Low recoil target round suggestion for 38spl

Bog · Dec 2, 2017

Hi folks,
I'm sure i'm not the 1st with this question.
SWMBO is now on board and we have purchased her a ladysmith airweight.
I'm trying to get a grip on practical low recoil rounds for her to shoot in this platform. Against my advice, she made this purchase without ever firing a revolver. I have purchased the ruger home defense rounds for her, but really want/need trigger time with something.
I have put my foot down and told her, no trigger time, the smith stays in the safe.
She has fired my glock 17 and several other 9mm, but has never touched any of my revolvers.

Thanks for your patience,
Bog

knastera · Dec 2, 2017

This is what I got for my wife:

iH8DemLibz · Dec 2, 2017

If your wife took the time to get the training, get her HQL, drive to the gun shop, pick out a gun, buy the gun, and do the paperwork, it sounds like she has her big girl pants on.

I say open the safe, hand your wife some ammo, and allow her some range time with her new toy.

If the S&W is going to be used for home defense, then train with standard .38 Special rounds. It's not like we're talking .44 Magnum.

You said she's fired your Glocks. So she has a good idea of what to expect when she pulls the trigger on a handgun. She may surprise you and do well with it.

Uncle Duke · Dec 2, 2017

148 grain lead wadcutters would be your "I want trigger time with low recoil" option. Best guess, would clock somewhat shy of 700fps out of that revolver. She'll note significant difference as opposed to jacketed loads.

Melnic · Dec 2, 2017

Look for cowboy action shooting loads

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Steven Dzupin · Dec 2, 2017

That airweight will have snappy recoil no matter!

j_h_smith · Dec 2, 2017

Uncle Duke said:
148 grain lead wadcutters would be your "I want trigger time with low recoil" option. Best guess, would clock somewhat shy of 700fps out of that revolver. She'll note significant difference as opposed to jacketed loads.

Agreed. Lead wadcutters are you preferred target load for the 38 spl.

Biggfoot44 · Dec 2, 2017

If the question is extreme accuracy with fairly low recoil , the answer is a good quality 148 HBWC .

If the question is really low recoil , the answer is SASS type Cowboy ammo.

If the question is fairly low recoil , with ubitiqous availability, the answer is generic 130fmj .

**********

An Airweight will be snappy, even compared to a steel frame snub .

This is not best for initially learning DA trigger skills . Hopefully your revolver heard includes a medium frame .38 or .357 , with a reasonably decent trigger . ( Or a .22lr DA revolver with reasonably decent da trigger .) Have her shoot/ recieve coaching with that to establish baseline DA shooting skills , then move laterally to the Airweight .

basscat · Dec 2, 2017

PM inbound.

GuitarmanNick · Dec 2, 2017

My daughter likes to shoot regular power 125 grain FMJ's from my .38 snubby. I think she loves it because of the Packmayr grips. It sure makes the gun much more manageable recoil is not a problem even if I put +P loads in it.

Bog · Dec 2, 2017

guys,
thanks for all of the responses... I was guessing that something in a wadcutter was gonna be the right direction.
I can't say that i completely understand the relationship between bullet weight vs powder = Recoil.
I do have a Ruger sp101, maybe she'll shoot it some.
Her Lady Smith does have the nice " spongey, PINK" grips on it.
My guess is with short barrel and lite frame, that normally would let you " feel" a bit more recoil than heavier frames.
I can say that she decided she " didn't like" the Glock 19 in 40 cal... partially from recoil and partly cause i think the spring was too heavy.
The reason we went with the lady smith was: 1. She liked it. 2. it felt real comfortable in her hand.
But hey, she did " put on her big girl pants". My only request was that we went to a range and tried em a bit before purchase.
I'll let y'all know how it goes.
thanks again

molonlabe · Dec 2, 2017

Bog said:
Hi folks,
I'm sure i'm not the 1st with this question.
SWMBO is now on board and we have purchased her a ladysmith airweight.
I'm trying to get a grip on practical low recoil rounds for her to shoot in this platform. Against my advice, she made this purchase without ever firing a revolver. I have purchased the ruger home defense rounds for her, but really want/need trigger time with something.
I have put my foot down and told her, no trigger time, the smith stays in the safe.
She has fired my glock 17 and several other 9mm, but has never touched any of my revolvers.

Thanks for your patience,
Bog

SWMBO?? Wow if I dictated that to my wife she would probably beat me while I was sleeping.
I would suggest standard .38 special ammo for practice. If she fired the Glock with no stovepipe the revolver should be no problem.

Biggfoot44 · Dec 2, 2017

Oversimplified-

What is thought of as recoil or kick is best reduced to simple rule of thumb relating to momentum.

There are other minor factors , but the simple , easily comparable method of ( bullet weight ) x ( velocity) . This is also refered to Power Factor in some context . For the moment don't worry about the units the answer is expressed in , just use as a relative comparison .

Here's some examples using made up ( but sorta close to real numbers) for .38spl

158 x .850 = 134.3
148 x .775 = 114.7
125 x .700 = 87.5

For a HOT FBI load , classic wadcutter from 6in bbl , and a mousefart cowboy gamer load respectively.

