38 Special 158 gr rnl “Street Load”

[Hi-Speed]

My 38 Special Mod 10 4 inch chronographed Remington’s 158 gr rnl R38S5 (year’s ago 5138) load at approx 765 fps. I recall the old constabulary in my New England hometown refer to this load as the Police “Street Load” (or “Police Service”). At least with this revolver 3.5 grs Bullseye and 358311 158 gr rnl duplicated the velocity of Remington’s load for all practical purposes. I’ve seen others use up to 3.8 to 4.0 when duplicating the std 158 gr rnl velocities in their revolvers. I’ve also seen chronograph data of Winchester 158 gr rnl loadings which range from 725 to 770 FPS in different 4 inch revolvers.

But there are many variables as we know it when chronographing loads - temperature, altitude, humidity, cylinder gap, etc. this chronographing business gets complex.

I’ll just say that 3.5 grs Bullseye duplicates the Remington factory load in my revolver.

[Petrol & Powder]

Cylinder gap has a lot to do with the variations in velocity.

As for the labels of "street load" or "Police Service", The lead round nose was accurate and very speed-loader friendly but was one of the worst performing loads in terms of terminal performance. It proved to be less than ideal against armed human adversaries.
There's no doubt that the standard pressure, lead round nose 38 Special was widely issued before the days of better ammunition. I've talked to more than one old officer that held some disdain for the LRN.

[Froogal]

158 grain LRN over 4.5 grains of Unique will ring the bell very nicely at 10 to 15 yards and the recoil is not objectionable. Feet per second is irrelevant at those distances.

[725]

My department did use the round nose load until it switched to the 158 SWC. The 158 SWC did an admirable job and was the standard for a long time. Popular outcry eventually caused the move to a 158 SWC-HP, but, to the best of my knowledge, it never outperformed the SWC. The HP era didn't last long as it preceeded the switch to 9mm. If I were to choose, I'd go with the 158 SWC propelled by 3.5 Bullseye.

[Wayne Dobbs]

It's also interesting to know that the original factory load for the .38 Special was 3.5 Bullseye. Outpost75 got me using that load with 148 DEWCs long ago and mentioned then that the 3.5 load was the original 158 charge. It does all I want to do with a .38 Special with extreme consistency and accuracy.

[Texas by God]

It does a good job on small game with minimal meat damage and is usually very accurate IME. For factory ammo it has been displaced by the 130 fmj in local stores for some unknown reason.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[JoeJames]

In my S&W Model 15-3 4", cast 160 grain SWC's on top of 3.8 grains of Bullseye averaged 830 fps, and is very accurate. And with 4.1 grains of Win 231 averaged 824 fps.

[Larry Gibson]

Following 38 SPL pressure test out of 7.94" Contender test barrel. Pressure and velocity (muzzle) taken via Oehler M43 PBL.

The SAAMI MAP for the 38 SPL is 17,000 psi.

Winchester Factory 158 LRN with 3.5 gr of a flake powder; 901 fps at 15,200 psi

Remington Factory 158 LRN with 3.7 gr of a flake powder; 887 fps at 14,600 psi

Speer Factory 158 LSWC with 4 gr flake powder; 901 fps at 15,600 psi [813 fps at 10 feet from muzzle out of 5" M15 S&W]

Lyman 358477 (150 gr SWC) with 4 gr Bullseye, R-P cases, WSP primer; 1004 fps at 16,700 psi [856 fps at 10 feet from muzzle out of 5" M15]

[rking22]

Very interesting data, Mr. Gibson, did you test the 148dewc over 3.5 bullseye by any chance?

[Larry Gibson]

Very interesting data, Mr. Gibson, did you test the 148dewc over 3.5 bullseye by any chance?

No, don't have any of those nor the mould.

[Outpost75]

No, don't have any of those nor the mould.

Larry,

I would be happy to loan you a 4-cavity Saeco #348.

239603

I have a 5-gallon bucket of rounds loaded and won't need to cast any for a while 8-)

[Wayne Dobbs]

I would really like to see Larry do pressure testing on 3.5 Bullseye with the DEWC and the classic 158 LRN.

[Larry Gibson]

Someone want to send me 100 each of those bullets sized and lubed the way you shoot them along with the load data of your loads and I'll test them.

[ddixie884]

That is a heck of an offer..................

[bedbugbilly]

I'm pretty "low tech" and don't have a chrony . . . . all I know is that a 358-311 over 3.5 grains of BE is one of the most accurate loads I've ever found out of my 1952 5" M & P (pre 10) S & W. (sized 358 - TL in paste wax/ alox).

[Bill*B]

Larry provided a maximum load for the excellent 358477 150 grain SWC in post #8. If you want to drop it back just a bit, 3.6 grains of Bullseye gives almost exactly 800 fps in my 4" M&P.