.38spl hard to find?

[ddixie884]

What has been your experience? It seems to me that good .38spl ammo is very hard to come by these days..........

[jrayborn]

Seems easy to me. Every time I want some I load a couple hundred and go shoot. :)

[ddixie884]

Me too he said smugly. I was wondering about the people who don't load. What are they doing for a box or two since they probably can't start loading. It is as hard to find SPP as most ammo.............

[dougader]

Ammo might be hard to find, but brass is available all over the place.

[ddixie884]

Truth be told a Lee whack-a-mole would load a coupla hundred, if the components could be scrounged......

[Cargo]

I've seen 32acp, 9mm, 40, 45 and 10mm for sale but no .38sp, .357 mag or .44 mag.

Yeah, when we need it I load it and .38 special is our go to caliber for revolvers.

[Mk42gunner]

Seemed to be plenty at the last couple of recent gun shows I went to; if I wanted to pay a dollar or more per round. Yuck.

Robert

[Winger Ed.]

All of the small pistol type ammo is scarce.

Pocket size .38 revolvers and autos like .380 and 9mm are in high demand right now.
This ammo shortage for them is hitting those calibers and .223 the hardest.

[VariableRecall]

I haven't seen .38 Special for under .75 a round since September. These days, it's more along the lines of 90 cents to a dollar a round if it's in stock.

[Pipefitter]

Why, no, it isn't... I have a few thousand rounds loaded up in the gun room.

[JWFilips]

Got To Make It Yourself!

[bimus]

75 cent worth of 38 special cast will fill both hands

[Ed_Shot]

Seems easy to me. Every time I want some I load a couple hundred and go shoot. :)

That's what I did today

[charlie b]

I also have not seen .38spl for a while. Lots of 9mm and a bit less frequently .45 and .40.

[Gofaaast]

I see hardly any ammo on the shelves. If I was the bean counter calling the shots currently my machines would only be producing what had the highest margin. We know there all running at full capacity. I doubt 38 special has the highest margin and unless machines are dedicated to that caliber only it doesn’t get produced. My 2 pennies on the subject.

[derek45]

[ sponge bob square pants voice ] I'm, sorry, I dont' understand the question.


https://i.imgur.com/lQ2tHlP.jpg

[NyFirefighter357]

Seems easy to me. Every time I want some I load a couple hundred and go shoot. :)

Exactly!

[charlie b]

From what I have seen the mfgs are not making the bullets with the highest margins. Most of the ammo delivered to the store here is stuff like Winchester white box 9mm for under $15 a box. If they wanted higher margins they'd be making something like Silvertips. I am sure they could sell just as many.

[bimus]

I don't know what is worse walking down the ammo isle when there is no to little ammo and I get a grin on my face or walking down the ammo isle when it full and looking at what others pay and the grin I get on my face I'm sure it's the same grin.

[Drm50]

I haven’t seen any ammo you couldn’t buy if you were willing to pay the price. I shoot a lot of 38sp all Target WC loads. I’ve got 30-50 boxes of factory ammo from 25acp to 45Win mag. The only gun I shoot factory ammo in is a 9mm. I was going to sell it but then decided to use it for trading stock.
No point in getting involved in vicious circle of scalping prices then getting scalped by someone else to get what you want, if you can find it.

[bangerjim]

I've got ammo cans full of it! No shortage here. All loaded by lil' old me!

I have not bought ammo (execpt 22LR) in over 12+ years.

If I need more, I will just load a bunch. After all, isn't this a "cast boolits and reloading" forum? Not a lack of commercial ammo complaint forum?

banger

[1hole]

It seems to me that good .38spl ammo is very hard to come by these days..........

Not at my house. ;)

[murf205]

Not at my house. ;)

My son used to call me The Fred Sanford of brass scroungers. After pricing factory ammo currently cost and trying to find brass to load, he sees the wisdom of my hoarding. I only wish the political climate that caused all these shortages was not brought about by morons!

[ddixie884]

I've got ammo cans full of it! No shortage here. All loaded by lil' old me!

