cottnstalk, from the results of your 38Special "rodeo" I would compare that to the results of the handgun hunters tests of the Colt Python Hunter .357Mag of days gone past. (Now I'm showing my age !) With the more or less standard load 158gr JHP, hits at ranges of +- 100yrds showed similar results as to bullet not expanding . The game succumbed but it was pushing the limits of the gun/load. I remember several articles about the Hunter & it was a primer for me to build a "generic" version w/ a Dan Wesson topped w/ an 2.5x Bushnell Phantom rail mount scope. The gun would shoot ! Never got to prove it on a PA deer, but several groundhogs fell to it. I really impressed my Dad one day as he witnessed me take a hog at 98 steps! I had a load spitting a 125gr Sierra pushed by 2400 that just demolished that critter ! I moved on to a RSBH 10" .44 & the rest is history, as I was sucked into the vortex by Milek , Wooters, Herrett,Nonte & Jurras,etc. It is still a fun ride and neat to enlighten some at ranges & in the field . " Wow , You did that with a pistol!! " (insert various handgun)Till Next ,cont35bb