effect is what I enjoy most :)
 
Of the two loads that you listed I would go with the Silvertip. I have informally tested a lot of .38 Spl JHP loads and most don't expand consistently. The Silvertips with the aluminum jackets generally do pretty well. I have never seen a picture of the 110 Hyrdashok that has ever expanded in anybody other than Federal's testing of it, nor was I ever able to get one to expand myself. Hornady XTPs produced the same. Heavy constructed bullets with thick copper jackets just generally won't expand at these velocity levels.

The Federal Nyclad 125 HP standard pressure load expands very well (unless it plugs from heavy clothing), but has been discontinued for a couple years now and is getting harder to find. It is the load that I use in my older allow frame guns.

For modern alloy guns I normally use the Speer 135 +p Gold Dots. They seem to expand well in any/everybodies testing and generate good controlled penetration in all the FBI testing criteria.

I *personally* don't like the current wadcutter loads because most of them are loaded to midrange target velocities. We chronographed some S&B wadcutter out of a S&W 442 at an average velocity 570 fps. That converts to 106 foot pounds of energy. That is not any better than .32 long or .38 S&W energy levels, and worse than some 22 LR and 22 Mag loads out of a comparable sized gun. Energy is not the sole factor in effectiveness, but you have to have at least a reasonable amount of energy on ensure good penetration. Now if somebody would sell a warm standard pressure wadcutter load up somewhere towards 800 fps they would have something worth looking at. If you want to stick with a non-expanding load, I would recommend looking at some of the 158 lead semi wadcutter loads, but the Silvertips or Nyclads are IMHO a much better choice (at least a chance of expansion and reduced chance of overpenetration).
 
I like the frangible loads from Glaser or Mag Safe but then again I live in an apartment.
 
A timely thread for me... I'm getting a Colt Cobra .38 in a couple of weeks. I have a box of Winchester White box at home, not sure of the grains etc. I hope this should be good??? I will edit thread tonight when I can check the ammo.
 
Like the above post, Glaser safety slugs, or my favorite, hollow base lead wadcutter slugs loaded for target and the bullet reversed so the hollow base is facing forward. It's quite devastating on the target at close range and if you miss, won't go through three houses or apartments.

There used to be a company in California called WAHIB Arms, in Fullerton, CA that sold it as a defensive load. They might still be there, or there could be others today making them. If you reload you can simply run a batch of them for yourself, or if you know someone that reloads, have them do it.

Just use the light target loading data for the 148 gr HBWC bullets and you'll be fine in that lightweight.

Failing any of that, just buy a box of 38special HBWC target ammo and use it. You won't have the effect of the base forward huge hollow point, but it will be plenty in a pinch and won't hurt the gun like a +P or +P+ load will..
 
I have found that thru some extensive non scientific tests that the 125 grain Federal Nyclad hollowpoints do better in terms of bullet expansion than most any other standard pressure load in a small frame snubbie. But know that at as little as 30' distance away, this round drops rather quickly. Needless to say, the gun needs to feed on a few boxes for reliability before it can be chosen for a defense load. For me at least, this leaves the Glaser/ Magsafe rounds out of the running due to their high costs.

N.
 
Speer has a newer load out made just for the "snubs" 135gr Gold Dot made to expand at lower velocities. Pretty sure I have a box or ten around here....
 
i carry the speer gold dot 135gr mentioned above in my detective special on the rare occasion i carry my det spec anyway lol, the speer 135's are designed to expand outta a sub 3" bbl so they should work well, before they came out i carried 129gr hydra shoks i think theres better stuff than that around though.

plus P loads are hard to handle in a alloy frame snub though wadcutters might not be a bad choice imho. practice isnt fun with +Ps/alloy frame snubs imho lol. be glad its not a .357 magnum, then it gets really fun.
 
Thanks for the responses.

To answer FullerH, this gun is going to be for home defense, rather than CCW. I think I'd rather have a steel frame gun rather than aluminum for home defense, but this is the one left to me from my father, although I haven't ruled out trading up for a steel frame like the Colt Detective Special.
 
The conventional wisdom is to practice with standard pressure ammo and load the +p for serious use. Makes sense to me. The Speer 135 Gold Dot is what I have in my older Cobra. Six rounds in a critical situation won't hurt it, and you will not notice the extra blast/recoil.
 
It took me awhile to get to the safe...
I have a box of Winchester .38 spec 130gr. FMJ target/range ammo, i.e. their "value pack". Is this an acceptable and safe ammo to put through the Colt Cobra?
 
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