Does Smith really only offer two pistols in .38 Special?

B

boing

New member
From the search engine on Smith's site, they show 14 models chambered in .38 S&W Special, and only 2 models in .38 Special.

Is that right? Can the .38 S&W Specials be considered as interchangeable with the "regular" .38 Special guns? From the threads I've read, I didn't think that was the case, but I would have expected Smith to offer a plethora of dedicated .38s. It is the more common (prcatical?) round of the two, isn't it?

:confused:
 
.38 Special......38 Smith & Wesson Special.
Two names for same cartridge.

.38 S&W is a different animal, and obselete.

Sam
 
S&W invented the round and named it the ".38 S&W Special." When Colt and others started chambering guns in it they dropped the "S&W" as they did not want to advertise the competition on the barrels of their own guns. I am susprised that S&W would not use full name all the time.
 
Saxon Pig and CR Sam:

Another question along those same lines is: Why does Colt stamp 1911 barrel hambers as 45 auto, instead of ACP?
 
OK, so it's the same deal as

.45 ACP v .45 Auto
.40 S&W v .40 Auto
.357 Sig...etc...

It occured to me this morning to wonder why Smith would use both designations. It may be that eventually they're going to drop the S&W Special designation altogether, in favor of the "generic" name polpularized by the competition. Keeps from confusing people like me. :)
 
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