In its standard loading, 158-grain lead bullet, the .38 Special is a notoriously poor stopper.  However, when you go to the +P and +P+ categories, the .38 Special becomes a good defense round.

 

The +P and +P+ designations indicate the level of "souping up" the manufacturer has done to the loading.  This usually takes the form of: (1) a different powder, weight of charge, and higher velocity, lighter bullet or (2) a heavy, better design bullet, slightly lower velocity, with a different powder charge.

 

Both +P and +P+ are very tough on an aluminum frame revolver if shot as a steady diet.  The standard 158-grain lead rounds are OK, for casual shooting, and reserve the hot stuff for testing and social encounters.  Steel frame revolvers are less affected, but remember that these are high pressure loadings and they put a lot more strees on the gun and its parts when fired.  Since you won't be running lots of the hot stuff through your gun on a regular basis, you shouldn't have a problem.  This is just an advisory that you will if you do.

 

Cor-Bon, Federal, Remington, Winchester and several other manufacturers make excellent defense rounds for the .38 Special.  Use the best you can afford that seems to work for you based on what you read and some testing.  The main thing is that you must be able to shoot the round well enough to put copper and lead on target.  Otherwise, it's just noise and flash. 

 

My choice of defense round is the Federal Hydra-Shok.  From what limited testing I've done and what I've read, it seems to offer one of the best bangs for the buck.  The Hydra-Shock comes in a 147-grain JHP for 9x19 Luger, 158-grain JHP for .38 Special, 170-grain JHP for .357 Mag, 180-grain JHP for .40 S&W, and 230-grain JHP for .45 ACP.  Terminal effects on the target are excellent and it has a high incident of one-shot drops (this is good) according to the stats compled by the FBI.