Federal LSWHP

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Fer

New member
Hey guys, for a j frame revolver I read a real good choice of ammo is the LSWHP in +P for SD. Always mentioned is the remington version and winchester, but Federal is not mentioned often, what is the reason?, is federals version not as good? is there a problem with the lead used?
Please provide your feedback on the matter.

Regards,

Franklin
 
J

Jim March

New member
Federal repeatedly and flagrantly wimps out on their powder charges, unless the ammo in question is aimed at law enforcement. In 38Spl, avoid at all costs.
 
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Dave85

New member
Beat me to it!

I was going to post this same question today. I, too, picked up some Federal 158 gr. +p LSWCHP (38G) last year, and have been wondering about it, myself. It really is very hard to find actual data on this load. It appears to do alright velocity-wise in one recent test by BreakerDan over at the Smith & Wesson forum. 799 fps. out of a 2" barrel seems about the same as the 800 fps. that Steven A. Camp over at hipowersandhandguns.com gets out of the Remington load (although in another test he got better-than-usual results from it). BreakerDan's 4" results fall around 30 fps. shy of Winchester's claimed velocity for their version, so extrapolate away to guess at the 2" comparison.

Since the 38G seems to have been a Law Enforcement Only load before being discontinued entirely, is is possible this ammunition was made available from a run produced for a law enforcement customer, and would have the 'proper' powder charge?

Personally my curiosity has been about about the lead Federal uses. The Remington is renown for its readily-expanding soft lead. The Winchester is harder, working fine out of a 4" barrel, but only opening up a little out of the 2" pipe. How does the Federal stack up in this regard?
 
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Webleymkv

New member
The Remington and Winchester versions seem to be more readily available than the Federal, this is why I reccomend Remington or Winchester.
 
J

Jim March

New member
And Winchester's lead is a bit too hard to work out of a 2" barrel. By 4" it's fine, might work in 3" from some guns.

Remington is the best of the major ammo houses for this type of load.

Late-model S&W barrels and more or less all Rugers tend to "shoot fast" for their barrel length. Vintage S&W (19, 66, 27/28, etc.) and Taurii tend to lag a bit in comparison. When we're talking about snubbies, this matters.
 
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Tom2

New member
How about my Federal 158 Nyclads? I seem to remember they were good performers. Those little blue bullets have a nice big gaping maw.
 
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Dave85

New member
The Remington and Winchester versions seem to be more readily available than the Federal, this is why I reccomend Remington or Winchester.
Click to expand...
Availability is not a problem for Fer and me, as we already have the stuff. Any info on the comparative hardness of Federal's lead?

How about my Federal 158 Nyclads? I seem to remember they were good performers. Those little blue bullets have a nice big gaping maw.
Click to expand...
I used to use those, too. They're out of production now, although the 125 gr. standard pressure load is back.
 
R

RamSlammer

New member
ATK (Federal's parent company) doesn't carry a 158 gr. LSWCHP in their current catalog under any brand. There's a Law Enforcement "Classic" JHP in .38 SPL +P that claims 900 fps.

Old stocks of their LSWCHP were chronographed at around 800 fps and the bullets were 14 bhn vs. 10 bhn for Remington and 11 for Winchester. The Remington bullet's softness and higher load velocity causes it to perform marginally better.

The knock on the Federal version was it moved slower than the competition and had a harder bullet that did not expand as well.
 
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Dave85

New member
Wow. 14 bhn, huh? That's pretty darn hard. So, Fer, we got ourselves a good supply of LSWCs! Good to know.
 
M

mnw42

New member
I use the Buffalo Bore version and I have been very happy with the performance out of my Cobra. They do a number on zombie watermelons.
 
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Jim March

New member
Yeah, Buffalo Bore rocks. Their 158+P is the absolute king of the hill in 38+P energy, period, end of discussion.

Their standard pressure 158 matches the performance of Remington's 158+P, except with less peak pressure. Superb load for older/weaker guns.
 
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Dave85

New member
Yeah, I think those Buffalo Bore loads are what's next up for me.

Maybe I need to get a .38/.357 lever gun so I have some good use for the couple of boxes of the 38G I have in the safe.
 
B

Brian48

New member
I'm not sure if Corbon still produces this load, but back in the '90s I stocked up on boxes of their 158gr +P+ .38spl LHP. Been carrying this load for years. As I recall this was about as potent a load as you can get for a j-frame excluding the Corbon +P+ 110gr JHP.
 
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Fer

New member
I was looking at some pictures of the The Remington LSWCHP, my Federals seem to have a smaller slug, is that possible? since I got mine without a box I donot know for sure the weight of the bullet, Has federal made a LSWCHP with a weight less that 158gr??
 
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Dave85

New member
I don't think quality is the issue. The Federal is made of top quality components, i.e., they are manufactured of good quality materials to a high standard. It seems that, with this Federal load, the design (lead alloy, powder charge) is less than optimal.
 
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