I believe that the 130 grain in .38 rounds is going to be a relatively new, and growing market. The default has always been 158 grains, but by reducing the bullet by 28 grains the maker could save millions annually. That ammo isn't selling for less than the 158 loads.
There are a lot of reasons why many people will prefer the 130s, and the makers will love it. This is almost as good as selling 8 oz cans of coke.
I agree, there are a lot of people out there who are still using revolvers for policing duties, and many who use them for defense. This makes the second time I have heard about that warning recently, and I'm wondering if there is a story behind it. It obviously isn't a BAD round for police use, it's inadequate compared to other available rounds. My paranoid self is looking at this and seeing a conspiracy, the ammo makers are instructing people to not use the cheap stuff and buy the not cheap stuff. There are other perfectly reasonable explanations. There may have even been a legal issue involving a person using incompatible ammo for police service and winding up in trouble. Lots of possible reasons for the warning, but I believe that the only explanation for a 130 grain bullet in the first place is that it saves money, comparable to a 158
Re the afb, I remember that they caarried .38s and I believe that the army and other services carried 1911s. I'm not sure. It's hard to think of an explanation. The immediate thought was gee, we don't want big bullets around planes, but that didn't add up. an afb probably wouldn't have been a particularly unusual thing to police... Not back then, at least, not on us soil... I grew up near offut, and it's not at all like it was then.