38 special +P

jimmcgeh@lisco.com

I have an Colt Officers Model Match in 38 special,and would like to know if this load is safe to use in it?Is it a +P load?The load is
125 Gr JHP bullet and 5.3 GR of Winchester 231
Thank You for any info
Jim

Hawk Carse

Yes, that is +P, only .1 grain off the Lyman maximum.
No, it won't blow your gun up. I don't know about the "accelerated wear" warning.
But it is not what it was built for.

txfeller

I have to disagree. Shooting +p in that gun is not a good idea. While the gun itself is very strong, the weak area is the recoil plate. The plate is not fully seated, it's simply pressed flush with the frame. While it will handle standard 38 pressure until the end of time, more than that can let the primer push the recoil plate into the frame. When that happens, every time the gun is fired, the primer will back out and lock up the gun. And it's not a cheap repair.

Best to stick with standard 38's than to take the chance of that happening.

gunnut505

You should stick with what that gun was designed to shoot; 148gr DEWC, seated almost flush, with a moderate load of Bullseye.

Riomouse911

Ya, I agree re: stick to the match loading. No need to soup it up to be a defensive pistol, use it for what it was made for IMO. 'Specially since Colt revolversmith's are harder and hard to find every year if it gets out of whack from the +P.