3 inch Barrel question

best caliber

First thing I will say is that a hit with a 38 spl is better than a miss with the 357 magnum. Having said that I mean that the person shooting needs practice with the rounds to be fired if possible.
There is a very strange thing that happens to the human body when under combat conditions. I mean any type of firing any gun for your defense with the body at full alert.
You will not feel such things as trigger pull, the sound of the rounds going off will be nothing more than a low pop,pop with out any ear protection. Your ears will not ring like they would if you would just shoot a 357 158 gr JHP in your home with no danger present.
You may not even remember how many shots you fired.
The older Winchester FBI rounds in 38 spl with 158 gr HP are known man stoppers.
My personal preference because of being old school is a S&W model 65 with heavy 3 inch barrel loaded with Winchester Silvertips and Glazers.
 
I like shooting all those calibers and I am somewhat of a classic snubbie fan. That said, after shooting a lot of .38 spl. snubs for many years, I have found:
1. Most .38 spl. 2"-3" snubs have their fixed sights regulated for 158 grn. bullets and will shoot 7"-10" low @ 25 yds. with 125 grn. ammo.
2. If you really believe you are getting expansion out of a .38 spl. 2"-3" snub using the latest, whiz-bang, high-tech lightweight jacketed hollowpoints, you need to start retrieving your bullets from downrange out of the dust and snow. You may as well be shooting 158 grn. semi-wadcutter or soft lead hollowpoint type loads that are more accurate.
3. Fast burning powders are way more efficient with the short barrels and less messy.
4. If you really want to shoot jacketed hollowpoints that actually expand out of a snubbie, you need to shoot .357 mag or the new .327 mag loads (ie. you need a lot more speed and the recoil and noise that goes with it, there's no free lunch).
 
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Only factory loads I got consistent expansion from in a snub .38 special are the soft lead 125gr Nyclad standard and the pre-Federal Tom Burczynski Hydra Shoks, 148gr (?) Scorpian and 158gr Police load. The Speer 158gr LSWC distorts well when handloaded to +P levels.
 
2. If you really believe you are getting expansion out of a .38 spl. 2"-3" snub using the latest, whiz-bang, high-tech lightweight jacketed hollowpoints, you need to start retrieving your bullets from downrange out of the dust and snow. You may as well be shooting 158 grn. semi-wadcutter or soft lead hollowpoint type loads that are more accurate.
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Yep, obtaining some degree of consistent, robust expansion from .38 Spl ammunition fired out of the short tubes has always been somewhat elusive.

Remember the advertising promo for the Scorpion .38 Spl loads back? "Scorpion, by Hydra-Shok, the .60 caliber .38 Special". I bought some of the .45 ACP loads, too. (Came in a red ammo wallet.)

I used to like a couple of the early Federal Nyclad offerings in my older .38's, but I haven't seen any of it on any shelves out this way since Federal decided to release one of the 125gr loads again.

Anyway, the renewed interest in the .38 snubs has given the major ammo makers enough reason to design and start producing some increasingly better loads over the years.

A couple of the newer loads which I've found interesting (after reviewing some gel testing, at least) are the Speer 135gr +P GDHP and the Winchester 130gr +P RA348B (PDX1). I still have some of the other older loads, especially for an older Airweight that's not rated for +P loads, but I've been using and putting back a supply of each of these newer loads for my J-frames rated for +P use. I've found the RA38B/PDX1 (depends on the packaging, meaning 50-rd or 20-rd boxes) to offer surprisingly good practical accuracy from some of my Airweights (642-1 and a couple of M&P 340's).

I still have some of the older Federal 158gr Nyclad LSWCHP +P (why it was never used up I can't remember), as well as some of the Remington 158gr LHP +P, but the more I've used the Winchester & Speer loads, the more I've gone to carrying them.

I still have a respectable amount of the other Speer .38 +P load, the 125gr GDHP, but I've been using that more for extra range ammo, or saving it for longer barreled revolvers.

Nice to see some better choices nowadays. They can be a bit pricey, though.
 
The 357 is the way to go if you want power in a small package. The 357 has been called an experts gun. I carried one for many years as a copper. I have seen guys that could drill out the center of the target with 38's and could not even get on paper shoot maggies.

I saw autopsy xrays of a man who stabbed another officer and was double tapped by 110 357 Mag SJHP from a 2 1/2 model 66 at about 3 feet. Those bullets did what they were designed to do and fragmented, TOTALLY! great round for up close, light clothes, no cover, frontal shot. Any other shot and I do not believe it would have worked as well. The 110 grn JHP from a 357 was a bad combination, although it worked perfectly in this particular situation. It really works well on skunks from a carbine.

When I had my 640-1 I crony'd 145 STHP at 1250 FPS, not bad for a 1 7/8 BBL. That was my carry load for years.

An NYPD officer just a few weeks ago killed a BG with a 135+P 38 fired from a j frame.

I would consider the 38 the minimum, there is really no logical reason to go lower. The 44 special is rather anemic by today's standards, it has not got the attention that the 45 ACP recieved. If I was going to carry one, I would look at Buffalo Bore ammo.

From the practical standpoint, the 357 literally smokes the 38 and the 44 special, for energy and terminal effect. It does require commitment and it comes at the cost of blast and recoil. If you ever find yourself in a SD situation, you will likely not feel the recoil, not hear the report and probably will not count you shots. You will have received a massive dump of adrenaline.
 
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