[Ryan Pultz]

So I picked up a 38 special little snub noise for carry in the woods and fishing and defense at the house nice little gun not pretty but will work for what I need now I need to figure out what rounds to use. The gun will be used for defense so I dont want something that will over penetrate as I live in an apartment. So What yall got for me! rp

 

[oregonoutdoors]

I keep corbon pow'rball in my snubbie. It has super high velocity and positive expansion. They expand up to the size of a quarter, or the size of a nickel at the very worse. Probally not any good for bears but it should flatten anything less out of my .357. I shot a badger in the mouth with one and the bullet did not exit.

 

[Troutinator]

The Pow'rBall is an excellent choice as is the Glaser Safety Slug. Same basic idea in both... read more here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaser_Safety_Slug

 

[bait dunker]

personally im with elmer keith on this one, i believe the 38 special is only suitable for shooting rabbits! now dont get me wrong, im not saying i want a 38 in my hide, but if that slug didnt exit a badger, a small thin skined small boned animal, i would be a little nervous having to shoot an intruder!:twocents:

 

[Snubber]

Having done wound ballistic seminars for police agencies for a few years, where agencies review/select their ammunition based on how it performs through ballistic gelatin and various barrier material ( jackets, shirts, wood, etc ) placed on or in front of ballistic gelatin.

Officers were encouraged to bring any ammunition they wanted to see perform and it was all shot, so they could see first hand, how the ammo performed.

No disrespect, but when officers saw how Glaser and Powerball performed, they started to unload their magazines and replace with other ammo. They had read all the hype, but had not seen how the ammo performs in real world situations they would be encountering.

You are looking for maximum expansion with no over penetration. Keeping in mind, if this is for home defense, what barrier materials may you be dealing with: Wall board (sheetrock ), door material and clothing.

Federal has some personal defense loads that feature lighter bullet weights, hollow point and reduced recoil for average shooter, making follow-up shots easier if necessary.

At the time, Speer Gold Dot, was the hands down performer in all ammo calibers.

 

[Butcher45]

If you are looking for maximum expansion from snubbie velocities, and aren't afraid to clean out your barrel a little more often, try to find the Devastator design cast in dead soft lead (not wheel weight). Don't try to shoot a bear with it, though.
Amazing bullet. This will be my "fur friendly" loading.
Here is a demonstration of a 207grain, dead soft lead .452 caliber Devastator at about 735+fps. The 9mm/.38 version is known to be a lot more volatile than the .45 and as you can see the .45 puts all of it's smack into a short (but large) wound channel. The plastic bags are standard gallon-capacity zip-lock freezer bags.
Try this with a jacketed bullet at this low velocity!

 

[alaskan]

I may carry that kind of gun occasionally:grin: and what I've found to work well is the Federal 129 gr. Hydra Shok.
This load is only intended for 2 legged varmints, so I wouldn't carry it for defence against 4 legged pests, for that I would choose a solid lead, or copper bullet.

 

[James in Idaho]

In the woods I'd use the hardest cast bullet I could find. At home the cheapest factory nothing fancy load I could find. Last thing I would want to explain to a prosecuting attorney is why I had the current version of "Black Talons" in my revolver.

 

[Jared Jorgensen]

In the woods I'd use the hardest cast bullet I could find. At home the cheapest factory nothing fancy load I could find. Last thing I would want to explain to a prosecuting attorney is why I had the current version of "Black Talons" in my revolver.

What do the state Police use in Idaho? Pretty sure they are familiar with defending cops who use those. Don't skimp on your safety