.38 Special

The .38 is still respected as a round that can stop a man in his tracks. It's just that now the small .380's and 9mm's have been coming out the past 10-15 years, being able to hold more rounds and being able to reload them faster has caused the .38 to look like a Mac next to an iPad.

Yeah, the Mac is still useful, but it doesn't look as sexy as the slimmer iPad.

I don’t think it “lost respect.” It just got a lot more competition, especially with the military using the 9mm. Most manufactures beefed up their 38s to 357 mag to handle both. Also, in the 60s & 70s, revolvers were a lot more common and still used by LEAs.

Autloading pistols are what have put the .38 Special in the shadows. Whether for a pocket gun or a hip holstered gun, you can have more capacity and even a more powerful round in an autoloader without having to step all the way up to Magnum revolver rounds.

Otherwise, a .38 Special +P in a gun that is built for it has plenty of ooomph, IMO.

Semiautomatics are more popular than revolvers now. That's the bottom line.

38's are actually more effective than ever, due to advances in self defense ammunition. People are just more interested in 9mm, 40, 45acp, etc. It doesn't mean that revolver calibers are suddenly less effective.

Some of the reason why "the .38 Special seems to have fallen out of favor and is now considered an inadequate round" is due to the lingering effect of the over-hyping of the effectiveness of the .45ACP from the 1970s to the 1990's by Jeff Cooper and others. Much of the hyping was done using the .38 Special as an object of ridicule. Of course the decline of revolvers as police sidearms coupled with the "Wonder Nine" phenomenon of the 1980's is also a factor. The .38 Special as a cartridge is doing just fine as far as sales go. There are many people who still use and recommend it because of its good balance of accuracy, power and recoil. Ruger a few years ago would not have introduced a polymer framed .38 Special revolver if they did not think many people would buy it.

I think it's a great very versatile round and uderated. It's got good accuracy, managable recoil, and adequate power.

Reading the previous posts I am reminded it is a revolver cartridge and people will often choose the higher round capacity, fast and simple reloading of semi autos for personal defense on a practicle level.

The use of cool looking chrome semi autos in hollywood movies and fake cop TV action dramas has drawn the mall ninja wanabe CSI TV viewers portion of the market toward semiautos.

I personally would love to own a 4 to 6 inch barrel 38 special for range, target use, and fun that would also double as a practicle use firearm.

I would also like to own a 38 special snub nose for looks and to satisfy the old school mall ninja in me. I think it would be a fun challenge to try and get 50 to 100 yard proficiency with a snub nose other people have believe it or not.

I still like having .38 Special revolvers around, especially in a very easy to conceal S&W J frame and the ever versatile and dependable S&W K frame models.

The Marshall & Sanow book Handgun Stopping Power and related articles in Guns & Ammo did a lot to label the .38 Special as marginally effective.

The .38 Special is one of the most accurate rounds out there.
That makes it one of the most deadly.

Zeke

Radagast said:

The Marshall & Sanow book Handgun Stopping Power and related articles in Guns & Ammo did a lot to label the .38 Special as marginally effective.

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I did not take too long after publishing their book for most people to label Marshall & Sanow at best marginally credible. It was in Guns & Ammo that Jeff Cooper reached his largest audience for .45ACP hyping by, among other things, engaging in .38 Special bashing.

From what I read some .38 special loads are pretty hot and by no means marginal.

Some of the reason why "the .38 Special seems to have fallen out of favor and is now considered an inadequate round" is due to the lingering effect of the over-hyping of the effectiveness of the .45ACP from the 1970s to the 1990's by Jeff Cooper and others. Much of the hyping was done using the .38 Special as an object of ridicule. Of course the decline of revolvers as police sidearms coupled with the "Wonder Nine" phenomenon of the 1980's is also a factor.

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It was in Guns & Ammo that Jeff Cooper reached his largest audience for .45ACP hyping by, among other things, engaging in .38 Special bashing.

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Amen this. I remember those days, and that's pretty much the way I remember it. Every magazine you picked up in those days (the internet of the day), was beating the drum for the 45 acp. The "Wundernines" were just starting to be accepted, and the old 38 was looked down on as being good for rabbits.

I see it that 9mm does the same thing, but in a pistol that's slimmer and carries more rounds. And if you're going to use a revolver might as well go .357.

I carry a .38 snub but I can see how the market thinks.

The demise of the .38 as a respectable round.

Step 1. Al Gore invented the Internet.

Step 2. Shortly thereafter the Gun Blog was invented. From gun blogs we all learned that shooting someone in the fingernail with a .45 acp would result in the entire arm being ripped off the body. We also learned that some drug infused bad guy somewhere was shot 347 times with various 9mm and .38 rounds and kept advancing until someone who left their .45 acp in their other jacket dispatched him with a .50 BMG so low capacity was out and high capacity was in.

Step 3. The rest is history.

i still feel comfortable carrying a 5 shot .38 snub as my only gun. that said, i feel more comfortable with a 14 shot 9mm px4 subcompact.

I agree with Plan2Live.

If the Internet shut down tomorrow, the .38 Special round would once again be a decent choice in self or home defense.

Just look at the pic of Lee Harvey Oswald taking a lead round nose in the gut. Looks effective to me!

MedWheeler said:

I agree with Plan2Live.

If the Internet shut down tomorrow, the .38 Special round would once again be a decent choice in self or home defense.

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Not really I can see where you are comming but there are a lot of other great sources of information on the internet and lots of them are very impartial when it comes to correcting any misconceptions about the performance of different ammunition.

It's because of the internet that myths propogated by the most respectable and powerful individuals, companys, and entities are exposed for the world to see. Exposed even by your average Joe concerned about his fellow man.

It's because if it's vast archives of information that I know a thing or two about the .38 special.

It's good for good business overall.

I own two S&W . 38 revolvers and a .357.
.38's are fun to shoot, very accurate and very inexpensive to reload for.
Needless to say, I'm a BIG .38 fan!!

If you want to have some serious fun with the 38 special, pick up a Rossi 92 lever action rifle. It's chambered for the 357 Magnum and of course, shoots 38 spl. With just iron sights, it's truly amazing how accurate that rifle is with revolver '38 loads not to mention +P or 357's.

It has lost any respect from me. I run +P loads, and I feel perfectly capable of stopping any raging threat with it. I run 125's at upper 1200's fps, and 158's hitting 1100 fps, that's a very effective SD tool IMO.

9mm, though a much higher pressure cartridge than the 38 spcl. just doesn't do it for me. I mean I have 9's, but I would much rather carry a wheel gun, especially 38 spcl or .357 mag. than a 9mm or any other AL-ing firearm.

Although it may have lost some popularity due to the introduction of high pressure AL's over the years, I don't visualize the 38 spcl. ever becoming obsolete, there's just too many shooters that still recognize it's attributes.

GS

Got one in my pocket right now.
Usually do.

If they weren't as popular as ever the J Frame wouldn't be still in production

But how did the good ol' .38 lose so much respect?

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158gr RNL 'Widow Maker' loads, that's how.

Deaf