I was headed to Cabela’s last night to get some hunting stuff and realized that I should probably look for some ammo for the snub. I must admit, I’m still not settled on what ammo to use for self-defense. I’ve got this pull towards wanting to use the Gold Dot 135 grain +P’s, because I like Gold Dot and know they make solid stuff, plus there’s something about carrying and handling unjacketed lead that bugs me (probably the health-aspect of it all) so I’d like to carry some sort of jacketed ammo. Yet, as I look at ballistics data on a lot of your JHP rounds for .38’s (as shot out of snubs, regardless if the load is specifically designed for short barrels or not), they tend to get the expansion but not always the penetration. I think that’s perhaps one thing that bugs me about Hornady Critical Defense is that part of its design is to not penetrate more than 12″. If 12″ is considered the FBI minimum, to not go more than 12″ by design feels faulty to me. I can only guess why Hornady made such a decision (risks of overpenetration, since primary consumers are civilians?). But, all this data is partially subjective.

The thing is, expansion is certainly desirable, but if you don’t get it deep enough to hit vitals then expansion doesn’t matter. You want both depth and width, but given a choice between the two I’d say depth comes out as slightly more important because vitals are buried down deep and you need to ensure you get to them. Given that, while I don’t want to carry LSWCHP’s I think that’s really the only way to go for a .38 snub. The main reason? They get the penetration, and some expansion. Granted they may not expand as much as a JHP round, but they get the penetration and seem fairly reliable at doing so… then some expansion as a bonus.

I just look at data such as brassfetcher’s, and while it may be a single point of reference it’s still useful info. Look at this (but note the barrel lengths). Even consider this:

2-inch .38 snubs
There seems to be no JHP bullet cartridge that is capable of providing a reasonable balance of adequate penetration and reliable expansion. A bullet that expands will not penetrate deeply enough, whereas a bullet that does not expand will probably overpenetrate.

As a result, we feel the best cartridge for .38 snubbies is the 148 grain wadcutter target load. (MacPherson, Duncan: Bullet Penetration, Ballistic Publications, El Segundo, California, 1994. p. 247, Figure 10-2 Cylinder Bullet Penetration Depth.) The sharp-edged shoulder of the full wadcutter design provides the best penetration and wounding efficiency for this gun/cartridge combination.

Take that as you wish, as that was printed 11 years ago, but did include the Gold Dot in the testing.

I still don’t think I’m settled on what ammo to use, and I reserved the right to change my mind. But for now, I think I will stick with LSWCHP’s, and presently the Buffalo Bore 20c/20 stuff since that’s what I have. Didn’t see any for sale at Cabela’s (the only place in town I’ve seen Buffalo Bore for sale).

The quest continues….