Winchester's Super-X 148-grain WC is a full wadcutter, a flat-faced lead target bullet loaded mild so it cuts a clean round hole in paper. It leaves the muzzle at 710 fps with 166 ft-lbs. Power factor is 105, which lands exactly on the IDPA stock-revolver floor of 105 with no margin at all, and 15 under the 120 USPSA revolver-minor floor. From a 25-yard zero the bullet is 4.3 inches low at 50 yards and 29.8 inches low at 100, and it has slowed to 635 fps by 50. That is normal for a low-drag wadcutter, which is built for 25 yards, not 100.

Black Hills 148-grain HBWC is the closest match at 700 fps and 161 ft-lbs, 10 fps and 5 ft-lbs behind, with about 2 percent less recoil energy in the same revolver and the same 106 ft-lbs at 100 yards. Every 158-grain lead load on this page hits harder and kicks more. Remington UMC 158-grain LRN and Magtech 158-grain LRN run 755 fps and 200 ft-lbs with about 26 percent more recoil energy. Black Hills Cowboy 158-grain CNL at 800 fps carries 59 ft-lbs more and produces about 38 percent more recoil. Sellier & Bellot 158-grain LRN, at 997 fps and 349 ft-lbs, roughly doubles the Winchester's recoil energy.

This is the load for bullseye and other paper matches at 25 yards, and for any shooter who wants the softest .38 Special session on this site while still making the IDPA 105 floor, which Black Hills HBWC at 104 does not. If you need a lead load that clears 120 for USPSA revolver, Black Hills Cowboy CNL does it at 126. If you want practice that feels like a defensive load, or a jacketed bullet for ranges that restrict lead, Speer Lawman +P 158-grain TMJ produces about 67 percent more recoil energy in the same revolver and needs a revolver rated for +P.