Brownstone322
New member
Dumb question, probably, but humor me. Why are revolver casings so long compared to auto casings?
I own and shoot semi-autos, so I really have only marginal experience with revolvers (other people's). So why is a .38 Special casing 29 millimeters when a 9mm Luger generally gets better performance from a 19-millimeter casing with essentially the same bullet weight?
And it's not just the .38, it's lots of cartridges -- .32 Long, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 Long Colt. Anything that's popular. My one guess: They're all descendants of black-powder cartridges that needed more casing capacity than we need now. (But I am making that up.)
Discuss.
I own and shoot semi-autos, so I really have only marginal experience with revolvers (other people's). So why is a .38 Special casing 29 millimeters when a 9mm Luger generally gets better performance from a 19-millimeter casing with essentially the same bullet weight?
And it's not just the .38, it's lots of cartridges -- .32 Long, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 Long Colt. Anything that's popular. My one guess: They're all descendants of black-powder cartridges that needed more casing capacity than we need now. (But I am making that up.)
Discuss.