.38 Special Gelatin Test Results
Ammo Type:		Entrance Velocity (fps)	Entrance Energy (ft-lbs)	Exit Velocity (fps)	Exit Energy (ft-lbs)	Exit Transfer (ft-lbs)	Relative Temporary Cavity Volume
158-gr. LRN		776	211	629	139	73	1.0
200-gr. LRN		664	196	559	139	57	0.8
158-gr. LSWC Std. Vel.		804	227	623	136	91	1.2
158-gr. LSWC High Vel.		930	304	691	168	136	1.9
Super Vel 110-gr. JHP		1089	290	348	30	259	3.5
Winchester 158-gr. LSWCHP		951	317	399	56	261	3.6
Norma 110-gr. JHP		1134	435	413	43	392	5.4

Commercial jacket hollowpoint and softpoint bullets had been around only a few years when we agreed to do the tests, and we made sure they were well represented. From prior water expansion tests, we knew that some early hollowpoints were better dubbed “selling points,” defying expansion in any medium less dense than brick. Others were pretty impressive; the original Super Vel 110-grain JHP trotted through the screens at 1,090 fps, expanded nicely, and transferred 260 ft-lbs. That’s about 3.5 times the wounding ability of the baseline LRN load.

There were a few surprises. A Norma 110-grain JHP left the revolver barrel at over 1,330 fps and transferred 390 ft-lbs. We later discovered this was decent performance for .357 Magnum HP bullets! The tests also showed that jacketed softpoints--popular back then as being “noncontroversial”--did not expand. Unless driven at velocities no factory would dare to sell in a .38 Special cartridge today, softpoints were mostly middle-of-the-pack performers.

The top performers tended to cluster in the 200 to 275 ft-lb transfer range. We were expected to make a single product recommendation and knew we had to look at more than a single parameter to reach a viable answer.

Second-Order Effects
We crime-lab guys were shooters, and two of us were certified firearms instructors. We felt qualified to explore other factors that affected how the average cop used and reacted to his sidearm. I won’t go into the details here, but be assured that many of these, such as recoil, were subjective factors and thus received subjective review. However, we had enough shooting experience to believe that we nailed these pretty close to what the average officer would need.

We considered recoil, muzzle flash as photographed in darkness, expansion in snubnose revolvers, point-of-impact shift in revolvers with fixed sights, exit velocity, effects on automobiles--we found you can’t kill a car with a .38 Special--and ricochet potential. All these were added to the hard data from gelatin testing as we moved toward a recommendation.

The Lab’s Recommendation
Being the chief “wordsmith” among us lab rats, I got the job of writing it up. The Properties Department captain called and said he wanted one of us there when he presented the report to the Chief of Police and his senior staff. Someone tossed me the car keys.

I walked into the conference room, and the captain said, “You’re doing the presentation.”

I hadn’t seen so much brass since my last visit to an ammo plant. I presented our recommendation: the Winchester 158-grain lead hollowpoint semiwadcutter (code W38SPD), which would today be a +P load. It stood out from the pack with a 260 ft-lb energy transfer, low exit energy, a point of impact very close to the old duty ammo, relatively decent performance on car windshields, and the ability to expand its diameter when fired from a snubnose revolver. It alone had all the right attributes.

Chief Don Byrd asked his staff if there were any questions or objections. There weren’t any, and Byrd turned to the captain and said, “Buy it. Now.”

The ammo was quickly bought and issued. We nervously kept our ears to the ground for reports of its use. As they came in, we found that the new cartridge not only was doing a superb job when it was used in earnest, but it also gave many officers a new confidence in their issued sidearms.

The success of the initial test program was sufficient for us to obtain grant money for better equipment, including a ceiling-to-floor steel bullet trap and a matched pair of lab-quality Oehler ChronoTachs with large photoelectric screens. With this new gear, we could take simultaneous entrance and exit velocities, allowing much more diligent analysis of data sets. We started testing every kind of handgun ammunition a peace officer might conceivably carry from .22 Long Rifle to .45 Colt.

As we advanced with the new gear and reviewed more and more police shootings, we realized that we had recommended the right cartridge to the Dallas Police for the wrong reason. I’ll explain why next month.

Editor’s Note: Allan Jones is the newest addition to the Shooting Times stable of writers. Former Dallas County Crime Lab forensic firearms examiner and editor of Speer Reloading Manuals 12 through 14, he joins the staff as ballistics editor.