Why is .38 spl ammo so much higher than 9mm?

K

kcub

New member
I am 55 and many years ago .38 special was cheaper than 9mm.

Perhaps 9mm is more popular these days and perhaps more ammo is consumed since 9mm has a higher capacity.

I realize the military eats tons of 9mm but they never used much .38, so I don't think that is terribly significant.

Law enforcement has definitely gone to autos bigtime for primary sidearms though I bet there is still many many .38 and .357 snubs in ankle holsters and pockets as backup/off duty weapons. Onion Field guns.

Finally, what 9mm revolvers are there?
 
more brass in a .38? an the Taurus Model 905, Charter Arms Rimless Revolvers, Ruger BlackHawk, S&W Model 547, S&W Model 904 are some 9mm revolvers :)
 
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it. 50 years ago .38 special was THE police round and one of the most popular rounds, today it's 9mm. I suspect .380 sells more than .38.
 
Simple economics of scale. It's no so much that less 38 is made, it's that more 9mm is today.

I'm about your age. Not too long ago, a 9mm was an oddity at the range. It would be a Luger, a P-38, maybe a Browning Hi-Power. That was about it. Today there are dozens of 9mm pistols on the market. Throw in a few 9mm carbines, AND then toss in the worldwide military demand and suddenly you see a demand for billions of rounds. The more you make of something, anything really, the lower you can drive the unit price.
 
Taurus has the 905 in production I think Charter Arms in working on get one out. There are some used Rugers out there but they are hard to come by.
 
If .380 sold more than .38 special I'd guess that .380 ammo would be cheaper. With that said, any one have any links on ammo sold / produced annually?
 
Perhaps 9mm is more popular these days and perhaps more ammo is consumed since 9mm has a higher capacity.

I realize the military eats tons of 9mm but they never used much .38, so I don't think that is terribly significant.

Law enforcement has definitely gone to autos bigtime for primary sidearms though I bet there is still many many .38 and .357 snubs in ankle holsters and pockets as backup/off duty weapons. Onion Field guns.
Click to expand...

I think you answered you own question.
 
There's also tons of Military Surplus, including US, brass and ammo coming on the market daily. I can't even begin to guess the number of countries making 9 mm ammo.
 
Good point about Europe, they just never cottoned to revolvers for police weaponry like the USA.

I can understand why there is some difference but it still seems like the price differential should not be as severe as it is. Lots of handguns are being sold to fit into pockets or purses and the ol' .38 is still extremely competitive for that segment of the market.

Also there is a lot of .38 special used in cowboy action shooting. I think the price has not backed off since the 2008 shortage like it has for other calibers (.380 in particular).
 
Hardly see revolvers at the range anymore, high capacity pistols are most common.

Too bad, a four inch 38 special is an accurate and pleasant pistol to shoot.

Thirty years ago I used to pick up lots of 38 Special brass at the range. Now I seldom see a case.

Nine millimeter cases are all over the place, all the time.

I think it has to do with price competition.
 
Pure supply and demand. With so much more demand for 9mm manufacturers can spread their overhead and fixed costs over a lot more production leading to lower costs per round. It costs money to re-tool and that cost gets added on to the cost of 38 special and 380acp when they don't have the demand to produce as much. Look at 25acp and 32acp - you'd think they'd be cheaper but with low demand it costs more for a manufacturer to bother to produce them.
 
Economics of scale plus amount of raw materials....a .38spl 158gr round has more copper, brass, & lead than a 9mm 115gr round.


I have a bad feeling that the upcoming ammo crunch will affect revolver ammo most....
 
You said the military never had many .38s?

Interestingly ...

The U.S. military used quite a few .38 Specials into the early 1990s.
I carried an adjustable-sight Smith & Wesson Model 15 in the Air Force from 1975 to 1979. The Model 15 was standard issue in the Air Force from 1962 to 1992. Air Force investigators carried Model 15s with 2" barrels but the rest of us carried the 4" model.

The 9mm Beretta replaced all those wonderful Smith & Wesson Model 15 .38 Specials. And it makes me sick to learn that all those marvelous Model 15s were destroyed. Ack!
I met a former military doctor who was in the first Gulf War. Upon arrival, he was issued a Model 15 and a box of cartridges. Beretta 9mms were still in short supply, so that served as his protection. He didn't care, he was far from the shooting.

The Navy carried a lot of .38s too, usually by aviators in shoulder holsters. The Navy carried the fixed-sight Model 10. I don't believe the Navy ever had the Model 15. In the late 1970s, the Navy bought quite a few Ruger .38 Specials.

Dog handlers in all branches carried .38 Specials because they had one hand full with their dog's leash and couldn't rack back the slide of a .45 auto.
Back in the day, that's how the .45 was required to be carried: loaded with magazine but empty chamber. Some bad guy shot at you, and you had to rack back the slide to chamber a round before you could shoot back.
Army MPs and Marines carried them this way -- except in combat zones where a blind eye was turned to the "regulation carry."

I never saw anyone in the Air Force carry any sidearm but the .38 Special. I heard that Forward Air Controllers carried .45s, since they were often embedded with the Army, but all I saw were carrying .38s.

Makes me wonder where all that surplus military .38 ammo went. Probably to police departments for practice, or to foreign governments.

I was surprised to see police in Brugges, Belgium carrying Ruger Security Six .38 Specials. I also saw a few in Brussels carrying them. I couldn't tell what kind of auto they carried in their flap holster, but it appeared to be a Browning Hi-Power.

Many, many countries around the world have issued the .38 Special to their police, and even their armies.
The late George Nonte, a gun writer who died in the late 1970s, was an Army ordnance officer in World War II. When Germany surrendered, he and others were responsible for inventorying much of the German Army ammo stored in warehouses.
I recall him writing that they were shocked to find that the Gemans made all kinds of ammo right up to the end of the war, including .38 Special ammo!
God knows what they used it in.
The Germans also made quite a bit of .45 ACP ammo, for use in the Norwegian Model 1914 .45 ACP pistol -- basically a clone of the Colt 1911.

I think more militaries than we realize have carried the .38 Special at one time or another, as standard issue or for special issue.

I'd sure like to have some of that Nazi-made .38 Special ammo that Nonte wrote about! Never seen it, or even heard of it except from him. I wonder what it was like?
 
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