Is .38 Super sufficiently uncool?

[Walkalong]

.38 Super is always cool.

 

[wanderinwalker]

Here's one millennial to burst your coolness bubble! Yes, I do own a .38 Super and it is kind of retro-cool. Mine is even a Colt, which has to be worth some extra points.

See the pistol in my avatar? That's my .38 Super. Here's another picture of it, along with a .45 ACP 1911. The Super is an attention getter at the range, especially when firing reloads with Longshot powder. Inevitably somebody will come over to see what kind of Magnum I'm banging away with.

 

[mcb]

I know this is the Autoloader sub-section but if you want to be uncool with 38 Super you need to scrounge up one of the S&W 627 8-shot N-frame revolvers chambered in 38 Super.

 

[fxvr5]

When I was preparing for IPSC, I had wished I had gotten my Mark IV in .38 Super, rather than .45 ACP, as I customized it for that, and pin shooting. .38 Super works a hell of a lot better with compensators, as it's pressures push the comp down far better than low-pressure .45 ACP. Didn't matter to me, as my practice load was light enough that the comp merely acted as a weight, and my major load was with enough pressure, that it seemed it took the same tiny amount of effort to get back on target. None of this mattered in the end, as my IPSC time was cut short by a career change. Just remembering back to where I once coveted the Super.

Just to be clear, the distinction between the effectiveness of a comp on a 38 Super versus a 45 Auto came down to what bullet weight was usually used for these calibers. If the calibers used the same bullet weight (and gun powder), the compensated 45 actually had a wee less muzzle rise than the compensated 38.

 

[Old Dog]

I have been searching for more than 30 years for a mint Colt 1911 with either the bright stainless or nickel finish in .38 Super. I've just missed on the few occasions I've found one in the condition I want, but am still looking. Like the OP, I've entered into curmudgeon status, and think that for me, one of these pistols in .38 Super is totally cool for us old guys. It's old school bling for me.

 

[bannockburn]

Went quite a few years between .38 Supers. Finally got back in the club with this Colt Commander. Added a Storm Lake 9mm. barrel assembly and a few 9mm. magazines and I'm back in the swing of things!

You're not really cool unless you've got a .38 Super (really helps if you handload too)!

 

[ATLDave]

Just to be clear, the distinction between the effectiveness of a comp on a 38 Super versus a 45 Auto came down to what bullet weight was usually used for these calibers. If the calibers used the same bullet weight (and gun powder), the compensated 45 actually had a wee less muzzle rise than the compensated 38.

I mean... maybe that's theoretically true, but are suggesting that people should run 125 grain .45's?

 

[fxvr5]

I mean... maybe that's theoretically true, but are suggesting that people should run 125 grain .45's?

It's not just theoretically true, it's fact. https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/compensated-45-vs-compensated-38/99515

I'm not suggesting anything. Just want to clarify the facts and dispel old myths about the 'low pressure' 45 Auto and compensators.

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, I've read that whole series of articles. But nobody is shooting USPSA/IPSC open guns with anything heavier than 125's. So it's sort of theoretically true that you can make a 45 ACP perform just as well with a compensator as a 38 super (or 9 major), but practically speaking, no, you can't. You'd have to compare comically lightweight 45 bullets to comically over-weight 9/38 bullets. And people who are trying to feed the comp on their open guns are always going to run lighter bullets.

 

[cougar1717]

If you wait a little longer, 38 Super will come back around and you unknowingly be on the cutting edge of coolness.

 

[earplug]

Much of the coolness depends on how you look picking up and sorting out your brass after you have made noise.

 

[Monac]

The 1911 uncool?! It is to laugh. Ha ha! You see?

No, the gun you want is something - anything - in 9mm Browning Long. That cartridge was NEVER cool, yet is is a gen-u-wine John M. Browning design, with a Browning pistol to match, as well as two nice Webleys and a peculiar but interesting French design. The round is still loaded in Serbia, and it's got more punch than 9mm Makarov. And here is the part that you'll really like: if you get a Colt SAA (or some other rod-ejector pistol with adequate cylinder length) custom chambered for it, you can also shoot 38 Super, if you have the chamber made long enough.

I need to have a sig file that reads: "9mm Browning Long is the cartridge of the future...and it always will be!"

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I've never really understood the 38 Super versus a 9mm. Not talking down on it but bullet weight versus velocity and ME it seems they're pretty much the same if they're loaded the same.

As far as a 1911 with anything but a .45 it's a abomination. Except for the 10mm I recently bought.


I'm pushing 40 and hate the term "millennial", as some folks like to lump me in that turd bowl of a category.

 

[JR24]

38 Super is Retro Cool.

If you own anything plastic or a striker you can't be retro cool.

You're a poser.

Retro Cool

​

So... it's the Hipster caliber?

I'm pushing 40 and hate the term "millennial", as some folks like to lump me in that turd bowl of a category.

I'm right with ya, but only mid 30s. I've managed to work my whole life, 3 jobs in high school, through college and ever since. Now I have a stable family, kids, and a nice house.

