.38 special 200 grain super police load?

[.38SPL enthusiast]

I am interested in duplicating this load for curiosities sake, and was wondering if anyone here has any experience with it? I am particularly curious if anyone here knows what bullet mould Remington used for their version of this cartridge? I've read that Winchester used the
Lyman #358430, but the Remington version seemed to be longer. Any help, or advice will be appreciated.

 

[HiBC]

My brain might be a bit like Numrich's back warehouse.In the junk,cobwebs and corners someplace I recall reading,maybe a 1960's vintage Gun Digest,that the 200 gr 38 spl load was a good one for snubbies because,even though velocity was low,the bullet was quite unstable and would yaw sideways .Can't tell you more,no experience.

 

[270winforlife]

no idea where the load is to be found, but I think that would be a great load, since most defense shots are less than 7 yards, I've always favored big, slow and heavy bullets. This is why I favor the buffalobore 158 gr HPSWC+p.

 

[darkgael]

200 grain load

I load the Lyman 358430 195 LRN bullet in my .38 S&W cartridges. NOT the same as .38 Special, I know. It is a smaller case and a tad wider. I'm willing to bet that a load that is safe in the smaller .38 S&W case will be safe in the .38 Special case.
I load the Lyman bullet with 3.0 grains of Unique to duplicate
the British .38/200 Webley load. I have loaded as much as 3.5 grains with no ill effect to the gun or to myself.
I also use a longer 200 grain bullet from a NEI mold that duplicates the shape of the Brit bullet. I believe that it might make the .38 Special cartridge too long to load.
Pete

 

[Old Grump]

5 grains of Unique should put your 200 grain bullet at or near 750fps which approximates the old super police load. Good bet to find a mold for a 200 grain blunt nose .357 diameter bullet might be these people. I'm sure they have more in stock than what is listed or know where to get it. Knew a guy a looooong time ago who had a box of them and he used them up rabbit hunting.

http://gadcustomcartridges.com/

 

[NickMarciano]

200gr. Police Load

For years we carried the 200gr. load in our M-66's. It was the WW Lubaloy
in nickel cases. When we went to a better load I took all the 200gr.'s and tried them at different distances. They really drop quite a bit. I've seen the mold advertised in the Midway catalog, its a 2 cavity. The Remington load had a more pointed bullet similar to the 158gr.

Nick10Ring

 

[MR 8x57js]

.38SPL enthusiast
The only Police load that ive heard of for the 38 Special is a 158 GR swc HP. it goes by a couple of names ( The Metro Load) (The FBI Load). It was desingned for the snub nose 38's it performed better from the snub nose because it penatrated deeper, and it always expaned because there's no copper jacket. Where the 110-125 grain JHP cant get up enough velocity from the 2 inch barrel to expand all the time or go deep enough to cause any real damage to the body.

 

[swagner]

.38 Special Super Police

Hello,
I carried the Winchester 200 gr. Blunt Nose Super Police for awhile in the 80's in a Colt Agent (the parkerized cheapo version-great gun though, ahead of its time). Remington also made a 200 gr. .38 load, but it was more of a pointed shape and looked just like a 158gr RNL-Except there was an additional crimp as I recall on the case to hold the extra long bullet. The Winchester SP Round was a blunt or flattened profile. In response to the comments about the Winchester 158gr. LHP +P, that was the FBI load, and was very popular in its day. Still available. The other load was the 110 Gr Winchester +P+ Treasury Load

 

[44 AMP]

I recall reading,maybe a 1960's vintage Gun Digest,that the 200 gr 38 spl load was a good one for snubbies because,even though velocity was low,the bullet was quite unstable and would yaw sideways

Interesting. I recall reading, in an early 70s Gun Digest where they tested the 200gr out of a snubbie against a car (late 50s or early 60s vintage - no safety glass), and at point blank range, the 200gr from a 2.5" snubbie would NOT reliably penetrate the windshield!

It might be a good load for shooting somebody, but its pss poor for shooting somebody behind a sheet of glass!

 

[warningshot]

I remember those 70's 38 spl windshielld penetration tests

What was written in the gun magazines was a bit different from my test results.

I loaded up some cast 158 swc and some cast 200 round nose, and from a 2'' snub S&W 36, all whistled thru any windshield and every piece of auto glass of all kinds every time, no problem.

Back in America when it was leagal to shoot junked automobiles at the dump, my friends and I did quite a lot a 'hilllbilly' handgun penetration tests. In retrospect, many of those automobiles already had 20 years of sun expouser that must have taxed the glass composition.

Nothing hit with more authority than the 200 grain bullet when fired from a snub. Period. We shot T.V.s and radios, they were a blast, every kind of kitchen appliance Sears ever sold, wooden & padded furniture; if it was disgarded we shot it; over and over. We never needed to go to Disney Land to have fun.

 

[44 AMP]

Warningshot, how hard were those cast 200gr? That might have had something to do with their penetration, too.

I don't have any now, but I seem to recall some factory 200gr I had that were fairly "soft", which might have been why they didn't so well against windshelds in the tests. It was a long time ago, though, and I can't say what today's 200gr loads will do, especially against modern cars!

 

[zxcvbob]

I just bought a Colt PP and a Webley Mk IV, both chambered in .38 S&W of course. I'm looking for a mould for heavy bullets that will be just barely stabilized; I want them to shoot straight but then do loopy-loops as soon as they penetrate a Badguy. Yes, I'm talking about handloading a 65+ year old Webley as a home defense gun. (the Colt is >90 years old. It's too nice a gun to risk having the police take it into evidence and "lose" it if I ever need to use it)

If you get the velocity too high, they might not destabilize properly when they hit -- especially in a .38 Special.

 

[DWFan]

Dunno if this will help at all but....

215gr #358627 Lyman SWC in the .38 Special...velocity from a 6" revolver:
Bullseye
2.0gr 546fps
2.5gr 629fps
3.0gr 720fps
Accurate Arms #2
2.5gr 546fps
3.0gr 629fps
3.5gr 704fps
Unique
2.5gr 516fps
3.5gr 708fps