Buffalo Bore vs Underwood vs Doubletap

[Collim1]

Any opinions on these three?  

I am wanting a heavy hard cast solid in .38spl that will be safe in all my revolvers whether they are chambered for .357mag or .38spl but still have some ass behind it.

I want it to make 1000fps in my snubby and close to 1200 in my 4” guns. This would be for a woods load for hunting season. 

I do reload, but I have limited experience in working up loads. I load standard pressure 148g HBWC and 158g LSWC loads that are loaded for accuracy and soft shooting, not power.

If anyone has a good load they have proved over a chrono I am open to suggestions on that as well, but I am thinking I just want to buy a box and shoot a few to familiarize myself with them and keep two speedloaders loaded up with them. I shouldn’t need more than that for a long time.

[Borg warner]

3 hours ago, Collim1 said:

Any opinions on these three?  

I am wanting a heavy hard cast solid in .38spl that will be safe in all my revolvers whether they are chambered for .357mag or .38spl but still have some ass behind it.

I want it to make 1000fps in my snubby and close to 1200 in my 4” guns. This would be for a woods load for hunting season. 

I do reload, but I have limited experience in working up loads. I load standard pressure 148g HBWC and 158g LSWC loads that are loaded for accuracy and soft shooting, not power.

If anyone has a good load they have proved over a chrono I am open to suggestions on that as well, but I am thinking I just want to buy a box and shoot a few to familiarize myself with them and keep two speedloaders loaded up with them. I shouldn’t need more than that for a long time.

Both Buffalo bore and Underwood make excellent ammo and many of their loads of the same bullet weight produce identical velocities. I tend to prefer the Underwood becaseu their prices are better including their shipping costs. The only time I've bought Buffalo Bore is when I was able to order it through my local Cabela's and not have to pay shipping. I've also used Doubletap but don't have as much experience with it, but it seemed to be good ammo.

The underwood 38 Special +P 158 Grain Hard Cast Keith SWC does 1250 fps out of an unspecified barrel length but it is likely 4 inch and it's not only hardcast but it's a coated bullet. It's $15.50 for 20 rounds and shipping as I recall is about 8 dollars and they ship in less than 5 days. That load can be shot in any 39 special that's rated for Plus+P but I wouldn't recommend it for an airwight J-frame and even in a steel framed 5 shot snubby I'd what some heavy rubber grips on the gun for shooting a heavy plus+P load. A Plus +P load that would probably have less recoil would be their 125 grain JHP load which uses a Speer Bonded gold dot JHP though I'd prefer the 158 grain hardcast for shooting out of a larger gun.

https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/products/38-special-p-158-grain-hard-cast-keith?variant=7865929236537

https://www.underwoodammo.com/products/38-special-p-125-grain-bonded-jacketed-hollow-point?variant=7865903317049

Edited October 20, 2018 by Borg warner

[Fnfalman]

I had primers blown out of Buffalo Bore 9mm+P+ ammo. 

 

Kind of turned me off there. I understand that I took a chance on shooting +P+ loads, but still, it made me leery. 

 

[paul45]

I also like Underwood.  He has regular 10% off sales and fair shipping. Always less expensive than the other two.

[Dric902]

Underwood, although Buffalo Bore has great hunting loads in cast.

doubletap for 10mm

[c10bonanza]

Another vote for Underwood.  I’ve shot lots of UW 10mm.  Check out Midwayusa, as it frequently runs sales on UW ammo and often offers free shipping.

[DonD]

A bit of chronograph data:

Ruger SP101 .357 Mag, 3 1/16" barrel

Double Tap 158gr JHP, 1116fps

Buffalo Bore 158gr JHP, 1312 fps/604 ft lbs

And the winner is.....clearly Buffalo Bore.  Subjectively, the recoil was no different than my handloads which were running about 1160 fps.  Don

[AK_Stick]

Double tap started on GT. So there’s always that. 

[Borg warner]

I've used all three. Underwood, Double Tap, an d Buffalo bore, and I prefer Underwood because of the price. Many of the same equivalent loads for UW And BB such as the 38 Special 150 grain hardcast wadcutters  and the 357 Magnum 180 grain hardcast loads give identical velocities out of the same gun. Thew one way I found to save money on BB is to have Cabela's order it for me if it's a load they don't normally carry to save shipping costs but Underwood is usually still a little cheaper and Underwood's shipping costs are reasonable and delivery is prompt.

As far as overall quality there isn't any difference except for in one instance.  In 10mm, UW ammo works fine when fired out of a Glock OEM barrel but when fired out of an aftermarket barrel with a tighter chamber. Usually 3 or 4 out of every 20 round box will not pass a plunk test. I don't find this to be a problem because as long as I have 16 "Good" rounds to load in my G20 I can use the other 4 rounds  for practice and usually even if they don't pass the Plunk test, (Removing the barrel from the gun and dropping each round into the chamber)) the tight  fitting rounds don't usually cause FTF's and if they do, it's good practice having to deal with it.

One advantage of UW over BB or DT is that Underwood now applies a powder coating to their hardcast loads for those concerned with leading even though it was never a problem for me because I like to clean my guns after shooting them.

There are two Double Tap 10mm loads I would klike to try but one I think has been discontinued. And that  is the 230 grain hardcast. load, but the other one is the 200 grain hardcast load that develops  1300 fps/750 ft lbs. with a wide flat nose hardcast gas check bullet. this would be an especially good load for Glocks with OEM barrels because some guns will not stabilize bullets heavier than 200 grains.

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by Borg warner

[jmohme]

I have not tried Buffalo Bore or Double Tap, but have use a lot of Underwood in my G20. Not a single complaint.

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by jmohme

[Moshe]

I tried Underwood, it must have been a bad batch, because the box turned into a box of jam-o-matic.  People always dump on Double Tap, but it shoots.  I have a box of .460 Rowland by Buffalo Bore, they make a good product, they just over package.

[Borg warner]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:29 AM, Moshe said:

I tried Underwood, it must have been a bad batch, because the box turned into a box of jam-o-matic.  People always dump on Double Tap, but it shoots.  I have a box of .460 Rowland by Buffalo Bore, they make a good product, they just over package.

What kind of gun was it that wouldn't feed the underwood ammo and what kind of ammo was it? I've had good luck with 40 S&W in a Glock, 9mm in a Glock 9mm in and 38 d[ecial and 357 in Smith and Wessons.

The only problem I've had is with the 10mm ammo where the ammo worked fine in the stock barrel but wouldn't pass the "Plunk" test in a LW barrel that had a tight chamber but none of those rounds caused a malfunctions

I've also used Buffalo bore and it's good ammo, but the only Double tap I've tried was 44 special.

[Moshe]

8 hours ago, Borg warner said:

What kind of gun was it that wouldn't feed the underwood ammo and what kind of ammo was it? I've had good luck with 40 S&W in a Glock, 9mm in a Glock 9mm in and 38 d[ecial and 357 in Smith and Wessons.

The only problem I've had is with the 10mm ammo where the ammo worked fine in the stock barrel but wouldn't pass the "Plunk" test in a LW barrel that had a tight chamber but none of those rounds caused a malfunctions

I've also used Buffalo bore and it's good ammo, but the only Double tap I've tried was 44 special.

10mm.