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elk48

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Some wear I fell behind and I hope someone can help me out.
I'm not a newbie but all of the sudden I'm reading a
gun magazine and the article mention a 38 super. I know the difference between a 38 special, the 38 spl +p and the 38spl +P+. Now I see the 38 spl super come up and I've seen this in more than one article, so what is the 38 super? Thanks ahead of time
 
The .38 super isnt really new, it has been around since the 1920s. It a .38 caliber round for semiautos. Afaik, its never been hugely popular. The most common platform for the round seems to be the 1911.

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Some wear I fell behind and I hope someone can help me out.
I'm not a newbie but all of the sudden I'm reading a
gun magazine and the article mention a 38 super. I know the difference between a 38 special, the 38 spl +p and the 38spl +P+. Now I see the 38 spl super come up and I've seen this in more than one article, so what is the 38 super? Thanks ahead of time
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The .38 Super Auto is a cartridge with a semi-rim (although there are current cases that are rimless like the 9MM Luger, I believe called .38 Super Competition). The original .38 Super Auto is dimensionally the same as the .38 Auto albeit loaded hotter. As I remember the original load for the .38 Super Auto was a 130-grain full metal patch bullet. I have a Colt Combat Commander that I bought in the seventies. It is considered marginally better than the 9MM Luger by some via a slightly higher velocity and not significantly better than the 9MM Luger by others. I wanted one because it was less common than the 9MM Luger. It continues to be a favorite of mine.
Folk-lore has it that it was developed to counter bullet-proof vests said to be worn by gangsters in the Prohibition Era.
 
It became popular in the 90's with competition shooters ....because in 1911's thay had a couple more rounds than the 1911's in .45acp / .38 super was flat shooting, lighter recoil, they could make "major" power factors shooting a 115 gr bullet - giving them faster followup shots / better split times......so some of the big name shooters like Rob Leatham and Brian Enos made it popular. I've been seeing a few around on the used market lately....but in the last 15 yrs or so, the surge of popularity of 1911's in 9mm ...have prevented .38 super from catching on with recreational shooters....in my opinion.
 
In 1900, JM Browing designed the .38 ACP, a semi-rimmed round (meaning the case rim stuck out just a little wider than the case body) using a case 0.90" long, and firing a 130gr fmj bullet at approximately 1050fps.

In 1902, S&W introduced the .38 Special, a straight walled rimmed round using a case 1.19" long, and firing a 158gr (lead) bullet at approx. 850fps.

In 1929, the .38 ACP was "upgraded" with an increased pressure loading, becoming the .38 Super. The new load used the same case and bullet, but fired at approx. 1,300fps. The new load was too hot for the older .38ACP guns. Today, all the .38 Super ammo I see is marked .38 Super +p

.38 Super and .38 Special ARE NOT THE SAME THING!

Folk-lore has it that it was developed to counter bullet-proof vests said to be worn by gangsters in the Prohibition Era.
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That is quite possible, but from what I've read that would have been an added benefit. What the bigger concern was, was cars. The "motor bandits" of the Prohibition era were often in cars, cars with, by todays standards, THICK metal bodies. The .45acp (even out of tommyguns) gave notoriously poor penetration on those car bodies. (or was seriously "out of gas" after getting through the car body). The .38 Special, with its relatively soft lead bullet was also far from ideal. Special "metal piercing" ammo was made for both, but usually wasn't where it was needed when it was needed.

Nobody American was using the 9mm Luger in those days, and in fact virtually all the 9mms in the country were Lugers, in those days, and 9mm performance wasn't what it is today, either. A 124gr FMJ @ 1050fps or a 115gr FMJ @ 1150fps.

A 130gr @ 1300 from a .38 Super was a serious increase in punch.

Until 1935, when S&W came out with the .357 Magnum.

After that, the .38 Super just kind of faded out, though it never died, it was not a popular round in the US for a long time. It was, however a very popular round south of the border. Very popular in Mexico and many other latin American and South American countries were there were laws against owning "military" calibers.

Hope this helps end your confusion.
 
.38 Super is actually a neat round if you've never shot one. Some friends and I were shooting .38 Super next to .45 acp and .38 super is LOUDer, flat shooting and fast shot-to-shot.

If you want to get the most out of it, reloading is necessary. Otherwise I'd probably just go with 9mm, as the defensive ammo available for 9mm is generally easier to find, cheaper, and likely 99% as effective.
 
Originally Posted by otasan View Post
The .38 Super round uses a 0.355-inch bullet.
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Actually, a .356" jacketed bullet is traditional in the 38 Super.
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Looking at .38 Super data in Lyman's 49, even the cast bullets are sized to .355. However, I have used .356 for my sized cast lead bullets since the seventies and the few jacketed bullets I have hand loaded for it have been .356. In short, any bullet sized for use in the 9MM will work in the .38 Super.
 
I always understood the bullet sizes for .38 Super and 9mmP were the same - .355 jacketed and .356 cast lead.
 
Very interesting topic. Have a friend on another forum that is shooting an EAA Witness in 38 Super and he loves it. Taking with him has piqued my interest in the gun and the caliber.
 
Pick up a copy of "Cartridges of the World" you would be amazed at all the domestic and foreign, current and obsolete, cartridges that are out there or have come and gone.
Great resource book and interesting read to boot .
Gary
 
.38 Super is just a .38 Auto loaded to higher pressure. It's been around a long time.

The "Super" designation is (was) there to remind you not to fire it in a gun designed for standard .38 Auto, but I doubt that's relevant anymore, not unless you're a collector of vintage pistols. (What shoots .38 Auto?)

Anyway, I guess the key point here is that .38 Super is an auto cartridge and, as such, has nothing to do with popular revolver cartridges (that is, .38 Special or .357 Magnum).
 
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otasan said:
But it is not a .380-inch bullet.
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Neither is a .380 ACP, and neither is a .38 Special. Don't even start -- .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .38 Super, 9mm Parabellum, and .380 ACP are all effectively the same caliber. But 9mm Makarov isn't ...

And none of them use bullets with a diameter of .380 inches.
 
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