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Outdoor Limited is your source for cheap ammo online. If you’re just looking for some suggestions, here’s the top three we’d recommend for shooters with a 38 special firearm similar to the Smith & Wesson 640 we used for testing. While mostly used for training, manufacturers make some frangible ammo, such as this, for self-defense.
Out of Stock.
Wolf Hill Trading Company offers a wide variety of specialty shotgun rounds in 12, and 20 gauges as well as .410.
Browse our great selection of .38 Special Ammo in your favorite brands and styles. It is loaded with a 130-grain jacketed hollow point bullet. In this measurement, the bullet with the largest diameter was Federal’s Personal Defense Micro. Shot diameter is a highly underrated statistic for self-defense ammunition.
[27] The closest comparisons are the .380 ACP, which fires much lighter bullets slightly faster than most .38 Special loads; the 9×19mm Parabellum, which fires a somewhat lighter bullet significantly faster; and the .38 Colt Super, which fires a comparable bullet significantly faster.
The more we all know, the better organized and stronger the shooting and hunting community will be. This allows the .38 Special round to be safely fired in revolvers chambered for the .357 Magnum, also including the .38 Short Colt and .38 Long Colt in revolvers chambered for .38 Special, increasing the versatility of this cartridge. The .38 Special was designed in 1898 to be a higher velocity round, with better penetration properties than the .38 Long Colt that was in Government Service in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. It also makes a big difference on accuracy, as faster bullets tend to be more accurate. This allows the bullet to effectively stop the target. This product had an average penetration over 22 inches, which, because of over-penetration would eliminate it from contention as the best .38 Special ammo for self defense. [22][24] The FBI Load was later adopted by the Chicago Police Department and numerous other law enforcement agencies. 252 N 134th ST To effectively stop a threat, a bullet needs to penetrate deep enough into the target to strike vital organs and deliver enough damage that the threat is neutralized. Despite its name, the caliber of the .38 Special cartridge is actually .357 inches (36 caliber/9.07 mm), with the ".38" referring to the approximate diameter of the loaded brass case. One of the top choices is the Federal Personal Defense Micro with 130-grain JHP bullets. After running the tests and looking at the numbers, there are a couple rounds that stand out as candidates for the best for self defense. Phone 402-261-2986, Monday - Friday 11AM - 7PM [14] That same year, Colt Firearms announced that their Colt Official Police would also handle 'high-speed' .38 Special loadings. M1892 / 1894 / 1895 / 1896 / 1901 / 1903 / 1905, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=.38_Special&oldid=985485816, Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1902, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from December 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 26 October 2020, at 06:31. In response to continued complaints over ineffectiveness of the standard .38 Special 158-grain cartridge in stopping assailants in numerous armed confrontations during the 1950s and 1960s, ammunition manufacturers began to experiment with higher-pressure (18,500 CUP) loadings of the .38 Special cartridge, known as .38 Special +P.
[11] At the same time, authorities in Great Britain, who had decided to adopt the .38 caliber revolver as a replacement for their existing .455 service cartridge, also tested the same 200 grains (13.0 g) bullet in the smaller .38 S&W cartridge. Ball Ammo. ffl@deguns.net, http://www.deguns.net/ammo/38%20special/50, Lee 90781 Taper Crimp Pistol Die 357/38 Special, Lee 90257 Lee Loader Pistol Kit 38 Special, PolyCase Inceptor ARX .38 Special 77 Grain 20 Round Box Defensive Ammunition, BLAZER 5204 38 SP. Known for its accuracy and manageable recoil, the .38 Special remains one of the most popular revolver cartridges in the world[8] more than a century after its introduction. We will use this 12-18 inch standard as a basis for our choice of the best .38 Special self-defense rounds.
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If you live in close proximity to others, frangible can be a wise choice to avoid hitting bystanders.
The higher-pressure .38 +P loads at 20,000 PSI offer about 20% more muzzle energy than standard-pressure loads and places between the .380 ACP and the 9 mm Parabellum; similar to that of the 9×18mm Makarov. Generally, different bullet types, especially hollow-points, will have better expansion. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round.