American Handgunner May/June 1977

Some loads author found adequate for trail use (left to right): SpeerShot cartridge; Remington 158 g. LRN; 150 g. JHP handload and 6.5 g. of after the leaves the otherUnique; 140 g. Cast SWC ahead of 11.5 g. 2400; Remington 125 g. JHP (+ P). start One these ismomentum. Whereas the lighter bulleteven the .22 magnum. Thus we turnedour attention to developing the optimumload for our trail gun.There are a number of lightweight, medium-boreautomatics on the market thatcould qualify as a trail pistol. Some excellentexamples are the lightweight ColtCommander in .38 Super or 9mm, or theSmith & Wesson Model 39 in 9mm. However,the automatic sacrifices an essentialelement that makes it an inferior trail gun:it lacks versatility concerning the ammunitionit will digest. Kept within rathernarrow pressure and impulse limits, theautomatic will function well. But the keyconcept of the trail gun is versatility. Withreloading, the .38 special revolver becomesthe king.The standard factory loading for the .38special is a 158-grain romd-nose bulletwhich the factory lists at 855 feet-per-secondfrom a six-inch barrel for a muzzle energyof 256 foot-pounds. This same loadusually clocks out of a two-inch tube atsomewhere around 600 fps with an accompanying126 ft.-lbs. of energy. This isthe same round that has received suchraves in the gun press over the past fewyears as the greatest deterrent to policebrutality since the Miranda decision. Un-fortunately, the police officer using theload isn't always so lucky. But even thispuny loading out of the snub-nosed barrelclosely matches the .22 long rifle out of arifle barrel. And since it is .36 caliberwhen it leaves the barrel, it doesn't have towaste energy expanding to a potent profile.Used at the short ranges necessary forreliably bagging small game, its parabolictrajectory is of no serious consequence.We have found this load to be excellenton rabbits, squirrels and bullfrogs.Since we are interested in savingmoney, you can use the lightweight jacketedbullets to make up your own highperformance type loads. Cost per box of50 will still show some improvement overthe .22 magnum rimfire, and, of course,energy figures will be greater.However, there is a fly in the ointmentAs usual, in life as well as in ballistics, youdon't get something for nothing. Withoutgetting into physics, suffice to say thatwill indeed yield phenomenal energylevels at short ranges, as the range increases,that yield deteriorates rapidly.The same factor which contributed to itsshort range energy produces the rapid de-terioration of that energy-lack of mass.Practically speaking, this means that aheavy bullet will retain its velocity over agreater period of time than a light bullet.And, since a trail gun will be used at longerranges, the lightweight bullets may notbe the best choice. Again, it is a personalprerogative. You decide what you wantfrom a cartridge, and then you take yourchoice. Since we enjoy plinking at extendedranges, we have found the 140-grain bullets to be the best weight compromise.Here also you can now use jacketed bullets.However, since the short-barreledweapons are the usually lightest, andtherefore the most appealing as a trailgun, velocities are not going to run highenough to really take advantage of thejacketed bullet design. Our favorite load(Continued on page 66)Expansion tests in soft-packedsand (I. to r.): 158 g.. LRN;150 g. JHP handload; 140 g. SWChandload (best penetration, andlarge wound channel): 125 g. JHP.AMERICAN HANDGUNNER MAY/JUNE 1977