Saturday, December 1, 2018

Federal Nyclad .38 Special +P 158-grain Semi-Wadcutter XMN38H

Lookee what I found hiding in the ammo-raft; 1,000 rounds of THESE!  I remember buying them many years ago but for some reason I had it in my head they were round-nose ball and standard pressure (non +P).  I use my 158-grain +P lead SWCHP carry-loads sparingly during practice because my inventory is running low on them (<350 rounds or so left) and I have not run across any screaming bargains in my search for more ... that and the fact that I am a bit skittish about my many years of exposure to lead.  These will serve as perfect surrogates for use at the shooting range in the meantime.  There is also a chance that I may just give up altogether on using unjacketed lead bullets and just use up what is left ...  once all of the 158-grain stuff is gone, I may lighten up my practice loads AND my carry loads to the somewhat softer hitting / softer kicking 110 - 125-grain cartridges (+P for the magnum-steel frame revolvers, and NON +P for the standard steel frames and the alloy frames) because of the ever increasing arthritic pain in my hands.

Commonly recognized as range fodder, some old-school cops preferred to carry semi-wadcutters as their duty loads instead of hollowpoints (some municipalities actually insisted on "solids" because they considered police use of hollowpoints distasteful).  I certainly would not feel naked carrying these in a (non-ursine area) woodland walkabout K-frame revolver ... or for most any other self-defense scenario.

Federal no longer offers this load and IMHO they never will return it to the product line.  The law enforcement market has moved to semi-auto cartridges.  The civilian market for a load such as this is pretty lean.

For those unfamiliar with the "Nyclad" moniker, it is a gun industry portmanteau of Nylon Clad; the blue color of the bullet is a Nylon coating over the lead ... the intent is to minimize airborne lead, barrel leading, etc.





 Commercial production run (likely for a municipal police department) February 18, 2001





Sealed primers ... plated cases ... this is some really great stuff!