Colt 1911 in .38 super

[phil_in_cs]

My dad is getting old (84), which is hard on both of us. He's developed quite a tremor which makes him unable to shoot or hunt, which is very hard on him.

Last time I visited them, he gave me two of his guns; a M1 Garand and a stainless Colt 1911 in .38 super.

The Garand (which he won in the early 50's at an Army civilian marksmanship contest) I'm very familiar with. The caliber .38 super, not so much.

I'm curious what you all think of that caliber.

 

[BigG]

Super .38

It's a good round, dating back to 1929 and chambered in the Colt Government Model. It's original purpose was to shoot around cars, which were stopping regular .38 and .45 bullets.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Think orginal 357 auto Its a good round and their some fine SD ammo out their

 

[Hunter0924]

The Super .38 is an excellent round. In 1929 the .38 Automatic was improved to the Super .38 Automatic (then dropped to Super .38). Although the Super .38 and .38 Automatic are identical in exterior dimensions there is a great pressure difference.
The older Colt Supers headspaces off the extractor so accuracy is not as good as with the same pistol that headspaces off the case mouth.
Most factory ammunition in Super .38 is mild but the Super really comes into it's own at the reloading bench. I am a big fan of that round.

 

[bannockburn]

If it's a stainless 1911, you probably don't have to worry about the headspacing issue; Colt went from the using the rim (which was a cause for inaccuracy as rim dimensions could vary by ammo manufacturers), to headspacing on the case mouth, many years ago. Most factory ammo is pretty tame, as others have posted. There are some hotter +P factory loads out there as well. The other neat thing about the Super 38 1911 design is that with the addition of a barrel assembly, a slightly lighter recoil spring, and a magazine, you can convert it to 9mm if you want to use cheaper ammo to practice with.

 

[10-Ring]

The 38 super is ALOT of fun to shoot -- especially in its hotter configuration. These are both great keep sakes!

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

It's a good round, dating back to 1929 and chambered in the Colt Government Model. It's original purpose was to shoot around cars, which were stopping regular .38 and .45 bullets.

Man, I wish DoubleTap or Cor-Bon would come out with some ammo like that. All of mine just tends to shoot in straight lines!!

Sam

 

[DC3-CVN-72]

SHOOT1SAM beat me to the punch on that one !!

 

[BigG]

around

= in the vicinity of, in; NOT curved trajectory.

 

[phil_in_cs]

thanks for the input. The first thing I noticed about shooting it is the ammo is about twice was 9mm is. I may look into the convert option for practice.

I was grouping pretty well, considering I hadn't shot that pistol before. Very nice feel to it also.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[macadore]

The 38 Super was popular in countries that would not allow civilians to own firearms in military cartridges.

 

[hank327]

My Colt Government Model in 38 Super is my favorite 1911. It is very soft shooting and can be fired very fast. It is also extremely accurate. The only things I don't like about the 38 Super is that factory ammo is expensive and loaded a little weaker than it could be.

 

[Geno]

I bought Colt 1911 in STS about a year back. It has been a great pistol, and is fun to fire. Reload if you want it to live up to the true ability of the round. It can achieve within 10 to 15 FPS of the .357 Sig when handloaded.

Doc2005