Subjective felt recoil further depends upon the grips , fit of the hand(s) to the grips , balance of gun generally, and bore axis moment arm specifically . But all of those are either totally subjective, or requiring more physics and calculus than I sucuessfully absorbed in my failed attempt at mechanical engineering. ( Grasp the concept yes , run the math for precise numbers , no .)

j_h_smith · Dec 2, 2017

Biggfoot44 said:
Subjective felt recoil further depends upon the grips , fit of the hand(s) to the grips , balance of gun generally, and bore axis moment arm specifically . But all of those are either totally subjective, or requiring more physics and calculus than I sucuessfully absorbed in my failed attempt at mechanical engineering. ( Grasp the concept yes , run the math for precise numbers , no .)

But with all things being equal (the same person shooting the same handgun, with only the ammo being the determining factor to felt recoil) the OP is asking what is the lowest recoil for a target load.

Target wadcutters hands down.

Biggfoot44 · Dec 2, 2017

Cowboy Action Shooting competition loads have significantly less recoil than classic Wadcutter loads . Lighter bullets, at lower velocities . Commercial offerings usually have 125gr bullets , but handloads will go even lower . At one point SASS had a minimum velocity , but most recently that I checked, they did not.

Also less accurate than ( decent ) wadcutters at usual velocities , but for the intended purpose , involves large-ish reactive & steel targets to close to medium distance , with strong emphasis on speed . For usage of learning DA skills on B-27 , Q , or similar at say 7-10yds , for either initial DA skills , or from holster , or etc , that accuracy will be plenty useful. ( For today's wheelgun snobbery , remember that horrible accuracy with revolver = "combat accuracy" for a semi .)

Once upon a naarrow slice of time at the end of the revolver era ( just before Hornaday bought out 3-D , and then phased out their line of loaded ammo ),100gr wadcutters were highly popular, primarily with operators of indoor pistol ranges.

For the sellers where they were primarily fired in their shooting ranges , it was win-win . Popular with majority of customers, at least some reduction in total weight of lead cleanup .

Not as popular for use outdoors where people could shoot at longer distances , or likely to shoot at smaller targets such as soda cans . They would notice the mediocre accuracy close , destabilization beyond 25yds , and the difference in poi . But great for blasting up close, and accurate enough to shoot 100% on typical security guard quals .

And the point of all that was the recoil, or lack thereof . At the time I described it as " hardly more than .22lr " when fired from a medium frame .

Bog · Dec 3, 2017

Biggfoot and others...
You guys rock, thanks for the easy to grasp explaination.

suffice it to say that the world has grown into a sea of choices since i took a hard look at this stuff.
It would appear that i'm on the market for wad cutters (kinda what i thought i remembered) and will "investimagate" Cowboy rounds. (more to learn there)
Heck who knows, might even begin reloading again!!! although that was also 25 yrs ago with a ss press for 9 and 40

Thanks again for sharing your experience and knowledge.
Bog

303_enfield · Dec 3, 2017

Well, the AW is not a target gun. Use the SWC for plinking an getting her to really like that hand cannon. Later, much later get her to shoot the full boat loads. If she is anything like my SWMBO, she'll still love the gun when it stands up in her hand. Those pistols are light as hell. Their so light you'll forget your wearing them. Mine liked my S&W 37 so much I'll never get it back.

Now, the bad about having an AW in the house. SWMBO will take her girlfriends out to shoot it. You'll come home to a dirty nasty pistol an a bunch of women drinking wine an talking about getting an AW just like hers. Then she'll tell you she needs SWC (you had 2K) as "your" out an to clean "her" gun.

Now, she'll want a HB Mod 10, the a Mod 66 then .........

Don't let her shoot a pre-lock or you'll be broke looking for what she wants.

Hell, save your money don't let her shot it with SWC

6Den · Dec 3, 2017

Check out Polycase ammo. The light for caliber bullets are really mild to shoot. They make a practice round and the ARX round for defense.

00 Del · Dec 6, 2017

Wadcutters with 2.7 grains of Bullseye

Here's what you do.

Buy these:

Lee Loader 38 Special
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012834895/lee-classic-loader-38-special

Lee Powder Scoops
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/943305/lee-improved-powder-measure-kit

Remington 148 grain Wadcutter (projectiles)

.38 Special Brass

Bullseye Powder

Primers (not CCI or Wolf)

Then:

1. Prime the brass

2. Load 2.8 grains of Bullseye into each case using the second to smallest powder scoop

3. Seat the 148gr. wadcutter bullet

4. Take the wife to the range and shoot.

Blacksmith101 · Dec 6, 2017

Looking at the figures for muzzle energy is a way of comparing the likely relative amount of recoil of different rounds in the same gun.

I looked at the .38 Special rounds listed in Ammo & Ballistics 4 and found:
The lowest muzzle energy was the Magtech 125-grain LRN (Short) (38G) at 130 ft-lbs and velocity of 686 fps.
The highest muzzle energy was the Sellier & Bellot 158-grain LRN (SBA03802) at 349 ft-lbs and velocity of 997 fps.

Low recoil target round suggestion for 38spl

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