I have not bought ammo (execpt 22LR) in over 12+ years.

If I need more, I will just load a bunch. After all, isn't this a "cast boolits and reloading" forum? Not a lack of commercial ammo complaint forum?

banger

I'm not complaining. I've got mine and plenty of it, factory and handloads. It is the folks I know asking the question. I just wondered how it was with other folks in other places. Meanwhile I can't load for anyone but close family and I can't afford to give my factory ammo away like chewing gum samples...........

[Soundguy]

Seems easy to me. Every time I want some I load a couple hundred and go shoot. :)
Same here. Depends what I want. RN, SWC, HP, 90-158gr..GC if needed.

Always easy to find

[Char-Gar]

Not scarce around my house. Who buys factory 38 Special ammo?

[Drm50]

People that only shoot a few boxes a year buy factory ammo. I know guys that hunt that are 80 and they buy a fresh box of ammo every couple of years. They aren’t interested in loading at all.
38sp and 222 were first cartridges I loaded for when I was a kid. Target for 38 and groundhogs for 222.

[bangerjim]

38 is my magic number! I love it in the revolvers and long guns I have.

That is one of my three ammos of choice. I cannot see all the hoop-la over 45 ACP's. Hard to load due to short stubby brass & short seating lengths and most pistols are finicky due to ramp and throat designs all over the map. Until you spend even MORE money getting them throated or by the special reamer. I choose 40 S&W over the 45 ACP every time.

Another favorite is 45LC. I have many revolvers and long guns that just love to eat anything in 45LC I feed them!!!!!! No fuss, no muss, they just work! You can't beat the feel of a good old 45 revolver in your hand fan-firing it at a target!

Today I guess you shoot what you can find! And that is not much, for those of us that did not see the writing on the wall and stockpile our supplies deep and long and high.

Good luck out there finding ammo you need/want.

banger

[johniv]

.38 spl. factory ammo IS hard to find here. The gun shop I frequent has some .45 9 mm and .40, but .38 and 380 seem to be scarce. On the bright side .357 sig and 5 mm rim fire are on the shelf.

[Murphy]

:cry:

Y'all, this thread most broke my heart in a 1,000 tiny little pieces all over the floor!

I can't remember which took place last. Me buying some factory .38 Specials? Or me and the wife having 'relations'.
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Murphy

[GoodOlBoy]

:cry:

Y'all, this thread most broke my heart in a 1,000 tiny little pieces all over the floor!

I can't remember which took place last. Me buying some factory .38 Specials? Or me and the wife having 'relations'.
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Murphy

Mine was certainly the buying of 38 specials, though probably not by much! :p

God Bless

Richard

[Butzbach]

Mine was certainly the buying of 38 specials, though probably not by much! :p

God Bless

Richard

We’ll all have to share these quips with the jury as our defense attorneys try to dig us out of the hole our home rolled ammo put us in when we had to use it on the street. There’s a place for factory ammo and that’s in your carry piece and your spare magazine and/or speed loader. You’ll need it for periodic training too.

[poppy42]

We’ll all have to share these quips with the jury as our defense attorneys try to dig us out of the hole our home rolled ammo put us in when we had to use it on the street. There’s a place for factory ammo and that’s in your carry piece and your spare magazine and/or speed loader. You’ll need it for periodic training too.

Show me one instance, documented case, where charges have been brought against an armed citizen Soley because the ammo he used for self-defense we’re handloads! They don’t exist! If the use of deadly force is justified and proved so you cannot be charged because your ammunition was hand loaded! I’ve searched for years and never found one instance of someone being charged solely because they used hand loaded ammunition!

[Soundguy]

..and... How would someone know something was hand loaded.
I have loaded rounds that were made specifically to duplicate factory ammo..be it lswc or lrn or semi jacketed RNFP.

You can set my rounds next to factory loads... I bet only a trained loader with a good eye and/or tearing the ammo down to compare would show what is what.

