Is 158gn FMJ too high pressure for .38 snubbie

[max it]

HI, I just read this months issue of Handloader;

the article on Ruger's LCR by Brian Pearce says that he has seen a number of barrels ruined by 158 gn. FMJ boolits in various .38 cal revolvers.
Weeell I acquired some of just those, and some that are 1/2 jacket and 1/2 lead hollow point. And I was just enjoying the break from casting everything I shooot. Especially since all I have in .38/357 are Lee Alum molds, whereas my 9mm and .45's are steel and/or 6 cavity.
So should I save the 158's for only my .357 magnum loads?

Much obliged,

Max

[Reload3006]

are you talking about store bought ammo or ammo you load your self? I can see how some guns have been ruined by folks shooting +p and +p+ in a standard 38spcl. But I dont see how soft copper with a soft core is going to ruin your guns barrel Personally I call BS. but thats me and its not my gun. I would load them then shoot them

[felix]

Yes, BS, unless other stuff is taken into account. A barrel entry (forcing cone) can be ruined by heating it and slamming it hard with very fast powders. That means the metal, tempered for the forcing cone area is not thick enough or the barrel not alloyed properly for the loads used. Use common sense with light framed guns for such a reason. Actually, top straps can be included in this discussion as well. But, that area of the gun belongs to the frame. ... felix

[runfiverun]

i didn't read the article but bryan is a cast boolit dude.
i am thinking he meant that they were just worn out, and that the fast powder contributed to that.
remember high powered rifles can ruin a bbl in 2500 shots or so, but that same bbl with even speedy cast loads will go over 50k rounds. possibly to the 100k range.

[subsonic]

Just read that part of the article to see what you are talking about.

He says it's due to bullets stickin in the bore causing obstructions. I am not sure why that particular weight of jacketed bullet would cause that kind of problem in the .38 special only, and he does not specify a brand or style either.

I have never heard of that before. I would probably load them and ignore it.

[MtGun44]

Jacketed wear the barrel more, but unless you do something like an extreme overload
or stick one in the barrel from a very, very low load and then put another one behind
it, I can't imagine what the problem would be.

Bill

[max it]

are you talking about store bought ammo or ammo you load your self? I can see how some guns have been ruined by folks shooting +p and +p+ in a standard 38spcl. But I dont see how soft copper with a soft core is going to ruin your guns barrel Personally I call BS. but thats me and its not my gun. I would load them then shoot them

yup, ammo I load.
You know what; many of the responses here have me convinced that Brian didnt give the article enough info to make any kind of judgement on. I usually cast my own 38/357's but I have over a thousand of those pesky jacketed ones that I shamefully acquired :oops:

Much obliged to all,

Max

[subsonic]

You guys should try re-reading the article. It doesn't talk about pressure, jacketed wear or anything like that. It only mentions sticking in the bore and bore obstruction due to it.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I would not bother to shoot those 158 j"tangs" in a snubby. They are not going to expand so why waste them. Sell them off and get yourself another mold. I personally prefer to carry my snubbies with a 358432 160WC ( mine is Ideal) cast of soft lead (like 40-1) on top of 3.5-4 grains Unique. Expands on contact and does everything a soft lead boolit should.
Mike in Peru

[NickSS]

I have had a few bullets stick in a barrel of a revolver over the years. As I recall all of them were with jacketed bullets. I can think of three occurances. The first was with a S&W 1917 revolver shooting regular GI government issued hard ball. The revolver shot lead bullets accurately even out of 100 yards but I acquired several boxes of GI ammo at a good price that worked just fine in my 1911 but in the 1917 they came out at such low velocity that you could almost see them in the air and they would bounce off a 3/4 inch board and one stuck in the barrel. The only thing I could think of was that the bore of the S&W was over sized and too much gas blew by rather than propel the bullet. The other two times were with hand loads in 357 mag and 44 mag. I loaded up Jacketed bullts with H 110 powder and only lightly crimped the bullet like I did with my lead bullets. I had one round that barly went off and left a lot of unburned powder and a bullet stuck in the barrel on both guns. I recrimped the rest of the ammo with a harder crimp and that solved the problem.

[MtGun44]

Well, the friction of gilding metal on steel is far higher than lead alloy on steel, so he has
a point if you are fiddling around down in the Cowboy ultra low velocity range.

Bill

[max it]

Good morning
I would not bother to shoot those 158 j"tangs" in a snubby. They are not going to expand so why waste them. Sell them off and get yourself another mold. I personally prefer to carry my snubbies with a 358432 160WC ( mine is Ideal) cast of soft lead (like 40-1) on top of 3.5-4 grains Unique. Expands on contact and does everything a soft lead boolit should.
Mike in Peru

HI Mike, good point, I actually acquired two batches of 158gn jacketed; one is half jacketed and one is fully covered in copper. After reading your post I think I will put the jacketed in my .357 Magnum cases and put the home cast lead in my .38's.

Much obliged,

Max