Huh?Skippy Full wadcutters in snubs are all the rage now because HP ammo doesn't reliably expand from short barrel revolvers.
My opinion is the best load is whichever one you can consistently double-tap a tight group center mass up to about seven yards away...Looking for a good quality SD 38spl +p ammo for a snub nose 38 . I have some good ideas about other cartridges but have very little experience with 38spl .
Id like what you think is good and why .
When you seek personal defensive training you will be advised to NOT use "+p" for your defensive carry ammo. If you are involved in a defensive situation that ended by you ceasing a threat , guarenteed you will face civil liability. A caniving plaintiff attorney will absolutely try to elevate the "defendant" to a "killer" because he "felt the need" to arm himself with optional "higher velocity" ammo. You do whatever you want but just something to think about .
a vented test barrel doesnt always create a linear reason as to why a given load could experience a 200 fps velocity drop in the loading manual.Any time I've seen test results using actual vintage ammo shot and compared to modern ammo in the same guns, it shows that both are loaded pretty much the same.
As nearly as I can tell, the idea that modern ammo is watered down comes from a combination of things:
1. Confusion about the changeover from CUP to PSI pressure measurements.
2. The fact that SAAMI gradually convinced ammo manufacturers (starting in 1977) to change their velocity measurements for revolver ammunition from being measured in long unvented test barrels to vented test barrels with lengths that corresponded better to the barrel lengths people were actually buying and using.
3. The fact that chronographs became very common and that made it more difficult for ammunition manufacturers to get creative with their velocity specifications.
More information about #2.
This is an interesting catalog from 1977. On page 37, Remington discusses their changeover to using 4" vented test barrels for their revolver data and you can see that in some cases, they publish both data sets for comparison. In some cases, you can see that velocities apparently dropped by 300fps or more simply because they were measured more realistically.
http://cartridgecollectors.org/content/catalogs/REMINGTON/1977-Rem-DuPont-Retail%20Catalog.pdf
It's not just the venting, it's also the fact that the testing was standardized in a 4" barrel instead of the much longer test barrels that were commonly used in older test results.a vented test barrel doesnt always create a linear reason as to why a given load could experience a 200 fps velocity drop in the loading manual.
Over the years, SAAMI has altered the standards for a very few "quasi-obsolete" cartridges to avoid incidents with commonly encountered vintage firearms of dubious strength or quality. That's a very different situation.There online pundits who managed to deduce from publications that certain ammunition like 38 smith and wesson was watered down due to low quality break tops.