Jamie Jackson

My wife can't grip and reach the trigger on my 686, and her hand strength doesn't allow her to steadily work the trigger on a snub revolver. This is why my wife picked out and choose a S&W EZ .380. It works for her. Hopefully this lady can find a handgun that fits her and she can safely manipulate. I applaud you for helping her!

LOL. My Brother, Randy has had a negative impact on you! But... When yer right, yer right!

Those are pretty cool, and of course, at my age I can remember mail order guns in the Sears and Roebuck catalog. I purchased my first gun in 1965 (I was 11 years old), an H&R 16 g single shot (still have it) from Mr.Curry's Western Auto. He gave a quick phone call to my mother for her OK, and as I had a 30 hour/week job, he let me put $5,00 down and put the gun on layaway. It took me several weeks to pay it off at $5.00/week, but I picked it up myself and he gave be a box of birdshot when I gave him his final payment. I am blessed to have known times like that! If you take a $1.00 amount and plug it into an inflation cost calculator you'll find that $1.00 is equivalent to $8.05 in 2019 values. Based on that calculation we truly are in a golden time of affordable and available ammo and guns. And like @Ronald_55 hints, this may not even be a future possibility...

That'd be a great little revolver. The weight would certainly handle the magnum loads easily. But I have developed a great fondness for LCR's. I shoot my .22 LCR and .38 LCR weekly as my bride (of 31 years) has embraced shooting (finally ;)) Both Rugers are tempting though.

LOL, my J frame (640 S&W) and LCR's are range guns. I just picked up the LCR here on TGO this year and already have between 800-1000 rounds through it. The overwhelming majority have been bullets our "group" cast and powder coated. No leading at all. I need to pick up another LCR as I enjoy shooting this one so much...but I've discovered the joys of shooting .32 S&W longs recently as well, so I'm considering a .327 LCR. I would still love to have some Nyclad just to try them out.

I've read this as well and see a lot of professionals recommending FMJ ball ammo in .380 as expansion is relatively unlikely and penetration is so critical. I don't know if it's still available or even manufactured, but Federal once produced their NyClad round for .38 spl. As I recall it was pretty much "dead lead" or a very soft coated lead bullet that had a good potential for deformation, especially when striking intermediate structures like bone. And there's the "rub" with gelatin tests. Human being are made up of many different tissues of varying densities, degrees of flexibility, and the ability to take a great deal of trauma and still function. Penetration is needed along with accurate delivery to strike to quite small critical areas. Back in the early 2000's Fizzy Fletcher, in collaboration with Mr. Cirillo, manufactured a round they sold as Safe Stop for .38 spl snubby revolvers. This was a plated 148 gr wadcutter with a very sharp ogive. My notes from that time show the Safestop rounds I chronoed at an average of 721 fps, the SD was very low and the rounds incredibly accurate out of my 640 S&W. They had a "snappy" recoil, but very manageable. Alas Fuzzy got elected to some political office and the company went out of business. FWIW I also see I chronoed some 129 gr Hydrashoks and they were all over the place velocity wise, 700-780 fps. But they fed easily from a speedloader or speedstrip. I keep either Winchester 158 gr LSWC HP or 135 gr GD on my speedstrips these days.

I carry Federal Gold Medal Match 148 gr wadcutters in my J-frame size .38’s (LCR currently). These are mild recoiling (so a person may actually practice with them), penetrate adequately, are very reliable, and accurate. Trusted sources such as Dr. Gary K. Roberts, Claude Werner, and the late Jim Cirillo have recommended this type of round in the .38 snub revolvers, especially the light weight versions. Expansion out of a snub would come at a price, that’d be muzzle blast and recoil, which would have the effect of greater shot to shot times. And that expansion would be “iffy” at best. Some rounds, such as the Gold Dot design can perform adequately (most of the time), but older designs such as Hydra Shok and Golden Saber perform much better in other calibers and longer barrels. Even the excellent HST design struggles out of snub nose revolvers from what I read. The sharp ogive of a wadcutter has the potential to cut tissue and vessels vs “pushing” tissue and vessels aside as an unexpanded HP or a FMJ/LRN are prone to do. Bullets do strange things in human beings. I’ve seen people shot with lots of different rounds and I am a firm believer that placement trumps design. I’d prefer to stop the attacker with as few well placed rounds as possible. Wadcutters should help you get those rounds accurately and quickly on target imho. There’s some excellent snubbie revolver info on the Tactical Professor (Claude Werner) link below. https://www.targetsportsusa.com/federal-gold-medal-38-special-ammo-148-grain-match-wadcutter-gm38a-p-1187.aspx https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Bullets-Gunfights-Modern-Day-Gunfighter/dp/0873648773 https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/category/revolvers/

