i went to the range today, in part to try out this new hydra-shok ammo for my smith & wesson .38 revolver. since i prefer to shoot with a friend, i emailed my best shooting buddy last night and let him know i’d be at the range today. we met there at around 3:00, had a cigarette or two outside, and then got down to business. since he also has a smith & wesson 38 snub nose, very similar to mine, i definitely wanted his opinion on the ammo. especially because we both complain about the high degree of recoil with standard (not to mention +P) .38 ammo.

i shot 10 rounds, and he shot 5, and we both agreed that the recoil was even less than the remington wadcutters i normally use for target practice. that has a lot to do with the light weight bullet in the hydra-shok round, weighing in at a mere 110 grain. compare that to the 140 grain bullet in the hornady ammo i tried in may, and the 148 grain weight for wadcutters.

overall, i very much liked the hydra-shok ammo, it was accurate, reliable, and offered low recoil. too bad it’s $18.99 for 20 rounds at sportsmans warehouse (compared to $13.99 for 25 rounds of the hornady, or $17.99 for 50 rounds of the wadcutters at cabela’s). hornady makes a 125 grain version of the .38 jhp for a few dollars more, which i plan on trying next. i like the idea of jacketed hollowpoints for personal defense, but i’m trying to find a good cost/performance balance. i notice too that remington makes a 110 grain jhp (product # R38S16) which i’ll see if i can find.

i’m still a little confused why .38 ammo is so hard to find - perhaps because it’s so popular, no one can keep it in stock.

i also tried the federal champion .22 cal value pack ammo. at $17.99 for 525 rounds, it’s a great buy. i did have 2 duds during the day, in about 150 rounds. still not bad for the price, and it shoots pretty accurate, and burns rather clean. no messy residue on my pistol during cleanup. i prefer the american eagle ae22 ammo though, despite it costing a little more ($17.99 for 400 rounds).

on a final note, the range bag i got is a bit small. so what i think i’ll do is get a couple of soft pistol cases, which take up way less space.