The best 38 ammo
Every 38 has different ballistics, and you must test to see what
ammo is "best" for your specific 38. In general, factory ammo is
good enough, but competition shooters will find that hand-loaded 38
ammunition is better than factory 38 ammo.
To see what ammo is best for your 38, I recommend conducting
real-world tests, using different ammo and different hand-loads.
I tested several
combinations of factory ammo, and hand-loaded bullets and powder charge
weights.
For test-re-test
consistency, please note that for the two bullet test groups, light (125
grain) and heavy (158 grain), I loaded each cartridge with the exact
same amount of powder, regardless of bullet weight.
This weight was determined
by the Sierra and UCSP loading tables.
Experiment 1: August 28, 2011, using a
Ruger 357 revolver at 25 yards with a bench rest.
Scoring: Best 10 out of 15
shots:
10 points = 3 inch bullseye
9 points = 6 inch circle
8 points = 12 inches
|
Brand
|
Bullet Grain
|
Powder Grain
|
Score
|
Avg. Grp. Area Sq. In.
|
Avg. Grp. Elevation In.
|
Avg. Grp. Windage In.
|
|
PMC (Janet)
|
132
|
3.6
|
94
|
36
|
6
|
6
|
|
PMC (Don)
|
132
|
3.6
|
93
|
12
|
6
|
2
|
|
Winchester (Janet)
|
130
|
4.1
|
91
|
27
|
5
|
5.5
|
|
Winchester (Don)
|
130
|
4.1
|
94
|
20
|
5
|
4
|
|
Powder
|
Bullet Grain
|
Powder Grain
|
Score
|
Avg. Grp. Area Sq. In.
|
Avg. Grp. Elevation In.
|
Avg. Grp. Windage In.
|
|
Unique
|
125
|
5.7
|
96
|
22
|
5
|
4.50
|
|
Unique
|
158
|
5.7
|
89
|
27
|
6
|
4.50
|
|
Bullseye
|
125
|
4.5
|
86
|
33
|
7.20
|
4.40
|
|
Bullseye
|
158
|
4.5
|
93
|
21
|
5
|
4.25
|
|
Titegroup
|
125
|
4.4
|
90
|
42
|
7
|
6
|
|
Titegroup
|
158
|
4.4
|
95
|
27
|
4.50
|
6
|
|
American Select
|
125
|
4.3
|
92
|
7
|
3.50
|
2
|
|
American Select
|
158
|
4.3
|
97
|
10
|
4
|
2.50
|
Conclusions:
American Select powder
stood-out in all tests.
The hand-loaded ammo
out-scored the factory ammo for these cases:
·
Unique with heavy bullets
(96)
·
American Select with heavy
bullets (97)
·
American Select with light
bullets (92)
It may be that lighter
powder charges (4.3 for American Select) led to better accuracy at 25
yards.
For the next trail, the
manufactured PMC and Winchester ammo will be range tested against these
loads:
·
Sierra 158 bullets with
Unique 5.7 and varied lighter powder charges
·
Sierra 158 with American
Select using 4.3 and varied lighter powder ranges
·
UCSP 125 grain bullets with
Unique powder ranges
·
UCSP 125 with American
Select powder ranges
