Airweight .38's: Practice = +P or std ammo?

L

LH2

New member
I always hear "practice with your carry load". Well, practicing with factory defense loads sounds pretty expensive in their little boxes of 20...

I know most guys carry +P in their snubby - do you also practice with +P, or just practice with cheaper regular pressure stuff (American Eagle or lead SWC) and carry +P?

Sounds like a pretty significant difference in recoil with +P ammo versus standard .38 Spl.

Reading various forums, it looks like some find the +P stuff so nasty in their guns that they end up carrying regular .38, or switching over to a .32 H&R 6-shot.
 
"Well, practicing with factory defense loads sounds pretty expensive in their little boxes of 20..."

Yes, they are kinda pricey. If you want some cheap(er) factory +p practice ammo, I've found that the WWB +p JHP ammo at Wally World is quite a bit cheaper than the designer boxes of the premium stuff, keeping in mind that they are 50 round boxes. Even cheaper would be to reload them.

About practicing with your carry load. Yes, there's a lot to be said for that, but then again if it is unpleasant to shoot, you won't be as likely to practice as much. Besides that, money is tight so ammo costs are an issue. Not just an issue, it is the primary issue, for me at least. Granted, I'm not shooting through a snubby but with a 4" 686, but even then I've found that I do the majority of my shooting with standard load .38's, and I mix in enough .38 +p's and .357 Mags to stay familiar with the hotter SD loads. I've just about completely gone over to shooting reloads at the range and that has lessened the cost issue, especially for those +p and Magnum loads.
 
I don't find much difference in the recoil of bulk .38 and the hotter carry loads. Obviously the +P stuff kicks more, but not significantly more. The standard loads have more than enough recoil to get you used to the gun. I usually just shoot ~50 .38s and maybe a cylinder or two of the carry stuff just to make sure I have the feel of it.
 
You'll be fine with standard and save your gun some wear also. You wont tell the difference in a gunfight. But do fire a cylinder full of carry ammo at the end of a session at 7 yards.
 
I practice with regular WWB and carry the Speer 135 grain short barrel load. The Speer load doesn't have all the flash of other +P loads, so there's not much difference between regular and +P.
 
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