ojibweindian
New member
If you hand load, the .38 out-performs the 9mm.
.38 vs. 9mm
- Thread starter Doug.38PR
- Start date
Contrarian Viewpoint:
Personally, I just don't care. It is the wrong question. The right question is whether a given cartridge is effective or not. Anything over and above that is just obsessing. I think that you will find that both cartridges are effective. Either will do the job. The telling issue then becomes one of handgun design preference, largely whether you prefer revolvers or autoloaders.
Personally, I just don't care. It is the wrong question. The right question is whether a given cartridge is effective or not. Anything over and above that is just obsessing. I think that you will find that both cartridges are effective. Either will do the job. The telling issue then becomes one of handgun design preference, largely whether you prefer revolvers or autoloaders.
My 2 cents...
A revolver, for the typical shooter, is more accurate than a semi-auto...especially in single action.
A revolver is a more basic design...thus has less chance of a malfunction than a semi-auto.
A hard primer round requires manual clearing in a semi-auto, a revolver just requires another pull of the trigger to go to the next round.
You can get ultra small and ultra light (12 ozs) revolvers. The perfect pocket gun...strangly enough these are the best and easiest to carry CCDW guns I have found. Or you can get a truly robust heavy barrel stainless steel revolver.
Revolver ammo options are quite varied, almost as much as a semi-auto. If you really want a macho round, get a .45 long colt...it out penetrates just about anything made in a handgun.
The only advantage I have found for a semi-auto is magazine capacity.
Personally, I have 5 semi-autos for every one revolver I have. I shoot best with a revolver and love single action
A revolver, for the typical shooter, is more accurate than a semi-auto...especially in single action.
A revolver is a more basic design...thus has less chance of a malfunction than a semi-auto.
A hard primer round requires manual clearing in a semi-auto, a revolver just requires another pull of the trigger to go to the next round.
You can get ultra small and ultra light (12 ozs) revolvers. The perfect pocket gun...strangly enough these are the best and easiest to carry CCDW guns I have found. Or you can get a truly robust heavy barrel stainless steel revolver.
Revolver ammo options are quite varied, almost as much as a semi-auto. If you really want a macho round, get a .45 long colt...it out penetrates just about anything made in a handgun.
The only advantage I have found for a semi-auto is magazine capacity.
Personally, I have 5 semi-autos for every one revolver I have. I shoot best with a revolver and love single action
The hard primer problem in semi-autos can be resolved in another way. In da/sa guns with a hammer, at least with my USP, you can pull the trigger again, and get the round to fire (don't always work). Also, even if you have to rack slide, you still have more left over rounds in the mag (if using high capacity) than you do if you skip a round in a revolver. This might or might not be usable in your situation, depending on your needs.
The only thing .38 Special can do that the 9mm can't do better is handle bullets heavier than 147grains.
Bullet diameter is virtually identical--.38 has .002" (two thousandths of an inch) diameter advantage on the 9mm.
If you compare identical bullet weights, the 9mm provides a good deal more velocity than the .38 spl.
Even comparing 9mm to .38spl +P still gives the edge to the 9mm except (as I pointed out above) when you go to the heavier bullets.
Some argue that, being a revolver cartridge, the bullet design of the .38 can be better optimized for terminal performance while the 9mm must also take feeding concerns into account. I suppose that's a valid point--you can decide for yourself if it makes a significant difference.
There is at least one small specialty ammo company loading superhot .38 special ammo that pretty much blows away any other .38 ammo on the market in terms of performance. If you're willing to pay a buck a round it's probably a bit hotter than standard pressure 9mm.
On the other hand some folks say that what we call standard pressure 9mm is really downloaded in performance and that 9mm+P really is a better representative of what 9mm Luger was originally intended to be. Any decent 9mm+P round will pretty much smoke any commercial loaded .38 special or .38special +P.
Bullet diameter is virtually identical--.38 has .002" (two thousandths of an inch) diameter advantage on the 9mm.
If you compare identical bullet weights, the 9mm provides a good deal more velocity than the .38 spl.
Even comparing 9mm to .38spl +P still gives the edge to the 9mm except (as I pointed out above) when you go to the heavier bullets.
Some argue that, being a revolver cartridge, the bullet design of the .38 can be better optimized for terminal performance while the 9mm must also take feeding concerns into account. I suppose that's a valid point--you can decide for yourself if it makes a significant difference.
There is at least one small specialty ammo company loading superhot .38 special ammo that pretty much blows away any other .38 ammo on the market in terms of performance. If you're willing to pay a buck a round it's probably a bit hotter than standard pressure 9mm.
On the other hand some folks say that what we call standard pressure 9mm is really downloaded in performance and that 9mm+P really is a better representative of what 9mm Luger was originally intended to be. Any decent 9mm+P round will pretty much smoke any commercial loaded .38 special or .38special +P.
