Back in the 60's things started getting violent with drugs and general decline in civilization.
The number of police shootings were going up and the old 1900's standard police load of a 158 grain, round nose, lead bullet started having too many "failures to stop" incidents.
It got to the point that police started calling it the "Widow maker".
After lawsuits by widows and police unions, police agencies were forced to look for a more effective load, ACLU be damned.
What was developed was the +P hotter load for the .38 Special, which was a higher pressure, higher velocity round.
Those days were before modern bullet technology was much past solid lead bullets or metal jacketed bullets which didn't expand well.
To meet the need, the 158 grain, lead, semi-wadcutter, hollow point bullet in a +P load was developed.
Virtually every police agency in America that issued .38 revolvers bought it, and it was variously known as the FBI, Chicago, St Louis, New Orleans, LAPD, ect, etc. load.
It quickly got an excellent record for stopping, and pretty well ended police complaints about failures.
Street cops called it the ".38 SPLAT" for the sound it supposedly made when it hit.
In a +P load, the 158 +P LSWHP was about as good as it got until modern bullet technology caught up and the deep penetrating, radically expanding jacketed bullets began to appear.
As long as the .38 Special was in police use, it was pretty much one of the very top loads, and due to the rather simple lead bullet, it was one of the cheapest loads available.
Even today, in a .38 Special it's a hard load to beat for effectiveness.
While most ,38 Special loads, including the +P have been gradually reduced in power over the years, it's still a good load and you can buy hotter loads that are closer to the original.
As example, Buffalo Bore Company sell a HOT near .357 Magnum .38 Special +P 158 LSWHP load.
The Buffalo Bore bullet is made of a special SOFT lead bullet which has a gas check cup on the rear which allows driving the bullet at much higher velocities and reduces leading, but still allows the FBI mandated deep penetration.
The Buffalo Bore load is about as effective as you can get in a .38 +P load, and
is closer to the old .38-44 hot loaded ammo of years ago.
What it comes down to is that there are very effective 125 grain jacketed hollow point +P ammo available today, but the 158 LSWHP is still up there near the top and is still well trusted to do the job by a lot of .38 shooters.
The ammo itself is usually cheaper than the newer complex bullet defense ammo that is so expensive, so it's cheap enough to allow practice with the same ammo you carry for business.
