[jonrjen]

Is anyone familar with this brand or has used this ammo. I just picked up 5 boxes of 50 rounds off of the internet to be delivered next week. Paid $10.95 per box. Wasn't able to find too much information on it as far as reviews went so I am taking a chance. I did learn that the LRN stands for lead round nose. Which is a good round for practice shooting, however leaves a non perfect round hole on a paper target. I seldom use paper targets however. I had also read that due to not leaving a nice round perfect hole in a paper target is would make for a decent PP round due to the ripping effect it may deliver on contact with a human body.

Anyway, please feel free to educate me.

 

[Big Ugly Tall Texan]

I have no experience with that brand, but I like that load. I also like a 200 grain LRN.

 

[.452dia]

The 158 grain, lead round nose bullet was the standard in 38 spl. for many years or at least until the jacketed soft point and jacketed hollow point bullets were accepted by the law enforcement community but by then many were going to semiautos or other firearms that have more stopping power or held more rounds. Now it's seems the 40 S&W and the 45 ACP have gained favor with the law enforcement communities.

The 38 spl., 158 grain LRN bullet is still used but not because there is anything special about it. It doesnt cut the nice clean hole like a wadcutter or semi wadcutter bullet does on a paper target on a cardboard backer but rather tears the paper or cardboard. I think most round nosed bullet either lead or FMJ ones have the ability or over penetrate or ricochet thus have fallen out of favor except for target shooting or military use.

 

[Jake3501]

Priva Partisan is a decent ammo for imported ammo. It is made in Serbia, and one of the few companies that still manufactures ammo for a lot of the old military calibers. $10.95 a box is a good decent low price for .38 special, I pay that to a local commercial reloader if I return the brass and the box. It is no dirtier shooting than Winchester White Box or UMC Remington.

The only thing I would suggest since the ammo is LRN is to watch for leading in the barrel, and I would suggest that anytime you are shooting lead, unplated bullets.

What does leading in a barrel look like? Trust me, you can see it very easily when it occurs. Just make sure you have examined a clean bore so you have a good mental picture of what it should look like and you will have no problem knowing if you are getting leading.

I don't see any RLN as being a good Personal protection round. It might get a slight amount more of expansion than a FMJ that typically gets no expansion and little deformity, but it would be very slight.

You can buy a box of 50 Winchester .38 Special +P jacketed hollow points at Walmart for $19.95 and that will cover you for personal protection.

 

[jonrjen]

Jake,
Thank you for your feedback. I do have a couple of boxes of the HP non+P ammo for personal protection.
Could you explain "leading the barrel" for me? I know you said I would know when and if it happened. I assume it is a build up of lead in the barrel? Can this be cleaned out with the use of a wire brush and solvents or is a more major under taking required to get things back in working order?
Thank you,

 

[Jake3501]

You can always remove leading with solvents and a wire brush. It sometimes takes a lot of work to remove it all. The landings or riflings will show lead build up usually on the edge of the riflings to start and you will know they should not be there.

A severe case will look like someone blew lead snot down the barrel. It is caused by a myriad of things. First, it happens with lead bullets only that are not jacketed with copper, brass or other harder material jackets covering the lead and especially the bottom of the bullet.

It may be too hot of a (powder) load that generates too much heat for the lead the bullet is made up of. It may be too soft of a lead bullet.

A lead bullet will have a certain amount of tin added to it when melted down before pouring into the bullet molds or being swadged into bullet form to improve the hardness of the bullet.

Most factory loads have a good balance of powder charge and hardness level of the lead so that leading is not a great problem.

Lead bullets, even if properly formed and loaded will always deposit a small amount of lead down the bore. A cleaning with solvent and a brass wire brush after every range session will keep this from being a problem with most factory lead ammo. Many experienced shooters will try to run 5-10 copper jacketed rounds down the barrel for every 50 rounds of naked lead bullets fired to keep the bore cleaner.

Reloaders who are new to casting bullets and do not mix enough tin with their lead or get the loads too hot for the hardness of their cast bullets will have the most problem with leading. For the hotter loads, many reloaders will insert a copper gas check behind the bullet. This copper gas check acts as a heat shield for the lead and prevents hot gases of the burning powder from passing up past the bottom of the bullet and super-heating the lead on the sides of the bullet and helps prevent leading.

