Colt "Lightweight Commander" and the .38 Super...
- Thread starter David4516
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tipoc
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Few rounds, over the last 25 years or so, have received as much attention from ammo manufacturers as the 9mm has. The 9mm is a much improved round as a result.
The .38 Super has not received as much attemtion. Most of it's improvements have come from handloaders. With the exception of Cor-Bon and one or two other small outfits the major manufacturers have kept it downloaded.
This is one reason that for most practical purposes the 9mm and the Super are about the same in terms of velocity and bullet weight.
But to do this the 9mm in it's +P varients are about maxed out. Not so the Super.
A friend of mine and I worked up some of Steven Camp's loads for the Super of 8.6 grs of Blue Dot under a 147 gr. Hornady XTP. This did, out of my GM just over 1200 fps. About 200 fps more than the 9mm with the same bullet. We also tried 8.4 grs of Blue Dot with a Remington Golden Saber 147 gr round. We got around 1170 fps with that. Neither of these loads showed signs of excessive pressures and had good accuracy.
Now if a fella is just interested in doing a good bit of shooting I'd go with the 9mm. Geed ammo is much more widely available. For more power than the Super I'd go with the 40 S&W or another round.
But I agree with rcmodel here the beauty of the Super is it's a mate to the 1911. I think that does it for me. Like the .44 Special the Super just sticks around because it works well.
tipoc
The .38 Super has not received as much attemtion. Most of it's improvements have come from handloaders. With the exception of Cor-Bon and one or two other small outfits the major manufacturers have kept it downloaded.
This is one reason that for most practical purposes the 9mm and the Super are about the same in terms of velocity and bullet weight.
But to do this the 9mm in it's +P varients are about maxed out. Not so the Super.
A friend of mine and I worked up some of Steven Camp's loads for the Super of 8.6 grs of Blue Dot under a 147 gr. Hornady XTP. This did, out of my GM just over 1200 fps. About 200 fps more than the 9mm with the same bullet. We also tried 8.4 grs of Blue Dot with a Remington Golden Saber 147 gr round. We got around 1170 fps with that. Neither of these loads showed signs of excessive pressures and had good accuracy.
Now if a fella is just interested in doing a good bit of shooting I'd go with the 9mm. Geed ammo is much more widely available. For more power than the Super I'd go with the 40 S&W or another round.
But I agree with rcmodel here the beauty of the Super is it's a mate to the 1911. I think that does it for me. Like the .44 Special the Super just sticks around because it works well.
tipoc
paul45, that's a nice pistol, exactly what I was thinking of buying.
Walkalong, it's interesting that you mentioned the EMP. I have been considering it as well. I'm leaning more toward the Colt, it seems like "more bang for the buck". It's a little cheaper, and I think the .38 super will have a little more "oomph" than the 9x19.
What do you guys think about the EMP vs the Colt? I know the EMP is a little smaller, might be easier to carry. How about weight? If I'm reading Springfield's website correctly, the EMP is 27 ounces? How about the Colt? I can't find that info on their website...
Looking at my reloading manuals, .38 super appears to have about a 200fps advantage over the 9x19, depending on the load...
I've seen data in one manual that said you can obtain 1,400+ FPS with this light bullets (90 to 95 grains). That's pretty darn fast. I doubt it would be a good defense load, I have a feeling that those bullets are designed for .380ACP velocitys... but still, 1,400FPS seems pretty impressive to me. I had a friend who had a 7.62x25 TT33 Tokarev, I believe it shot 86gr bullets at similar velocity. I only ever shot it a few times at some pop cans, but it looked like it hit pretty hard...
I'm assuming that the best bullets for .38 super would be the 124gr or the 147gr?
Walkalong, it's interesting that you mentioned the EMP. I have been considering it as well. I'm leaning more toward the Colt, it seems like "more bang for the buck". It's a little cheaper, and I think the .38 super will have a little more "oomph" than the 9x19.
What do you guys think about the EMP vs the Colt? I know the EMP is a little smaller, might be easier to carry. How about weight? If I'm reading Springfield's website correctly, the EMP is 27 ounces? How about the Colt? I can't find that info on their website...
Looking at my reloading manuals, .38 super appears to have about a 200fps advantage over the 9x19, depending on the load...
I've seen data in one manual that said you can obtain 1,400+ FPS with this light bullets (90 to 95 grains). That's pretty darn fast. I doubt it would be a good defense load, I have a feeling that those bullets are designed for .380ACP velocitys... but still, 1,400FPS seems pretty impressive to me. I had a friend who had a 7.62x25 TT33 Tokarev, I believe it shot 86gr bullets at similar velocity. I only ever shot it a few times at some pop cans, but it looked like it hit pretty hard...
I'm assuming that the best bullets for .38 super would be the 124gr or the 147gr?
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