defense ammo for .38 S&W finally!

[LouisianaMan2]

Many of you have read about my amateur experimentation with the .38 S&W, aka .38 Colt New Police, .38/200, .38 S&W "Short," etc. Many of us have shared tales of woe caused by the unavailability of anything resembling defense ammo for our otherwise serviceable solid-frame guns.


Good news! Within the next month, Buffalo Bore is bringing out two loads to fill that bill. Tim Sundlies of BB describes them as good, powerful loads. Guess I'll finally be able to load my guns with factory ammo! Can't wait to see what they've come up with. Will certainly try some and compare to my various handloads, and will try to post a range report.


No personal involvement with the project, just looking forward to trying it.

[Mikey]

Louisianaman:  lol.  You need defensive ammo for a caliber that shoots a 200 gn swc through 6 one gallon jugs of water???  Well, I s'pose...............
 

[wolverine_1]

That's good news.  Haven't seen any factory ammo for a long time now.  I have always thought this to be an interesting round which tickes my fancy.  I view it as fitting the statement by Long John Sliver in Disney's TI:  "Heavy ball and a light charge of powder is what a touchy little craft like this needs."  My hand loads are with the 148 gr wad cutter to accomplish this.

[LouisianaMan2]

Hi Mikey,
It's been a while since you got me hooked on the 200g .38 caliber bullets--I just cast a batch of hardcast NOE group buy SWC 200's last weekend, and some hundreds of a clone of the NEI #169A long-ogive 200g bullet a couple weeks ago. Still have some hundreds of 358430 200g clones to load and shoot, and within a couple of months I'll get a NOE group buy clone of the original British Mark I 200g bullet.


Suffice to say that I'm glad to see commercial ammo brought out for those who are uncomfortable with using handloads for SD/HD. As for me. . .my nightstand holds two Victory Models in .38-200, each loaded with alternating SWC's and 358430's, all loaded to about 650. Those loads shoot fast and hit hard from the old long-action S&W's; the last time I practiced point shooting with a Victory, it felt like a laser--it hit wherever I looked, and fast. Faster & straighter than anything I've ever shot before. . .which is why I now have two Victories. :-)


If the Zombies come unannounced, that's what they'll get, unless the Buffalo Bore ammo makes me want to change my mind. Should Zombies take the approach of advertising their plans in advance, I've got a Rock Island 1911 Govt. .45 and a Compact Model .45 that will go onto the old web belt. Lots of 230g truncated cone hardcast flatpoints (237g as-cast) at 800 fps that feed & shoot like champs. Plus a few other tricks up my sleeve. . . .

[mcwoodduck]

I wonder if BB is going to go heavy and slow or Fast and light with a hollow point? 
The 148 grain bullet is mid weight and the big blunt round nose works pretty well.
The idea of the 38/200 was a very heavy bullet transfering all the energy of the slow bullet into the person, hence the Man Stopper nick name. 

[mauser98us]

This stuff will last til some idiot drops them in a breakopen revolver and destroys the gun and his hand. Lawyers to the rescue.

[mcwoodduck]

This stuff will last til some idiot drops them in a breakopen revolver and destroys the gun and his hand. Lawyers to the rescue.

With all the top break revolvers out there in 38 S&W you would think they would make the pressure would not break an Enfield, S&W, or Iver Johnson top break as I have seen 40X as many of them as I have a S&W model 11 or Colt Bankers Special.  I think a defensive load has more to do with the projectile than the speed of the projectile comming out.  Of course the projectile has to work with that speed if the hollow point will not open at the slower speeds of the 38 S&W then it may as well be a lead round nose slug. 
I know 38 S&W gets a bad rep like 30-30 does when it works well with heavy slugs. 

[Mikey]

Louisianaman2:  Hey Buddy long time no hear.  Hope all is well.  Sounds like you have a lot of shooting to do.  And folks wonder why men like Col. Charles Askins liked the 38/200 .............

[mauser98us]

I personally like the round. Had an S&W Terrier I foolishly let go,along with the assorted Enfields. I currently have a H&R  926,which shoots like a house afire with 180 grain slugs.

[LouisianaMan2]

Have been carrying a 32-1 and 33-1, each with 3x200g SWC and 2x200g LRN--same loads as the Victories. Just swapped the 32-1 to my wife for her I-frame Terrier, which will make for great pocket holster carry here in La. as the weather starts to make it impossible to wear one shirt over and one under.


Until I recently got the 2nd Victory, I've had a matched pair of Ruger Indian Govt. Contract guns in ".380 Rim" in the nightstand. One is a Service-Six, the other a Speed-Six. They have short, tight chambers, so I load them with the long-ogived NEI 169A 200g, which is a real tumbler. I've also used CIS (Singapore, I think?) Mk 2Z 178g ball ammo of recent manufacture--not the notoriously unreliable British wartime stuff. These slugs tumble fast and hard. They hit the infamous milk jugs full of water like a sledgehammer, typically exploding the first two or three and then tumbling thru the remainder (6 jugs total).


Just tried out both Victories this weekend: separately, left, right, together, etc. Center both on my body at chest level and get 12x200g bullets thru a silhouette-sized target at 5 yards in perhaps 2 seconds.


My wife and daughter still use their respective pairs of 32-1 and 33-1, albeit with hardcast 148g wadcutters at about 700.


Enfield is a great garage gun, too! A Smith Perfected Model and a 4th Model breaktop rest in end tables ready for duty, albeit with flat-meplat 145g bullets at a sedate 650-675.


I guess you could say I like this caliber! Vintage 200g .38 S&W Super Police loads are actually 20-30 fps FASTER than vintage .38 Special Super Police Lubaloy ammo from a Model 10, both from 4" barrels.


And that Lubaloy ammo is what Askins used on a German soldier at 25 yards, penetrating thru-and-thru from right front to left rear, knocking the man "heels over jockstrap," as Askins put it. Pretty good recommendation, I think.