There are many more factors involved in a barrel leading up and books are written on the subject for reloaders who cast their own bullets, but this is it in a nutshell.

Copper plated bullets are less receptive to leading than unplated bullets. There is even another topic of copper fouling for plated and jacketed bullets, but again, a good solvent and cleaning with a brass wired brush usually keeps this from ever being a problem.

 

[MilProGuy]

Excellent tutorial, there Jake!

For a moment I thought I was reading one of Quiks draw's educational posts!

 

[Qwiks draw]

Actually Jake is a twin..... I think. Not really, but I do enjoy reading his posts. Always well written,factual, and right to the point. Easy on the eyes.

I have Privi experience, but it's with their M1 carbine and .32 ACO ammo.
AIM Surplus Home and Ammo For Sale : Cheap Ammo : Find Ammunition at AmmoSeek.com are two places to check for Privi Partizan ammo.

Cabela's and Sportsman's Guide, and Gander Mountain have occasional sales of it.

 

[Jake3501]

Actually Jake is a twin..... I think. Not really, but I do enjoy reading his posts. Always well written,factual, and right to the point. Easy on the eyes.

I have Privi experience, but it's with their M1 carbine and .32 ACO ammo.
AIM Surplus Home and Ammo For Sale : Cheap Ammo : Find Ammunition at AmmoSeek.com are two places to check for Privi Partizan ammo.

Cabela's and Sportsman's Guide, and Gander Mountain have occasional sales of it.

Thanks Qwik's, I consider your reply as a great compliment. I'm not as detailed in my replies as you, but I try to keep things somewhat simple!

 

[jonrjen]

Jake,
Thank you for taking your time to explain this to me, I appreciate it very much. I will keep an eye out for any issues relating to this in the future.
I maybe getting a little older, but never to old to learn.

As an after thought question, I also have a 38spl in magnesium which is not P+ rated. In your opinion would this 158 grain be ok to shoot in this pistol or would I be better off to stick with a lighter load on this revolver?

 

[Jake3501]

158 grain is fine. Powder loads are adjusted with Bullet loads to not exceed SAAMI pressures. If you ever look at any ballistic tables for a particular ammo manufacture, say for instance Remington and .38 Special loadings in particular, these tables will show pressures and velocity for all the different weight bullets. As you go from 125 grain bullets upwards to 148 grain and 158 grain bullets, the velocity drops greatly allowing pressures to remain in the safe limit. Without looking it up, I would expect a 158 grain bullet to be about 80-100 Feet per second slower than a 125 grain bullet.

 

[JimSheldon]

I've put a lot of PRVI Partizan .38 special LRN ammo through my Taurus model 85 DAO stainless and their other stuff through my old Mil-Surplus rifles (Mosin 91/30 and Enfiled #4 MK1) over the years. It has always performed well, been non-corrosive, accurate and is usually inexpensive. Also, the brass is of excellent quality and reloadable. I've heard on several occasions that PRVI Partizan is making some if not all of Winchester's brass these days. Their quality control appears to be excellent.

Unlike Sellier and Bellot, PRVI loads their ammo to velocities that are lower and probably safer in older firearms. S & B tends to be pretty hot even in stuff not labeled +P. The PRVI 158 grain LRN is an excellent practice round in .38 but not so much a good defense round. As has been mentioned previously, you need a good jacketed hollow point round. If recoil is an issue, find something loaded with the Hornady XTP bullets. They are hollow points that are designed to expend well even at lower velocities.

I hand load all my ammo and for anything I'm going to be carrying for defense, I load with XTP's. There are lots of excellent defense loads out there, and the XTP loads from Hornady is just one of them. My personal preference, but I'm by no means recommending them as exclusive. Find what works for you.

 

[olfarhors]

I have no experience with the parvi 38 spl, but have shot quite a bit of the 380 and some 9 mm, it has always been a quality ammo for me, of course this is a FMJ loading.

 

[oso]

the .38 in 158 gr. LRN is fine for practice, self defense i would choose another load. history has proved this load ineffective thus leading the US military to the 1911 in .45 acp via the .45 LC