[Outpost75]

Anybody who didn't either buy it cheap and stack it deep or get set up in bullet casting and reloading before 9/11 has been behind the power curve for decades. When our department changed from revolvers to bottom feeders I bought several 5-gallon buckets of one-fired brass from the academy at $10 a bucket more than the salvage scrap price, and bought a used Star loading machine and hoarded powder and primers. I'm not likely to run out in lifetime. I also hoarded used cop revolvers bought affordably. A better investment than Wall Street.

[poppy42]

..and... How would someone know something was hand loaded.
I have loaded rounds that were made specifically to duplicate factory ammo..be it lswc or lrn or semi jacketed RNFP.

You can set my rounds next to factory loads... I bet only a trained loader with a good eye and/or tearing the ammo down to compare would show what is what.
Even if they could, it wouldn’t make a difference! If the use of deadly force is justified,case closed. Now with all that being said if there wasmitigating circumstances, do use of deadly force was questionable, then all bets are off.

[Jtarm]

Me too he said smugly. I was wondering about the people who don't load. What are they doing for a box or two since they probably can't start loading. It is as hard to find SPP as most ammo.............

I am soooo lucky.

Just before the lockdowns started, an LGS closed out Remington 5 1/2s for $100 per case. I left with 20,000 (now wish I’d bought 50k).

I’m down to about 13,000, so I started rationing myself to 100-150 per week till they (hopefully) become available again.

For once a shortage didn’t catch me flat-footed.

[Soundguy]

Anybody who didn't either buy it cheap and stack it deep or get set up in bullet casting and reloading before 9/11 has been behind the power curve for decades. When our department changed from revolvers to bottom feeders I bought several 5-gallon buckets of one-fired brass from the academy at $10 a bucket more than the salvage scrap price, and bought a used Star loading machine and hoarded powder and primers. I'm not likely to run out in lifetime. I also hoarded used cop revolvers bought affordably. A better investment than Wall Street.

I wish I had been into wheelguns back when police switched from revolvers to semi auto. Probably lots of deals were around on worn finish but barely used 38/357's.

I did however eventually get an ex Leo 70's era python from a FHP's estate. Great gun. Sun bleached grip on the side facing out. Holster/ muzzle wear in the bluing, and the retention grip wore a divot in the trigger guard.

[Jtarm]

Anybody who didn't either buy it cheap and stack it deep or get set up in bullet casting and reloading before 9/11 has been behind the power curve for decades. When our department changed from revolvers to bottom feeders I bought several 5-gallon buckets of one-fired brass from the academy at $10 a bucket more than the salvage scrap price, and bought a used Star loading machine and hoarded powder and primers. I'm not likely to run out in lifetime. I also hoarded used cop revolvers bought affordably. A better investment than Wall Street.

Yeah I wish I’d pounced on the trade-in revolvers a little more. I just wasn’t that into .38/.357 DAs back then.

I remember one mid-90s gun show where a dealer had probably 50 3” GP100s priced $219 apiece. I’m sure there were much better bargains than that.

[Half Dog]

On the plus side, perhaps there will be great sales on firearms that are hard to feed.

[Shawlerbrook]

Haven’t seen hardly any reasonably priced metallic ammo around here in months. That God for the roll your own corner in my basement.

[376Steyr]

Back to the OP's original question, In my area, even before the Great Panic, .38 Special wasn't plentiful compared to 9mm, and the price was relatively high. My local big outdoors store had maybe 6 inches of shelf space for high performance .38 loads, compared to over two feet of 9mm. Generic plinking ammo cost about 50% more than equivalent 9mm.

Even in those happy days, Winchester and Remington 148 wadcutters, with their dedicated brass, were unavailable. I waited for two years for my favorite internet supplier to get some in, at the outrageous price of 48 cents apiece, and they never did.

[Soundguy]

On the plus side, perhaps there will be great sales on firearms that are hard to feed.

Or... Buy guns that still have ammo available.

Last show I went to..all the ammo was sky high except 17hmr...same show I found a revolver in hmr and grabbed that affordable ammo...