Never even lived in my parents basement

 

[wanderinwalker]

If you wait a little longer, 38 Super will come back around and you unknowingly be on the cutting edge of coolness.

This line of thinking makes me wish I still had my .260 Remington in a Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle, in light of the popularity of the 6.5 Creedmore. I could say I was cool before it was cool.

And you don't fully understand "my precious" until you're scrambling to find your once or twice fired .38 Super brass in the weeds.

Gold Ol' Boy, Millennials are about 24 to 37 or so. My ex-wife and I are right at the leading edge of the generation, and my girlfriend is the end of it. I think many people these days start lumping even younger "kids" into "my" generation.

Also, the .38 Super has a pretty good case capacity advantage over the 9mm. I look at my Super as a gun that runs 9mm +P ballistics without breaking a sweat, and can be pushed harder if you really want it. The 9x19mm just can't keep up, especially if you start upping the bullet weights.

 

[brutus51]

A 38 super Colt commander was always one of my bucket list guns, thought it would be the perfect carry gun.
Then I got a chance to shoot one, quickly decided it had to much muzzle flash and noise for that purpose.
Bought a commander in .45ACP to fulfill that task which has always been my chosen self defense round anyway.
When it came time to satisfy my super itch I decided to go with the Dan Wesson PM-38, the commander size guardian was tugging at my pant leg but I figured for target shooting and possible small game hunting I would be better served with the 5" barrel and target sights. Couldn't be happier with my decision. I can load target rounds with tightgroup that provide MOB accuracy (minute of Brutus) or 125grainers with AA#7 that darn near match .357 velocities and provide the same level of accuracy. Yep the 38 super compared to the puny-bellum is the same as the 10mm compared to the 40 short & weak in my opinion.

 

[CoalTrain49]

So... it's the Hipster caliber?

I had a Colt ELCEN super for awhile. Actually it was the first 1911 I ever purchased. I let it go because 1) it looked like a pimps gun, and 2) I sold it for way more than I bought it for.

I can see a hipster owning one of those or maybe some cartel dude in Mexico. Lots of bling there.

 

[bannockburn]

CoalTrain49

Saw one at a gun show some years back. Thought about it but kind of felt like you did that it was just a little too blingy for my taste. Would have probably ended up buying some sort of faux pearl grips just to complete the whole effect!

Picked up my Colt Commander instead (more my style). I always have liked my .38 Supers with a Commander length slide versus the longer slide of the Government Model. Don't know why, I just do!

 

[JR24]

I had a Colt ELCEN super for awhile. Actually it was the first 1911 I ever purchased. I let it go because 1) it looked like a pimps gun, and 2) I sold it for way more than I bought it for.

I can see a hipster owning one of those or maybe some cartel dude in Mexico. Lots of bling there.

I love the Paul Harrel video when hes testing a bunch of 1911s and his shooting of his high polished nickel one.

 

[Walkalong]

Colt Series 80 Enhanced .38 Super. I also have a 9MM barrel for it.

 

[JR24]

Colt Series 80 Enhanced .38 Super. I also have a 9MM barrel for it.
View attachment 837941

I know it's a point and purposeful but I cringe every time I see those holes drilled into a 1911.

 

[Rock185]

While I do like the 9MMs, I've owned Supers since about 1970 or so; several Colts, two Kimbers and an STI. I've reloaded for the 38 Super cartridge almost as long. Comparing the best Super loads, factory or handloaded, to the best 9MM, the Super comes out ahead. But if mostly major manufacturer factory ammunition is to be used, the advantage is not always to the Super. Within my humble experience, functional reliability with the Super or 9 in ramped barrel pistols is as good as in the "proper" .45 ACP caliber. I'm down to only two pistols now chambered in 38 Super, a Kimber (with extra 9MM barrel) and an STI. Both boringly reliable with factory ammo, or handloads using 38 Super, 38 Super Comp, 38TJ or 9X23 Win. cases. And the Kimber, when fitted with the 9mm barrel and magazine, functions flawlessly with any 9MM ammunition I've been able to stuff into it. So I don't know if owning a 38 Super is cool or not, but I still enjoy shooting and reloading for the cartridge........ymmv

 

[bluecollar]

I like to put it in an historical perspective. But I'm as much a collector as a shooter anymore. If you're going to get a 38 super it should be in a 1911 and preferably in a Colt. It was the top of the heap until the .357 magnum came along. To me it don't get any cooler than that.

 

[rpenmanparker]

Someone please help me understand the difference between .38 Super and .357 Sig. I’m guessing the SIG is more intended as a SD cartridge to give .357 MAG type performance to the autoloader platform including the stiff recoil, noise and flash. Seems the Super is more about better competition performance than 9mm without being hard to live with. Am I missing something?

EDITED to correct .38 Sig. Meant .357 Sig.

 

[someguy2800]

Very cool, just difficult to live with. I don’t like making life more difficult for myself than it has to be, and neither me or my gun care what the headstamp says.