Is a 4 inch barrel too long for the 135+P Gold Dot .38

[dorchester]

The consensus seems to be that the 135+P Gold Dot .38 Special load does everything you can expect a pistol round to do in the snubbies. I've got a 4 inch barreled revolver and the question arises: does a longer barrel (with its' higher velocities) overspeed the bullet's design parameters at close ranges? Will this fine loading then over expand and lose the requisite penetration? If so, what's the load of choice for a 4 inch .38, the Remington 158+P LHP perhaps? Maybe I should just cut back on the over analyzing and go to the range? Thanks for any input guys.

[Glock17JHP]

I personally think the Winchester 'FBI load' is the best in the 158 grain LSWCHP loads... the Remington is softer, might be better in a shorter barrel than the Winchester.

And YES... I personally think the Speer load is best in a barrel shorter than 4"...

[sjc3081]

The consensus seems to be that the 135+P Gold Dot .38 Special load does everything you can expect a pistol round to do in the snubbies. I've got a 4 inch barreled revolver and the question arises: does a longer barrel (with its' higher velocities) overspeed the bullet's design parameters at close ranges? Will this fine loading then over expand and lose the requisite penetration? If so, what's the load of choice for a 4 inch .38, the Remington 158+P LHP perhaps? Maybe I should just cut back on the over analyzing and go to the range? Thanks for any input guys.

The GD is what NYPD carries in their 4" and snubby 38s.

[Glock17JHP]

That doesn't automatically make it a good choice, though...

[sjc3081]

The shoot alot of people in NYC and do some serious documentation. They also issue the Speer GD124+P ,that was engineered for them, and that has been performing excellent. But I guess you know better.

[Marcus L.]

Just from observations from other loads, the 135gr+P will reach its expansion threshold and not expand beyond a certain point in a 4" barrel. A 4" revolver barrel really will not have enough of a velocity increase to fold the bullet's petals back with enough force to make the overall expansion smaller(probably only and additional 50-75fps). What you would likely experience is slightly improved penetration with good expansion. A good example is what we saw with Dr. Robert's testing of the double tap loads. Without actually testing the load, I can't be certain......but I'm confident in my guess.

You have more to worry about with using a barrel too short for the barrel length a particular load was designed for, than slightly increasing barrel length. If you were using a carbine length barrel, it might change the situation a bit. My advice is, don't sweat it and continue to use the Speer 135gr+P Short Barrel GD in your short barrel and longer barrel revolvers.

[Glock17JHP]

The shoot alot of people in NYC and do some serious documentation. They also issue the Speer GD124+P ,that was engineered for them, and that has been performing excellent. But I guess you know better.

Re-read the previous posts... we were talking about the GD .38 Special +P 135 grain HP... you even commented it was "...what NYPD carries in their 4" and snubby 38s." In your post above, you are obviously now talking about a 9mm load...

You are missing the point... the point is this:
Just because a load is chosen by a particular LE group, that doesn't automatically make it a good choice...

[Glock17JHP]

Good point, Marcus L...

[RyanB]

Do they use the same bullet in the .357 GDSB load? If they do I would be completely comfortable using the .38 load in a 4" revolver, as velocities are probably similar.

[Glock17JHP]

I don't know if it is the same bullet, but your logic makes sense!!!