From: mfolenta@pica.army.mil
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: home protection concerns
Date: 26 Jan 93 01:51:32 GMT

In article <mac@cis.ksu.edu> Myron A. Calhoun writes:
# 
# For my around-the-house protection .357 Magnum pistols I use
# "POLICE CARTRIDGES .38 SPECIAL" (that's the writing on the box)
# manufactured by 3-D INV., INC., Doniphan, Nebraska.
# (For the curious, they are 158 Gr. Lead Round Nose.)
#

     EEEEEKKKKKK!  You mean you have a pistol chambered for .357 Magnum
 and you are downgrading it to a 158 grain Lead Round Nose .38 Special?

     Why?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

     OK, I can sort of see using a good strong .38 Special load in the
 .357 gun for routine defensive use (less recoil and less muzzle flash), 
 but come on, a 158 gr LRN?  You're pulling my leg, right?  It's a funny,
 a joke, a gag, right ... ?

     A typical factory loaded 158 gr LRN is at about 755 fps for 200 ft-lb
 of energy at the muzzle. (Federal, Winchester, and Remington load this round
 to this level of ballistic performance)  And a LRN bullet will not do much
 terminal damage, especially at that modest velocity, because that round nose
 just sort of squirts through the target tissue without disrupting it much.
 At such modest velocity/energy levels, you owe it to yourself and whoever
 else you are protecting to use a better ballistic shape, at least a 
 semi-wadcutter.  A LRN _might_ be easier to slip into a cylinder than some
 other shape (I have _never_ had  aproblem slipping other shaped bullets into
 a cylinder), but it also just slips through tissue easier too.  Which is the
 same reason that a FMJ (usually round nosed) bullet is also a poor stopper, the
 shape is just poor from a terminal ballistics standpoint.

     If for whatever reason you have/want to stay with a standard pressure
 .38 Special round, look for a semi-wadcutter bullet or similar shape.  Don't
 use a LRN pistol bullet for defense, it's just not that effective.  Better yet,
 try a .38 Special +P, like 158 grain LSWC at 915 fps for 294 ft-lb muzzle energy.
 Or even better in that gun, a 125 grain JHP at 1450 fps for 583 ft-lb of muzzle
 energy. :-}

     Don't unduly handicap yourself with your ammo selection.  In .38/.357 rounds,
 the 125 grain .357 Magnum at 1450 fps is currently considered a "good" stopper
 of man-sized targets.  Lesser power/weight/velocity rounds in this bullet diameter
 are less effective as stoppers on man-sized targets.  The round nose pistol bullets
 (LRN or FMJ) just penetrate straight through and don't "STOP" the target very well.

     Please pick at least a different shape bullet, LRN is marginal for stopping 
 people.  (Unless you _really_ have some weird set of constaints on ammo selection,
 like subsonic rounds to be used in a silencer-equipped weapon for close-range
 head shots ... like the 147 grain 9mm subsonic rounds originally developed for
 suppressed MP5's for the SEALS, but that's a REALLY different set of operating
 conditions than a typical home defense scenario, isn't it? :-=} )

       ***** These are my opinions.  Get your own. :-) *****
      Michael Folenta          | U.S. Army ARDEC
   Future Weapons Branch       | Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000
  email mfolenta@pica.army.mil | (201) 724-3880  [AV 880-3880]