[Walks]

I don't think I've bought factory ammo since Bush was in Office.

[Soundguy]

Rim fire... Or brass maybee..

[1hole]

Show me one instance, documented case, where charges have been brought against an armed citizen Soley because the ammo he used for self-defense we’re handloads! They don’t exist! If the use of deadly force is justified and proved so you cannot be charged because your ammunition was hand loaded! I’ve searched for years and never found one instance of someone being charged solely because they used hand loaded ammunition!

Ditto.

I believe the Rifleman and other magazines would inform us of the trials if handloads are an issue in self defense. I've been reading gun magazines since 1964. I've read hundreds of legal articles but, to the best of my memory, court wrangling about defensive handloads has never been mentioned.

[Outpost75]

Ayoob has always preached in his classes to carry the same ammo that your local police do, but others who have searched the case law say that handloads are not an issue. If good factory loads are available I carry them, but if I happen to be carrying an obsolete .44-40 or .45 Colt I like a dead soft, fat flat nosed, heavy bullet for the caliber and don't worry about it. I often carry a .32 ACP as a "Church Gun" and it gets Euro heavy ball.

[rockrat]

LGS had 4 boxes of 130gr fmj @$22/box. Waited too long to decide to buy it and it was long gone when I went back

[Soundguy]

Ayoob has always preached in his classes to carry the same ammo that your local police do, but others who have searched the case law say that handloads are not an issue. If good factory loads are available I carry them, but if I happen to be carrying an obsolete .44-40 or .45 Colt I like a dead soft, fat flat nosed, heavy bullet for the caliber and don't worry about it. I often carry a .32 ACP as a "Church Gun" and it gets Euro heavy ball.

I think Ayoob says that as an automatic out. IE.. if all the police use it.. it's 'safe' ammo. Not that handloads are extra liability.

[dverna]

Not .38 related...but about 2 years ago saw a few comments from people who did not reload 9mm as is was so cheap it was not worth the effort.

I am so cheap, I even reloaded 12 ga shells when they were just over $5 a box. Saving $1/ box might seem silly to some, but I can load 20 boxes an hour. Today, the ability to reload everything I want is a good thing. I have a few people asking me to reload for them, but politely decline...much too risky you know.

[Murphy]

The Grand Ole' 38 Special.

It's been with us for 123 year's now (first produced in 1898). That speaks for itself when one thinks about it. What speaks even louder as I sit here and think about it, is how many handguns and rifles have been produced in just the U.S. alone for it?

Prior to the compact 9's and 380 Autos, the 'go to' gun for a lot of people was the grand old standby, the 38 Special. Regardless of the intended end use of it, it just made sense. Most ladies could be introduced to it with mild wadcutter ammunition, and then worked up to a more suited load for self defense.

Given the times we are living in, it's really no wonder even 38's are getting hard (or expensive) to come by. Given the civil unrest, covid, riots of last year and now possible new legislation, is it really any wonder people are buying it? I'm pretty sure even grand mothers are pulling out old 38's their dearly departed left them 20 years ago and getting them cleaned. They're probably thinking maybe that thing needs some fresh bullets too?

On the other topic mentioned in this thread in regards to handloads and self defense. Along with one of the other posters in this thread, not one single case have I ever seen confirmed has a person been convicted of a crime for using a handload in a self defense shooting, not one.

Murphy

[ElPistolero]

Yep, and if my neighbors want to buy some components, I'll be glad to show them how to combine them. The last 1200 .38 SPL somebody found parts for went like hotcakes.

[smkummer]

In the 90’s, I was given a 5 gal. bucket of 38 special brass from a swept police range by the cities police Lieutenant. I still have it sorted by Fed., WW and RP in 3-30 cal. ammo cans. Wadcutter, standard and plus P. Almost all is nickel. I keep loading and shooting until it cracks. Then it’s scrapped. Life is good.

Oops, since then another 30 cal can holds my military marked 38 special which is my cowboy loads.

But yes, brass is available, bullets and molds are available, some powder available, dies available. Primers?.....

