So I was thinking of picking up some 158gr lead semi-wadcuter hollowpoint ammo to try in my .38 Special snub. And got to wondering.

These bullets rarely seem to expand at .38 Special (even +P) velocities out of a 2" barrel. And don't have the perfectly flat front face to act like a true wadcutter.

Would something like this be a better design for such guns?



Instead of a semi-wadcutter, it'd really be just a plain hollowpoint. No shoulder, just a fairly fat ogive leaving plenty of room at the tip for a wide hollowpoint cavity. I would think the wider cavity would help with expansion at lower velocities (would need to be tuned to not expand too much and still have good penetration). And if the mouth of the cavity is left fairly sharp, would likely still serve as a better wadcutter substitute in paper or in flesh if it doesn't expand vs. the typical semi-wadcutters. Kind of like the .45 "Fling Ashtray" but all lead and scaled down to .38 cal.

Basically just these but in a 158gr variety.



Why can I not seem to find something like this? Why are all the lead hollowpoints for this caliber seemingly a semi-wadcuter instead of a plain hollowpoint?

Just a guess here but I suspect you never loaded hollow base wadcutters upside down..    

Easier just to load wadcutters.

Alloy has so much to do with expansion, that along with impact velocity and the shape of the HP cavity.

Lead bullets whose composition is lead and tin only, at a ratio of around 25/1, typically expand very well, in my experience.

 These were all fired into a water tub, impact velocities are noted-

32 S&W Long- (835 fps)



.38 Special-

 

 .44 Special (Note the wide, but shallow HP cavity and how it lead to reduced expansion at low velocity)-

 

 Same as above but 300 fps faster and removed from a deer-

 

Similar bullet, same Bhn (9.5) but the alloy contained antimony which causes alloy to become brittle-



45 Colt-



Same bullet as above, ~200 fps faster and removed from a deer-



If a lead HP won't expand it's usually an issue with alloy.

I went to GT Bullets website and he was some fantastic bullet offerings. Their 160gr LSWC Hollow Point 38-429 Keith Design looks to be from the same mold as the .38 HP's I show above. Their 38 caliber 145gr Lead Semi Wad Cutter with Hollow Point would be a great bullet for loading SD rounds. The problem is his alloy.

He casts with a 96/2/2 (lead/tin/antimony) alloy which according to an Excel-based lead alloy calculator results in approximately 11.0 Bhn.

Attached File


As such these bullets would likely never expand at short barrel .38 Special velocities. At higher velocities they might expand but I'm not sure how well they'd hold together.

Rim Rock Bullets also offers HP bullets but I'm not sure of their alloy.

Here's another option from Matt's Bullets

11BHN is super soft.   My hard cast hunting LFNs are around 20.

11 is really as hard as you need to go. 5 is pure lead. 20 is probably to hard. At some point bullets are to hard and will shatter

If nobody makes it then there's really no call for it.

Shoot lead for target use or woods loads. Used 147gr hst for defense.

I have tried hollow point cast and they performed miserably.  The hollow point just smeared off when they hit the water jugs and they became a tumbling wadcutter after that.  I am sure alloy/bhn had something to do with it, but I never went back.  They might be fine for targets, but I would never use them for serious work.