S&W 442-1 Airweight Ammo

C

CharlesBronson

New member
Hello,
Could someone please recommend a good range round for a Smith & Wesson Airweight 442-1? Thank you in advance!!!


My "Home Defense Ammo":
 
My daughter has a 5 shot, aluminum frame S&W. She uses 130 grain FMC, from Winchester, Federal, Remington, Fiocchi, whatever is cheapest, although none of it is cheap right now. I also give her my target wadcutter reloads. I gave her the same Hornady 110 grain FTX for carry that you have.
 
44caliberkid said:
My daughter has a 5 shot, aluminum frame S&W. She uses 130 grain FMC, from Winchester, Federal, Remington, Fiocchi, whatever is cheapest, although none of it is cheap right now. I also give her my target wadcutter reloads. I gave her the same Hornady 110 grain FTX for carry that you have.
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Excellent! Thank you for the recommendation. :-)
 
I’d look at a few different bulk loads and pick one that has a similar POI as your carry round…

For example, I converted my 642 to 9mm, picking Hornady XTP 147 grain as my carry round. UMC 115 grain bulk puts the round in the same spot as the Hornady… which gives me good practice and cheaper costs to do it.

That being said, definitely shoot your carry round from time to time. I personally shoot my moonclips once a year, usually once I get back to the outdoor range after winter.
 
When I got into law enforcement in the early 1970s a number of old cops I ran into told me their carry ammo for the 5-shot 38 Specials (mostly steel framed back then) was the same ammo they shot in PPC matches. That being a 148g full target wad cutter. They claimed it penetrated quite well, cut a clean .36 caliber hole, was stupid accurate, and had minimal recoil so you might actually practice with it.

I heard this repeated enough times to recommend target wad cutters to my students when I ran my own firearms training business after retirement.

As always with these things, YMMV.

Dave
 
I converted my 642 to 9mm, picking Hornady XTP 147 grain as my carry round. UMC 115 grain bulk puts the round in the same spot as the Hornady… which gives me good practice and cheaper costs to do it
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What would be an equivalent "range round" to the Hornady self defense round I mentioned above? Sorry, if it was already mentioned and I missed it...I have a LOT to learn!

Also...gonna have to research and find out what a "wad cutter" is!

 
Okay...so I went with the following:

130 grain FMJ

Paid more than I wanted to but...it's just money right...you never see a U-Haul pulled behind a hearse...lol

With shipping and tax...$82 for 100 round -- the local shop was twice that...$60 for a box of 50!

When I get smart and learned in the ways of ammo...I'll think about reloading...got a lot to learn before I get there tho. :eek::eek::eek:

 
Super Sneaky Steve said:
Forget the reloading until primers come back in stock. Next year there's supposed to be a new plant in Texas that will only crank out primers.
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This "shortage" seems strange to me. It seems like...it's taken a long time to get the supply back up...like...something else is amiss rather than just capacity. I've heard that, it's not really capacity as much as it is transportation. Strange Times!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
Dave T said:
When I got into law enforcement in the early 1970s a number of old cops I ran into told me their carry ammo for the 5-shot 38 Specials (mostly steel framed back then) was the same ammo they shot in PPC matches. That being a 148g full target wad cutter. They claimed it penetrated quite well, cut a clean .36 caliber hole, was stupid accurate, and had minimal recoil so you might actually practice with it.

I heard this repeated enough times to recommend target wad cutters to my students when I ran my own firearms training business after retirement.

As always with these things, YMMV.

Dave
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Same experience here. Only the guys who hand loaded would seat the hollow base wad cutter backwards, with the big hole facing forward. The thin, soft lead would even expand a little bit.
 
I have a box of Scorpion 38 Spl. that is a lead hollow base wadcutter loaded backwards with a post in the center. This would later end being Federals Hydra Shock acquired from Scorpion.
And my Uncle who retired from US Customs carried a M36 with 148 gr wadcutters many moons ago.
 
I firmly believe bullet is everything for expansion and penetration.

Since that is the goal in 9mm, 40, and 45, I wouldn't think it is for some reason different in 38 (or 357) revolvers. No meplat design is pushed for self defense in autos but hollow point, and I don't think it's just because feeding wouldn't be great.

Remember, Hornady rounds have limited expansion by bullet design (and by Hornady advertisement of penetration).

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/revolver-ballistics-test/
 
Not anymore it doesn't.

9mm HST 150gr travels in the 800fps and expands to one of the largest sizes of all 9mm hollow points using a 3.5" barrel in the luckygunner test. Bests some 10mm/357 expansion in massively greater FPS using much longer barrels.

PDX, HST...these new bullets and skiving are magic.

Look at the XPD all copper from a 2". .75" expansion at 14" penetration. That's wild.
 
To be fair to myself, I had posted the Luckygunner test that include 38 special in 2" barrels.

The 150gr 9mm I mentioned is called "Micro HST." Though Luckgunner tested 9mm with a 3.5 barrel, their 40 and 10mm is full size. Add in the second link about barrel lengths in revolvers not having much at all difference in velocity (contrary to opinion), I don't think there is an information supporting wad cutter or FMJ in defense in j-frame.

A wad cutter won't go deeper than a hollow point and will not expand.

Even Luckygunner that I rely on for my two points, can't help themselves but recommend them without any actual data behind them. Metplat isn't going to be the cutting factor people pretend it is and a piece of paper target surely isn't data.
https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/wadcutter-ammo-self-defense/


Dollar for dollar, expansion and penetration is the thing in 380, 9mm, 40, 30SC, and 45 but then a non expanding non copper washed/plated aren't.

Look no further than .380 Federal Hydro Shock DEEP. From an LCP barrel, the expansion and penetration bests a good chunk of the 9mm offerings.


Each there own. But I don't think there really is much data supporting anything but an excellent new or old Golden Saber bullet in +P in 38. If wad cutter is really the best option, and I agree bullets all are going to hurt, I think that speaks a great deal about JHP being important and j-frames being important.
 
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