Sevens,
When you say:
"However, .40 S&W is still far ahead of something like .38 Special, and when I started shooting (mid to late 1980s), there was nothing hotter in ammunition, sales, shooting, loading, brass, components and across the board... than .38 Special."
What exactly do you mean? Ammo power? Gun sales?
I'm judging the popularity of handgun chamberings based on things I see now vs. what I saw then.
Back then, gun magazines were stuffed with articles of guns chambered in .38 (and .357) as much/more than anything. When I went to the local gun store and Black Hills was just starting out with their factory re-man ammo, it was .38 Special that I saw the most piled up, ringing up, and being carried out the door. (a few of them by me) And when I went to my local sportsman's club, it was the PPC matches being held -every- week and every guy on the line was shooting either a worked over K-frame or an L-frame, and ever fellow in the joint had Safariland trays and HBWC .38 Special ammo. On the outdoor range, I found plenty of .38 Special brass. When I was first learning to roll my own, the stacks of Speer bullet boxes were a-plenty, and the selection of .357-.358" slugs was bursting.
None of that is the case today. Today it's 9mm and .45. Today, the lowest priced center fire ammo on the continent is 9mm, it's simple economy of scale. Low cost .38 Special ammo doesn't seem to exist, at least not like it does in 9mm. And when the latest and greatest high tech new defense ammo comes out, it comes out in 9mm. And maybe .45, and .40. And then maybe in .380. And somewhere after... .38 Special, perhaps.
Back in 1988, gun magazines were my "online gun forum." These days, on any gun forum, 9mm and .45 discussions likely dwarf .38 chatter 5 to 1. Back in the 80s, the .38 was king for hobby shooters, at least from my perspective.
I think you'd be absolutely shocked at how many .38 Special revolvers are sold in this country every year...
Uhhh, whatever you say, boss.
At no point was I ever trying to say what is -HAPPENING-
I'm merely trying the pass along my perspective, how it has seemed to me.
Back in the time frame I'm discussing...
If you were a handgun manufacturer, there's was a good chance that you made a .38 Special. (or a number of them)
Here in 2014, we could rip down a list of not only gun manufacturers...
but a list of big time industry leaders, some of the biggest players in the game, who don't make a .38 Special of any sort.