Madcap_Magician
Member
RainDodger said:
Well, you can do OK with factory ammo, too, but you'll have to buy the small-shop boutique ammo like Buffalo Bore or Cor-Bon, none of your Federal or Remington is going to be very warm.
Practical performance difference between 9mm+p .38 super and .357 Sig?
- Thread starter Jason_W
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Well, you can do OK with factory ammo, too, but you'll have to buy the small-shop boutique ammo like Buffalo Bore or Cor-Bon, none of your Federal or Remington is going to be very warm.
Chocolate Bayou
Member
38 Super vs 9mm +P
Go to www.gunbot.net. I found Federal, Remington and Winchester all in stock. Gunbot is an updated daily site , sometimes hourly of who has what calibers in stock. Very useful source if you haven't been there before.
Go to www.gunbot.net. I found Federal, Remington and Winchester all in stock. Gunbot is an updated daily site , sometimes hourly of who has what calibers in stock. Very useful source if you haven't been there before.
RainDodger
Member
Madcap is correct - you can buy hot .38 Super stuff, but it's also pretty pricey. Just for everyday range shooting, I buy bulk 130 grain FMJ RN and load them to between 1100 and 1200 FPS. Nice to shoot. I found a supply of VV N105 powder and as said before... you can put together some smokin' cartridges. Once just for fun I loaded up some 90 grain 9mm bullets I had on hand at what I estimated to be upwards of 1500 FPS. What a blast! Very snappy recoil and more accurate than I thought they'd be.
tipoc
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Commercial 38 Super ammo is not overly expensive or hard to find.
Let's review briefly...
Federal, Remington, Winchester, UMC, Armscorp, Fiocchi, Prvi Partisan, Magtech, PMC, American Eagle, Geco, Aguila and a few others all sell 38 Super ammo in what I consider the practice class. This is range ammo and for self defense will do as well as ball ammo does. 125-130 gr. ball ammo at from $17.00 to $30.00 for a box of 50 rounds. These usually do from anywhere from 1100-1200 fps a couple up to 1300 they claim.
Mi-Wall and Load X also sell reload 38 Super ammo in fmj form.
You can find these online, at gunstores, and gun shows. If you can't order it online for some reason have a store do it for you.
A few of the above companies also sell hollow point. The Winchester STHP ain't bad at 1230 fps or so. It'll work.
For the stuff that gets closer to what the 38 Super is capable of the smaller companies offer a number of loads. Some defense and some hunting. These are:
Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon, Double Tap, Georgia Arms, Wilson Combat, and I believe one or two more offer a few options. They are pricier but not so much more than good quality 9mm+P+ or 357 Sig.
You can do a lot with the Super with available commercial ammo. You could do all most folks need to do with a handgun.
If you want to do more and get more from the round, then handloading comes in.
You are pulled to the 38 Super not because other rounds won't do what it does but because you like the way it does what it does. Like the 10mm, the 41 Magnum, and the 44 Special. It's not that they are "better" than other rounds it's that they fill a niche. Their history and the way they work appeals to shooters. From compensated race guns to self defense to hunting small game the Super works well. It was the original U.S. made service caliber for a semi auto. It predates the 9mm and the 45 acp.
tipoc
Let's review briefly...
Federal, Remington, Winchester, UMC, Armscorp, Fiocchi, Prvi Partisan, Magtech, PMC, American Eagle, Geco, Aguila and a few others all sell 38 Super ammo in what I consider the practice class. This is range ammo and for self defense will do as well as ball ammo does. 125-130 gr. ball ammo at from $17.00 to $30.00 for a box of 50 rounds. These usually do from anywhere from 1100-1200 fps a couple up to 1300 they claim.
Mi-Wall and Load X also sell reload 38 Super ammo in fmj form.
You can find these online, at gunstores, and gun shows. If you can't order it online for some reason have a store do it for you.
A few of the above companies also sell hollow point. The Winchester STHP ain't bad at 1230 fps or so. It'll work.
For the stuff that gets closer to what the 38 Super is capable of the smaller companies offer a number of loads. Some defense and some hunting. These are:
Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon, Double Tap, Georgia Arms, Wilson Combat, and I believe one or two more offer a few options. They are pricier but not so much more than good quality 9mm+P+ or 357 Sig.
