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Took the wife to shoot the snubs for the first time last week, and the Speer Gold Dot 135 gr +P ammo bit her hand a little and caused her to flinch.

So, I ordered two boxes of Buffalo Bore, Standard Pressure, Short Barrel, Low Flash, Hvy .38 Special (non +P), 158 gr Soft Lead SWC-HC's.

They're advertised to "Generate much less recoil than our +P 38SPL ammo".

For anyone looking for a round with less recoil than +P's, please note what I obviously missed in the ad, the words "our +P ammo".

Looks to be very accurate, shoots well, most likely great personal defense ammo, but do not be confused.

It's recoil is no less than Speer Gold Dot 135 gr +P ammo.

It might have less recoil than Buffalo Bore's other +P .38 ammo, but it is NOT "low recoil" ammo.

Like a trooper, MrsDoc shot 40 rounds of the Buffalo Bore ammo and another 20+ rounds of Speer Gold Dot's. The Hogue Bantam rubber grips helped her shoot the Smith M36, and she even did better with the Colt DS with Jim Badger boot grips.

But she still managed to knock off the scab on her thumb from her first trip to the range.

I'm not criticizing Buffalo Bore ammo in any way, just trying to give others a head's up if they're looking for lower than +P ammo. Next I'm ordering 100 gr wadcutters from MasterCast so the Mrs can get comfortable with her snub.

problem solved

100 gn wadcutters and a set of Monogrips

She'll have some fun next time.

Nice report on the Buffalo Bore rounds and the comparison with the Speers. Hopefully the new grips will work well for you.

How is your wife positioning her thumbs on the gun?

After some of my own recent experimentation, using both powder-puff target loads and defensive ammunition, I have settled upon keeping the thumb cranked down low, well below the cylinder release to keep it (and the backstrap) from battering the thumb during recoil.

The recoil may be as sharp and harsh as ever, but my hands do not get abraded or unduly beaten, and keeping the hands injury-free is really helpful for so many things. Furthermore, I can still place the bullets where I want them to go at 7 yards.

It is an interesting dichotomy relative to the way I have been taught to run a semi-automatic. The semi-automatic has a tang for the thumb webbing to go; the thumbs are positioned high with little/no tactile input on the gun, the support hand is high and positioned in front of the trigger guard and cammed forward hard. In contrast, with the revolver, the firing hand can only be positioned as high as the grips (no tang); the thumb is cranked down low and tight; the support hand is used much differently.

Revolvers---particularly snub-nose revolvers---are really different from the semi-automatic handguns, more than I previously realized.

Nice... How is the recoil with standard 38 special?