[Wiregrassguy]

IMO, it is purely a marketing ploy by S&W to get people to buy a gun so light it couldn't possibly handle +P ammo. SAAMI is the organization, of which S&W is a member, that sets standards for ammo. It introduced +P in the mid-1970's at the same time it downgraded the pressure rating for standard ammo. +P is essentially standard pressure .38 Special before the pressure standards were revised. SAAMI has also changed upward the proof pressures for .38 Special and now referrs all testing to +P proof pressures. Gun manufacturers are party to these changes and only stupid ones would design a gun that couldn't handle any pressure commercial ammo that it could properly chamber.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Maybe I can make this simple. There is no S&W .38 Special revolver that cannot shoot +P all day every day irrespective of how it is marked. Period.

Well, er, except for the aluminum cylinder guns made in the 1960's.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

I just want to point out that 5150 originally requested to know if his gun could shoot +P ammo without problem. He didn't ask whether it was a good idea or if it conveyed some magic benefit that pedestrian standard pressure ammo doesn't, or whether it cost too much. Why does this always seem to devolve into a philosophical argument when the simple, accurate answer is "yes, you can shoot +P without damaging your gun?"

 

[Wiregrassguy]

5150 --> Did you get what you wanted?