Excellent advice in this thread! I have a Lee single stage I'm still running after 33 years. It just won't wear out LOL I load all of my .38 and 5.56 on it and I'm currently loading .380 for my missus. I agree with all of the positive points of learning on a single stage, it can and will help you with the so necessary attention to detail that's needed. I learned from a Hornady Manual (1985 edition) and trial and error. But there are so many excellent resources available these days, especially on Youtube. Straight walled cases like the .38 spl are great rounds to start with. I agree on picking up several different manuals and read and refer to them. Handloading is very rewarding and is a great hobby in and of itself. Consider purchasing a chronograph. You don't need an expensive one, but I find one is a necessity for accurate safe load development. I'll be chronographing several loads my next day off. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. Mine is a Competition Electronic Pro Chrono and it's given me excellent service for several years now. https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1015086064?pid=852429&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Shooting+-+Chronographs%2C+Wind+Meters+%26+Timers&utm_content=852429&cm_mmc=pf_ci_google-_-Shooting+-+Chronographs%2C+Wind+Meters+%26+Timers-_-Competition+Electronics-_-852429&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0tL599KO5QIVjonICh1uRwOPEAQYASABEgK0V_D_BwE Excuse the mess in my handloading area. While I absolutely love my Dillon that little Lee is not neglected.

Welcome aboard Gary. Old "dry-land" Sailor here....long ago. Old Gunsite Grad as well, also long ago LOL (250 & 260). Good on you for attending. It was my first professional training and took me down a path I am fortunate to have traveled. Looking forward to your AAR on your class, if you'd be kind enough to share with us.

Yep, mines a "wiggler" too. But Darn! What an excellent size for function little 9mm! I find mine incredibly reliable and imminently shootable. I have better than 5000 handloads through it thus far and have never had a problem with it. And it loves 147 gr HST's.

My BIL (RIP) down in Mississippi took quite a few deer using his old $85.00 Mosin and the old Black Box Wolf ammo He was a hell of a fine deer hunter. iirc the majority of his shots were 25-50 yards, occasionally out to 100, but he said he never had any problems using that gun/ammo combination. But that was over 15 years ago and I have no idea if the ammo is the same, but I would think it'd be serviceable. Let us know how the hunt goes for you.

My condolences to his friends and family, and my prayers for all.

double tap somehow... must need coffee...

I had the same thought and then I saw a vid a guy on another forum made of him running a Shockwave or a Tac-14 with an RMR on it, from his vehicle. He's not a YT'er type. That particular forum has a lot of solid shooters and trainers on board and several folks post vids to demonstrate concepts and techniques. While and RMR is a very expensive option imho, it was a pretty decent display of the potential of such a setup. You could obviously tell he's put the work into developing what he demonstrated.

Awareness, Avoidance. Deterrence, and Deescalation are always excellent advice. A fight you didn't have to fight is the only one you'll win when all is said and done. We carry a higher obligation when we choose to live an armed lifestyle. At any altercation we know there is at least one deadly force tool available. Please seek professional training @mscar111, it's invaluable imho. And thank you for asking the questions. I hope you'll heed the advice.

This is a pretty convincing argument right here. I hate prepping 5.56/.223 brass. It's tedious no matter how you spin it. And my time is worth something to me. I thoroughly enjoy the process of handloading and load development otherwise... but prepping rifle/carbine brass is a PIA. Thanks @billt.

Welcome Home and welcome to TGO!

I just came across the below (link). $22.50 for a 50 round box of 147 gr HST 9mm. That's pretty darn close to what I paid a couple of years ago. Flat Rate shipping at $12.99 iirc https://www.massammo.com/product/federal-9mm-147gr-hst-500-round-can-flat-rate-shipping/

Yeah, it was a great deal while the sale lasted. The $799.00/1K is in the same ballpark as other sites I frequent. It looks like Bone Frog is now restricting sales. That sucks as they've always had great prices in the past. Iirc we had a discussion about that in relation to the 50 round vs 20 round boxes in the recent past. There's a few sites (SGAmmo for one) stating they are having delayed shipping because of increased orders... looks like folks are taking advantage of the unimpeded availability. Might be prudent considering the current political climate. I'm not encouraging a panic run or anything. Hopefully folks have taken advantage of the incredibly low pricing already this year.

@hipower I think you are making a solid decision to keep this revolver. I still kick myself in the butt for not picking one up years ago. The .44 special is one of my favorite cartridges, especially to handload for, and this is one beautiful Smith imho. Of course you know you could post a pic of it...for those unfortunate souls like myself that must live vicariously through your good fortune.

The 147 gr 9mm HST is hand's down the most accurate factory ammo I've ever fired. I confidently carry it in all of my 9mm's. And it's functional street record is beyond reproach. And it carries Doc GKR's seal of approval. Thankfully I have a "few" boxes of it sitting downstairs.

Well Dave, now that you bring this up, I'm gonna start checking your profile...maybe every day... if I can remember I posted this...

LOL. The frustrating thing is that it takes little to nothing to start a stampede... Lord knows I'm glad I handload.

Darn good price! I know I love my RMR, RDS will kind of spoil ya. The Venom has a top loading battery iirc. That's a great feature imho.