I don’t think too many here got caught off guard especially if we are bullet casters we obviously reload. I really think I can go for 5 years on what I have and I compete in shooting sports. This will end. To other items such as food, toilet paper, water and so on, it makes one think.

[ddixie884]

They aren't cheap but Buffalo Bore has their standard pressure 158gr swchp now in stock. They have been showing out of stock for awhile...........

[foesgth]

I think one needs to look at how loading/reloading is done. The machines at the ammo factories do more than one caliber just like your press. If it is currently set up for 9mm and you are selling every round you can make why stop. We know it takes time to change a setup. When they get caught up with all the 9mm orders they will think about changing over to make 38s. The way things are going we should see some new 32-20 in about 25 years.

[PhatForrest]

A few years ago, after I started casting, I looked at 38 special at the gunshop for giggles. Well I didn't giggle, but just about pooped myself when they wanted over 20 bucks a box for lead 38s.

I can't even bear to look at what they want for it now. My MP 38 molds stay hot, the IMR Red flows like water, and the Square Deal just keeps chugging out ammo for a few cents a round.

[tazman]

I just looked on Midway and the cheapest per round cost for lead round nose ammunition was 70 cents per round. Of course they are out of stock so it doesn't matter what the price is.
I am loving the fact that I have several thousand boolits cast and ready to load as well as components to load them with.
Just shot some of them at the range yesterday. Thirty rounds fired at a B27 silhouette with all but one round in the X ring at 8 yards(the distance from my bedroom door to the front door of my house). I was having a good day.
Model 13 S&W 4".

[contender1]

I have 19 boxes of Remington 38 Spl factory ammo, 158 grn LSWC that an elderly gentleman has asked me to sell for him. Nobody has jumped to buy it. This gentleman has told me to ask $40 per box for it. I'm helping a friend,, & not making a dime. Yet,,,, no buyers yet, and I've had it available for over 2 months.

[ddixie884]

Have you offered it for sale here on the forum? Someone is bound to need it. Ammo is selling briskly on the S&W forum........

[rondog]

I've got 6 boxes of factory Remington .38 Special LRN's that a guy at work just gave to me for free. Someone he knew bought them by mistake and gave 'em to him, thinking he shot .38 Special - but he shoots .38 Super. So now they're part of my stash! Score!

[contender1]

Offering ammo for sale here, or on the net invariably involves someone wanting it shipped. With HazMat fees & the PIA work, (remember, I'm NOT selling to make any money myself,) I haven't tried to sell it here. I did try a local Forum site, (Local pick-up only) and the members there, were, to put it bluntly, rude & accusatory. I was accused of "scalping" being an "armslist seller," etc. For a gun forum, that bunch isn't nowhere NEAR as nice & good as this place or a few other gun forums I enjoy.

The same gentleman had 5 boxes of 9mm, and I got them at the same time. Same price, $40 a box. I just sold them, finally, this past Saturday.

I'm sure if I took them to a gun show, they would sell quickly, but again, table rent, time etc when I'm just trying to be nice & help an older guy, isn't worth the effort. I know that eventually, I'll find a "local" buyer, but who knows when.
And heck, he also brought me 13 boxes of 16 gauge shotgun ammo to sell. $4.00 a box.

[smkummer]

I have 19 boxes of Remington 38 Spl factory ammo, 158 grn LSWC that an elderly gentleman has asked me to sell for him. Nobody has jumped to buy it. This gentleman has told me to ask $40 per box for it. I'm helping a friend,, & not making a dime. Yet,,,, no buyers yet, and I've had it available for over 2 months.

Tell your friend he is asking full scalpers prices for his ammo. While some will sell for that price, others will want a certain configuration if they are paying that price. That 16 gauge ammo is a bargain for a friend of mine. But yes, shipping probably kills the good price. Shipping loaded ammo does not require hazmat fees.

[ddixie884]

If I were you I would post it in the classifieds. I'd say it was for a retired friend and offer it up for a F2F and if someone wants to buy and ship that is on them.