.38 special Bulk purchase input welcome.

[Venom1956]

I am looking at making a 1000 round .38 spl purchase mainly for target practice. I buy WWB at the local wally world normally so I am curious what you guys like/use. Do you prefer lighter or heavier bullets? I just want to get the most affordable price to accuracy ratio possible.

I was looking at Aguila recently but I've also been considering "canned heat" because of the sheer price point, I believe the regular canned heat is reloads then the "new" canned heat is brand new ammo correct?

I just want to bring down the cost of shooting .38s closer to my 9mm, since I enjoy shooting my revolvers more.

 

[rugersp101]

Most factory revolvers using .38spl were sighted for 158gr. loads. I use the heavier stuff for targets like they did in the old days of 4" .38 target matches. I've also had good results with some of the 130gr. fmj stuff too.

 

[aden67]

I have 1000 rounds of canned heat coming from Georgia Arms today...their 158 grain SWC. I have shot this before without any problems and if I had the money...would have ordered more.

The 1K cost $210 plus $22 shipping. So $232 delivered. This works out to be $11.60/50 rounds. Much cheaper than the $17+/50 they want at Walmart.

I am/have been saving all of my brass and hope to start reloading at some point in the future.

 

[bossman]

All I shoot in the 38spl are 148 gr WC or a 158 gr SWC. Both are excellant for punching holes in a paper target and all around plinking.

 

[amd6547]

I like the Aguila 158gn JHP a lot.
It is accurate and clean. Plus, it seems a little hotter than the average 38spl.
Wish I had a chrono to see what it does...last time I shot some, I had just shot some Remington +P SWCHP 158gn, and the Aguila seemed to recoil more.

 

[Wishoot]

Here's another vote for Georgia Arms. Their Canned Heat stuff is excellent range fodder.

 

[carguychris]

I've also had good results with some of the 130gr. fmj stuff too.

If you're talking about the Remington UMC 130gr FMJ catalog no. L38S11, this load has its good points and its bad points.

The good news is that it shoots very clean, it's reasonably accurate, and has low recoil. The bad news? The reason it has low recoil is that it's loaded to very low "powder puff" pressures; its factory-rated muzzle velocity is 790 fps and it generates a whopping 173 ft-lb of muzzle energy. IOW it's decent for plinking and paper-punching but not for simulating a SD load. (That said, I bought a vast quantity of it in 2008 because it was a really good deal, but I mostly did this to get the brass for reloading. )

On a random historical note, this load was originally produced for the USAF in an attempt to get their weak aluminum-cylinder M13 Aircrewman revolvers to hold together; it didn't work and the revolvers were retired and mostly destroyed, but the USAF continued to issue the load to air base guards for decades anyway, perhaps in the hopes that any attackers would be unusually easy to kill.

 

[Salmoneye]

I don't shoot factory .38 special any more...

3.5gr Red Dot under a 158gr lead bullet gives me an accurate, mild, plinker running at about 750fps in a 4 5/8" barrel...