Very Versatile
Their versatility has increased in recent decades with better jacketed bullets, ranging from lightweights that can be driven very fast to deep-penetrating heavyweights like the 180-grain Nosler Partition. Yet, both are also very accurate with inexpensive lead bullets, whether commercial or home-cast, ranging from light wadcutters to hard heavyweights—and unlike autoloaders, revolvers easily handle a wide variety of power levels and bullet styles.
My first .38 Special was a 4″ S&W Model 10, a former police revolver purchased used when some department made the switch to high-capacity autos. Like many PD revolvers, it had been carried a lot but shot relatively little, so was in excellent mechanical shape. The trigger was a joy to pull, whether single action or double, and it also proved to be very accurate. I intended it to be my all-around carry revolver, in town and the woods, but even with warm loads I discovered (of course) it wasn’t a .357, and eventually traded it in for a brand new S&W Model 66.
That 66 is still my main .38/.357, and has worked very well, especially with Crimson Trace Laser Grips. Of course, it wasn’t enough, and my wife Eileen and I have since owned a bunch of .38s and .357s, from her S&W Airweight .38 to a 10″ Thompson/Center Contender barrel in .357.
However, the T/C barrel went too much against the notion of the .357 as a “handy” sidearm, so I sent it down the road. Also, it was purchased primarily for hunting with heavier bullets, but with anything from 158 grains up, it didn’t show all that much gain in velocity over my 4″ barreled S&W 66. (This may seem strange, but heavier bullets and slower powders tend to show the least velocity loss in any barrel, whether a handgun or a rifle.)
One of our .38 revolvers was acquired as a “gift” from my anti-gun mother-in-law, Cecilia.
A few years after Eileen’s father passed away, Cece remarried, and her new husband, nicknamed Doc, kept at least two loaded guns in their Florida home for self-defense, a fact Cece chose to ignore. Seventeen years later Doc also passed away, and when Eileen and I were down visiting Cece the next winter, she suddenly appeared in the room holding a little silver revolver by the very end of the barrel, as if carrying a dead rat.
“John, I found this in one of Doc’s drawers. Can you dispose of it?”
I nodded. “Is it loaded?”
She laughed condescendingly. “Of course not!”
I gently took the revolver from her, and of course, every chamber held a 158-grain factory load. It’s a Rossi Model 84 with a 3″ barrel, and it’s pretty darn accurate!
One of the .38 loads proven most consistent in just about any .38 or .357 combines the Speer hollowbase wadcutter and 3.0 grains of either Red Dot or Bullseye. With Red Dot, this was the most accurate load in my old Model 10 and has since worked well in every revolver since, even in .357s where the bullet jump is a little long.
Another classic .38 load is a cast 158-grain semiwadcutter and 4.0 to 5.0 grains of Unique. The lighter powder charge is better for smaller .38s, while the 5-grain load should be reserved for .357s or .38s rated for +P ammo. In many revolvers, this load tends to shoot to the same point of aim as heavier .357 loads, handy for practice.
Unique is still among the best powders for high velocity with lighter bullets in the .38 Special, and the latest cleaner-burning version of Unique works even better, in my experience. A charge of 5.8 grains with the 110-grain Speer Gold Dot will get push 1,000 fps even in the Rossi, and a +P load of 6.3 grains gets 1,100 to 1,200 fps in the longer barrels of heavier-duty .38s.
I must confess not many newer powders have worked their way into my .38/.357 loading, partly because the classic powders have worked so well. The major exception is Accurate Arms No. 5, providing a good combination of accuracy and velocity with mid-weight cast and jacketed bullets in several .38 Specials.