You can do a lot with the Super with available commercial ammo. You could do all most folks need to do with a handgun.
If you want to do more and get more from the round, then handloading comes in.
You are pulled to the 38 Super not because other rounds won't do what it does but because you like the way it does what it does. Like the 10mm, the 41 Magnum, and the 44 Special. It's not that they are "better" than other rounds it's that they fill a niche. Their history and the way they work appeals to shooters. From compensated race guns to self defense to hunting small game the Super works well. It was the original U.S. made service caliber for a semi auto. It predates the 9mm and the 45 acp.
tipoc
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Rock185
Member
Well put tipoc.
krs
Member
I never got into it but .38 Super gained a lot of popularity in some pistol competitions. I'm only posting in this thread to bring that aspect if needed and I only know about it because I have a Tanfaglio (?) pistol that I bought cheap from a guy who had done a lot of "IP something" match shooting and remember he talked about the pistol qualifying as being a "major" caliber that had to do with some formula of velocity to bullet weight and enabled extra points in some of the events he fired.
I bought some brass years ago and loaded up a hundered or so to try the thing. It was accurate and it was is a big pistol and it wasn't my thing. It's been sitting in my safe for a long time.
I bought some brass years ago and loaded up a hundered or so to try the thing. It was accurate and it was is a big pistol and it wasn't my thing. It's been sitting in my safe for a long time.
Peter M. Eick
Member
It has been pointed out above that if you are a handloader then the super is the way to go in a 1911 format. The case is bigger so you can get the same performance over a 9x19 case at lower pressures. Pretty straightforward decision if you ask me. Go for the Super.
Super vs. the sig is more interesting. The sig has the advantage of feeding due to the bottlenecked case but it is more limited in its acceptable bullet weights and short neck. I actually shoot more sig than Super but I keep it right in the 124 to 115 grn JHP range. Super allows me to go to the 135 lead which is a lot cheaper hence why I am shooting more of it lately.
Keep also in mind that most Supers will digest other brass like 9x23, 38TJ, 38 Super Comp etc.
I don't like the 9x19+p personally. I would rather hit the problem with a bigger case than push it in the little 9x19 case.
Super vs. the sig is more interesting. The sig has the advantage of feeding due to the bottlenecked case but it is more limited in its acceptable bullet weights and short neck. I actually shoot more sig than Super but I keep it right in the 124 to 115 grn JHP range. Super allows me to go to the 135 lead which is a lot cheaper hence why I am shooting more of it lately.
Keep also in mind that most Supers will digest other brass like 9x23, 38TJ, 38 Super Comp etc.
I don't like the 9x19+p personally. I would rather hit the problem with a bigger case than push it in the little 9x19 case.
Jason_W
Member
That's a point I hadn't considered. I've always found lower pressure rounds to be more pleasant to shoot than high pressure rounds, even with hearing protection on.
Elkins45
Member
I've not seen 1911's in 357 Sig, but the longer magazine might allow for interesting experiments with heavier and longer bullets.
I like the 357 Sig for a number of reasons:
1) As a defensive round I like that it is the same round used by the Secret Service to protect the President. If it's good enough for them...
2) Once fired brass is almost as cheap in bulk as 9mm or 40.
3) The bottlenecked case design contributes to extremely reliable feeding.
4) The bottleneck means that barrels don't need to have deep feed ramp cuts in order to feed well so there's no unsupported case web, contributing to long brass life and no "guppy belly".
I will concede that the short case neck does present some challenges in reloading, but once I figured them out it's been smooth sailing for almost two decades now.
I like the 357 Sig for a number of reasons:
1) As a defensive round I like that it is the same round used by the Secret Service to protect the President. If it's good enough for them...
2) Once fired brass is almost as cheap in bulk as 9mm or 40.
3) The bottlenecked case design contributes to extremely reliable feeding.
4) The bottleneck means that barrels don't need to have deep feed ramp cuts in order to feed well so there's no unsupported case web, contributing to long brass life and no "guppy belly".
I will concede that the short case neck does present some challenges in reloading, but once I figured them out it's been smooth sailing for almost two decades now.
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