130 gr. FMJ .38 Special Ammo, why the popularity?

[Hobie]

Why is this stuff apparently so popular? Developed for the Army and issued right up to today, it supposedly pushes the 130 gr. RN FMJ bullet at about 750 fps. I've always thought it was miserable stuff. I've seen reports of velocities as low as 630 fps.

Now that 130 gr. FP FMJ, where do you get it? All I've seen was RN. We did get some 158 gr. FP FMJ...

I know we sell a lot of it and I see it at Walmart in the 100 round "value" packs because it is cheap. For some that appears to be THE draw.

I noticed also that we've had 4-5 inquiries as to its use in the 1894C. Seems safe enough to me. It doesn't generate enough recoil to do anything.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Noah Zark]

Why is this stuff apparently so popular? . . .

Beets me.

I've fired some, but it doesn't seem to have sufficient oomph. I'd take 158 LRN over the 130 gr any day.

Noah

[Blaine]

Reach into your memory and review lower FPS and Meplate.......I"ve shot several hundred of them and they are very accurate and hit at POI with my older J Frame 36-1. Besides, at self defense range, how bad can they possibly (or you possibly) shoot? But, I guess if you need to compensate, somehow.......

I'd take 158 LRN over the 130 gr any day.

I honestly believe you would be doing yourself a disservice. LE gave up on RN decades ago. If one MUST depend on a special, this ain't bad stuff and will penetrate better than the JHP stuff.

[vancelw]

Why is this stuff apparently so popular? Developed for the Army and issued right up to today, it supposedly pushes the 130 gr. RN FMJ bullet at about 750 fps. I've always thought it was miserable stuff. I've seen reports of velocities as low as 630 fps.

Now that 130 gr. FP FMJ, where do you get it? All I've seen was RN. We did get some 158 gr. FP FMJ...

I know we sell a lot of it and I see it at Walmart in the 100 round "value" packs because it is cheap. For some that appears to be THE draw.

I noticed also that we've had 4-5 inquiries as to its use in the 1894C. Seems safe enough to me. It doesn't generate enough recoil to do anything.

I think it's popular because you can find a .38 Special in almost every gunshop, at every gun show, and almost anyone you know has one (including your granny.) People are stocking up for fear (I'll stop short of the politics). I noticed the scarce and expensive ammo in stores is .380, .38 Special, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. I was surprised to find .380 ACP was scarce. I have the same questions about it as you do about .38 Special. Why use it if you can get the same size gun in a 9mm?

I'll be glad when every feels like the are sufficiently "stocked up" so i can stock up......

[Saltcreek]

I bought 6 of the 100 round 130 gr FP Winchester White box cause I needed more 38 brass and it hits very close to the same POI as the 135gr Gold dot in my 638 for practice. Our range does not allow all-lead reloads and WWB was cheap.

[DPris]

Hobie,
We had no choice in the AF SPs, it was what we were issued with the Smiths back in the 70s.
Those of us who knew anything at all had very little confidence in it.

It's a mystery to me why anybody would deliberately choose it for defensive uses.
Practice & playing I can see, but nothing else.

Denis

[J Miller]

Hobie,

I've fired it in both 4" .357s and 38s and found the performance, especially the accuracy to be lacking. Blasting ammo for brass is about all it's good for.

Joe

[JohndeFresno]

Hobie,
We had no choice in the AF SPs, it was what we were issued with the Smiths back in the 70s.
Those of us who knew anything at all had very little confidence in it.

It's a mystery to me why anybody would deliberately choose it for defensive uses.
Practice & playing I can see, but nothing else.

Denis

I was always amazed at the ridiculous choice of this caliber. After my 4-year stint in the Army, I volunteered for a while with the Air Force Reserves in the Security Police as a training sergeant; we guarded jets at the Fresno Air Base that protect the West Coast - a real mission. Yet they issued .38's with those popgun rounds. I asked why we had this ammunition, and the unit armorer told me that it was safer to use around the base because it wouldn't penetrate the birds. Odd; because we also carried full auto M-16's with standard military ammo - go figure.

There were no training guidelines issued, at least at the Fresno base at that time, that differentiated as to which weapon to use when confronting an adversary or guarding the base; so the thing about the handguns seemed ludicrous to me. And by the way, we qualified both semi-auto and full auto, in case there is any doubt as to application.

[CEMENTHEAD]

It's cheap !!!

[Blaine]

And yet, I've heard some of these same detractors wax poetic about how effective a certain .32 round might be... I know I'm at odds on occasion about the effectiveness of certain handgun rounds, but I tend to value the penetration of a solid over the mushroom of a JHP. This is, of course, with mouse rounds, and not a proper defense caliber (which starts at .357 and works it's way up).

[adirondakjack]

It does shoot to the same POA as 158s, and is a boon to those personnel who only shoot when qualifying, especially the flight crews using the little aluminum thing guns. I served as a range official at Castle AFB for a time in the 70s, and shot oodles of em (qualified expert with one of the five shot aluminum J frame junkers.) Lemme tell ya what, for an anemic round, out of that light gun with tiny grips, shoot 500 of em in 3 hours and tell me how ya like it. I couldn't close my hand around a pencil for a week. Worst beating I ever took from a gun. But I was the ONLY person in anybody's memory to qualify as expert with one, scoring 150/150, and cutting one hole ya could put an orange in on the "main" target

We used that load for our "in house" shooting at the range because we had access to LOTS of it.

[AmBraCol]

A while back I saw a picture of an old Victory Model 38 that someone took off a Vietcong who exercised poor victim selection skills by pointing it at him and firing it a couple of times. He was not amused and returned fire. The vc went down and the soldier moved up, picked up the gun, tossed it in his pack and kept on going. Later, at base, he saw that a bullet was stuck in the mouth of the gun. It had been loaded with issue 130 gr. FMJ. He got the gun back to the US later on and there he dissected the barrel, cutting through it down the middle. He found (IIRC) seven or more FMJ 130 bullets lining the barrel from the forcing cone to the muzzle. Since it was a low pressure round it never did blow anything up, but just stacked 'em up tight end to end the full length of the barrel. Sure wish I knew where I stashed the picture of that barrel.

We're stuck with 158 gr RNL down here. At least it's fairly potent. I hope to run some over a chronograph later this week and see what I'm getting for velocity out of my Llama.

[2ndovc]

It's cheap and it's fun chasing tin cans around the hillside with my Rossi '92.

I bought a case of the stuff a couple years ago for $89.99!
Wish I'd bought more.


jb