.38 sp gaining?

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Luckily for us, component prices at least seem to not be as ridiculous as loaded ammo prices. I enjoy reloading, so I don't mind spending the time. .38 Special is one of my favorites to reload actually. I mostly shoot .38 Special, 9x19mm, and .45ACP. I can make reasonable loads using lead bullets in .38 and .45, so that keeps prices down. I prefer jacketed in 9x19, but come to it, there is nothing wrong with lead there either.

I buy all my bullets on the internet. I haven't had any problems getting lead bullets online at all. I have lots of brass and huge supply of powder. I'll probably need primers before anything else. Hopefully they will be available. I bought a bunch last year and haven't needed any recently.
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This is the best way to keep your firearms freedom. As they've been saying, Barrack isn't necessarily targeting guns, but the ammo. So are many states, with BS like microstamping and banning lead. I'm sure reloading components will be available for the next 100 years at least. I just keep forgetting to buy a press...I like to think of it as "I'm saving up once used brass for later". :)
 
Back to you guys, well, last night the wife and I went to another Super Walmart. (my wife needed carrots for the roast she was making). I went immediately to the sports counter (left her at the grocery section), Bought 2 more (550) boxes of 22lr. Last ones they had, and a box of 230 gr. .45 remington.(they only had 2 boxes, another guy wanted one), so i bought the other one, sold out!, well, no .38 Special at all. the guy behind the counter stated they hadn't had any for about a month. Backordered!, now a question for the re-loaders, I've got a set of RCBS reloading dies (for my .45), and if i can find .38 Special dies, does that mean i need a RCBS press? Or are dies interchangeable?
 
Dies are mostly interchangeable, but there are some exceptions. A Dillon Square Deal, for instance, uses it own dies. I would imagine that just about any of the common single stage presses would work with your dies, and probably most of the progressives too.

I happen to be a huge fan of the RCBS Rock Chucker, and with the exception of one set of Lee dies I have, all mine are also RCBS.
 
"Anyway, .380 auto ammo is hard to find as well. Georgia Arms, Mastercast, Ammunition To Go, Ammoman etc. all are short of it."


Very true, but oddly enough I found some new bargain priced big boxes of these in the Walmart's otherwise almost-bare ammo shelves yesterday.
 
>>Seems to me that people with a stockpile of ammo were "getting real" a long time ago.<<
>>It can be overdone.<<

I don't know.... is there such a thing as having too much ammo? I think not!! ;)
 
It can be overdone.
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Who decides? Where is the line between overdone and just right? How is it anyone's business if I have 45 tons of ammo squirreled away (which I don't)?

Back to .38 specials and Wal-mart; it must be a regional thing. .38 special was just about all that was on the shelves at a couple of my local WMs. That and a bunch of Federal 550 count .22.
 
.38 sp gaining?
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Perhaps. In the big picture, I wouldn't say the .38spl has gained or lost. IMO (the wife doesn't value that very much:)) I think the .38 spl has always been in the top three most popular handgun centerfire cartridges, together with .45acp, 9mm, .357 mag, .40S&W, .380 at one time or another. IMO, it has always been popular, give or take a few percentage points in terms of annual consumption rates. By consumption, I mean commercially bought new and re-manufactured ammo, plus those burned by reloaders.

This is probably because of the .38 spl's versatility as a defensive and target cartridge, and its longevity-it has been around since 1899 (9mm in 1902, .380acp in 1908, .45acp in 1911, .357magnum in 1934, .40SW in 1990). The .45acp has similar attributes but the .38spl has the capability of being fired in .357mag guns, which adds to it popularity. That fact that it's accurate, painless and fun to shoot doesn't hurt either.

The enormous number of .357mag/.38spl guns manufactured, commercial availability of adequate defensive rounds and cheap plinking/target ammo plus the option of economical reloading for practically most any use you can put a handgun to...all contribute to the possibility that the .38 spl has been one of the most popular handgun (civilian) cartridges of all time and that it will remain so in the future.

I only shoot .22LR and .357mag/.38spl now and have exclusively shot only handloaded ammo in the last 20 years.

My .38 spl ammo buying/consumption habits will not be reflected in the statistics but have probably fired way more than 10K rounds in that span, have thousands more reloaded ammo and components stockpiled.
 
Stockpiling isn't really causing current ammo prices and shortages. Seems like there was an "historical" event last November that's causing the current run.

Fact of life, if you want it and don't have you'll pay the price for it or do without. My purchases 5 years ago isn't causing todays prices. And yes, I'm still buying even at todays price.

Ammo is still out there. No, you can't set your price on it. No, it's not going to jump in your lap.
 
Stockpiling has been going on for years, and there's no RATIONAL reason for it......just strange, imaginative and silly fears.

But it still drives prices up, even if the falsely created demand is based on nothing more than propaganda designed to encourage stockpiling.
 
Shortages

I am blessed to live near several giant sporting good retailers (Ganderbelas), some super Wally-marts and a couple local gun shops that have well stocked magazines. .38spl has been in steady supply so I don't subscribe to a shortage theory, least around here anyways. What has me concerned are prices but I suppose that is left for another thread. I feel for you shooters who live in "ammo scarce" regions. I was stationed in Germany for 10 years with the Army and we were always scrounging for ammo to shoot in our POWs(Personally owned weapons) Twenty rounds of anything was considered Manna from heaven! Good luck in your quest.
 
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It can be overdone.
Who decides? Where is the line between overdone and just right? How is it anyone's business if I have 45 tons of ammo squirreled away (which I don't)?

Back to .38 specials and Wal-mart; it must be a regional thing. .38 special was just about all that was on the shelves at a couple of my local WMs. That and a bunch of Federal 550 count .22.
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Not too many CCW licenses issued in your state, just sayin....
 
I checked local Wally last night. They had .38s, but only the Win. White box and just practice rounds.

All in all, supply on all ammo was thin, but they were only actually OUT of a couple things.

As to the demand for .38s.....

You gotta figure, there's a HUGE number of .38s out there and most people with .357s buy .38s for practice, so the demand is real strong....that's just the normal state of affairs.

The .357/.38 combination is so versatile that it's always going to be in great demand.
 
In Georgia where I live, Wally World seems to have ammo when I go in there.

Then again, us central Georgians have always shot a lot of ammo and I suspect that our stores automatic ordering numbers has kept us in good shape. I suspect that stores in other markets that didn't move a lot of ammo before the "rush" are now out all the time, since I doubt the Wally World ordering computer "knows" how much more demand is being missed by the rush.
 
I sure hope 38 doesn't go away, I have 8 38 and three or four 357's. I am thinking about reloading also, I reload my rifle rounds but have never started reloading pistol ammo.
 
If all the gloom and doom turns out to be reality and we get another AWB, the .38 Special might actually get even more popular. The first AWB combined with new CCW laws was the engine that got us the huge crop of small, concealable, 10+1 or less autos and quite a few small lightweight revolvers.

Should government engineered ammunition capacity restrictions fall upon us again, it might well spell an increase in the popularity of the .38 Special.
 
Not to contradict anyone,

But do you really think people are shooting 1000s of rounds out of a 642?

I always thought people bought snubbies, shot them "a bit" and then carried them "a lot".

Never thought of them as ammo chewers.

food for thinkin.

Dom
 
>>I always thought people bought snubbies, shot them "a bit" and then carried them "a lot".<<

Yup, that's pretty much it with me.
 
I rarely find 38 Spl brass at the range. In order of brass left, I find 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 380 auto.

20 years ago, 38 Spl started disappearing on the firing line, along with 357's. The high cap's started taking over.

People just don't know what they are missing

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