Hottest .38 Special Ammo?

D

Drakejake

New member
I just bought a .38 special Ruger Police Service Six in stainless. I would like to try some really hot factory ammo in it. I have some plus P but don't think that is much more powerful than the regular .38 ammo. This thing is built like a tank.

Can a suitable .38 special revolver have the cylinder replaced or bored to shoot .357?

Drakejake
 
Corbon is probably your best bet in real hot 38s. A problem that you might find with rechambering a 38 to a 357 (after talking this over with your gunsmith and estate planner) is that the overall length of the 38 cylinder is usually a fraction shorter than the 357. The longer 357 cartridges sometimes stick out past the front of the 38 cylinder.

Yours is a strong gun, you might want to consider reloading your own. Ammo companies don't know what gun you are using so they have to stick with the lowest common denominator.

If your specific model was also sold in a 357 version, Ruger might do the conversion for you. I would give them a call.

Elliot
 
I do NOT recommend loading especially hot ammo specifically for that gun. Such as old "Large Frame Only" .38 special or .38-44 loads.

A chance that someone will fire one in their modern silly putty lightweight and turn it outside in.

Or get somebody hurt.

Sam
 
I like corbons for my 38's and gunsmih might bore out the cylinder for 357mag but any load over 125gr might stick out the front.That was a problem with the early SP-101's in 357mag with the shorter 38 cylinder bored out by ruger.
 
If you can't do it with CorBon 38 +P+ then buy a 357, they make the hottest commercial ammo I have found.
 
Did I read somewhere that +P+ ammo is available only to law enforcement? Did I imagine that?

Numrich sells a .357 cylinder for the Police Service Six for almost $100. Buying such to put into a $200 revolver doesn't make much sense, even if it was feasible. If I want a .357, I guess I should sell this .38 and use the money to get the magnum.

Drakejake
 
For practice fodder, I found "yellow box" UMC 130gr rather on the warm side. With the stock service grips on my Security Six, they really beat up my hand (the trigger guard would smack the knuckle of my right middle finger, OUCH!).
 
What's your barrel length?

If it's a 4" or more, any number of good .38+Ps will get the job done without modifying the gun to .357. Cor-Bon's .38+P 125 JHP is a good choice, or the Remington/Winchester 158+P LSWC-HP. Others too, though that's where I'd start.

If it's a 2.5" barrel, performance becomes a bit more "iffy".
 
Cool. Shoot good .38+Ps and be done with it - they've been killing Goblins for 80+ years now :). If it was good enough for Elliot Ness...:D

Seriously, the lead 158 +P hollowpoints based on a semi-wadcutter profile kick butt from a 4". They're OK from a snubbie, but those extra couple inches and about 100fps more oompf works great. Winchester's variant is quite good, Remington's is a hair hotter, harder to find. Check gun shows. They both shoot to the same point of aim out to 25 yards as most regular non-plus-P 158 target ammo. (The 148 target wadcutters are a different story, they're VERY low powered.)

The 158+P lead hollowpoints are NOT the only answer, but they're a good proven reliable choice. Find some, load those with confidence, and if you want to experiment/analyze more modern choices down the road, cool. God knows there's enough research material (and options!) out there.
 
I think Ness carried a 1911.

I often carry a .38 Special and do not feel helpless.

The .38 Special is grossly underloaded by ammo makers due to liability concerns. the round can be loaded to velocities much higher than the +P+ loads offered. But handloads for defense can be a problem if you ever actually shoot someone and there is a prosecution or a civil suit.

If you are unhappy with the .38 and want a Magnum then sell the .38 and buy a Magnum.
 
No. But many experts in the field caution against using handloads because a prosecutor can make you look like a crazed killer in court. "Yes sir, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Regular factory ammo wasn't good enough enough for this man. He had to load his own super-duper killer ammunition." A lawyer for the deceased criminal's family seeking civil damages will try the same tactic to win sympathy from the jury.

In years past some people had legal trouble for using hollow points. But gun experts started testifying that these were really "safety bullets" because they did not ricochet or over penetrate.

Same caution against using a gun with an aggressive, macho sounding name. I don't want to be sued by a lawyer after a shooting who can tell the jury all about the "Close-Quarter-Combat-Slaughter-Destroyer" gun I used. Better to use something that sounds like you are a good guy rather than some wacko looking to kill somebody. I know it sounds crazy, but that's how lawyers think and juries can be swayed.
 
This kind of analysis doesn't make sense to me.

If you have a right to use deadly force, it doesn't make any difference "how deadly" the force is. If the bad guy was properly killed, it makes no difference if the gun used in defense was a .22 or a .50, whether the bullet was factory or handloaded.

I have seen no cases or news reports of self-defence shooters convicted or found liable for using, for example, a 10mm instead of a .22.

What you are more likely to see are cases in which the shooter fired accidentally, or fired when he thought there was a threat but there wasn't any, or when someone used a handgun when there was no imminent threat of DEADLY force being used against him or others in his presence.

The questions are whether the shooter was reasonably in fear for his life or for the life of another and whether the force used was necessary and appropriate to end the threat.

All handguns are deadly. All bullets fired from handguns are deadly. So it makes no difference what pistol or round you use, if the other factors are established. At any rate, the chance that a civilian will intentionally fire his handgun to shoot someone is extremely remote, so I wouldn't choose a handgun or round based on speculation about what might happen in court. Even policemen very rarely fire their handguns away from the range. So you should select what will be effective in a self-defense situation, not what some plaintiff's lawyer or prosecutor might make of it.

I have a law degree, I taught legal research and performed legal research for over 20 years, but I am not a practicing attorney. No one should rely on my statements or those of others without consulting a competent lawyer who is familiar with the relevant state statutes and cases.

Drakejake
 
I am not an attorney and deadly force is deadly force, BUT I would use only factory ammo for self defense. Reliability is only part of the reason, but the liability issue of brewing your own loads cannot be overlooked in a civil court. Criminal court I wouldn't sweat it.

Let us sayyou load your own ammo with a reversed 148gr wadcutter to get that HUGE cavity fliying out first and you load your lighter bullet to a higher velocity than the local PD uses in their 158gr +P. How are you going to answer questions like:
'Why did you load the bullet backwards?' (Guess what? There are a bunch of articles out there from the 1970's telling us how devastating the wounds are in gelatine compared to the 158gr round nose)
'Why did you feel it necessary to use a bullet with, effectively, a larger hollowpoint than the local police find adequate?'
'Why did you feel it necessary to load to a higher velocity than a police approved load?'
Can you answer these questions and counter the arguements well enough to convince a jury that you were in the right by not using factory ammo and that factory ammo is not adequate? Good luck.

Glaser SAFETY Slugs, MagSAFE, and standard pressure RBCD Platinum Plus ammo, all fragibles, would be MUCH easier to explain as would any load approved and used by any LE agency.
 
There's another issue entirely with handloads.

In many shootings, you're shooting at somebody who doesn't have a gun - it's a knife, club, whatever. So the "range to the target" matters a lot - at 50 yards, shooting some fool with a baseball bat is ridiculous, at 5 feet it's an urgent necessity.

So to find out, they need to know how the powder residue on your load, out of your gun, "patterns" (I use the term the same way shotgunners do). The amount of powder and width of powder area can tell you the range - but only if a lot of the same make and type of ammo you used is available.

With handloads, this goes out the window as far as evidence allowable into court goes.
 
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