.38 Super?

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Sephirius

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What's the deal on this cartridge, I've heard many conflicting things on it, so I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about it..
 
Just read the article again and sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent but what do you guys think about this quote:

" If the ammo companies would take this round to the same development levels that they have with both 9mm and .45 ACP, I think it would truly be a step ahead of 9mm."

My knowledge of the 38 Super isn't great but that comment makes alot of sense, especially when the potential for the 38 Super case is considered....
 
It's one of my favourite calibres. I find it a very accurate cartridge and it has more muzzle energy than .45 ACP! If we could carry in Canada, I'd carry one of my pistols in .38 Super; either my Colt Combat Commander or my SiG P220.
 
38 super

The 38 Super (and its predessor the 38 ACP) is a semi-rimmed cartridge (has a very small rim) and when it first came out barrels were designed for it to headspace on the rim which, due to the small rim size led to accuracy problems. Custom barrel makers started making barrels that allowed the cartridge to headspace on the case mouth instead. This increased accuracy dramatically. That, combined with its larger case capacity which gave it more power potential than the 9mm enabled it to easily reach the Major power factor in IPSC. Its smaller case size allowed for greater magazine capacity than the 45 ACP which was also an advantage in IPSC. With the right loads it is a very controllable yet powerful cartridge which makes it an ideal defense round but it appears that at present its forte is in action shooting games rather than in personal defense pistols.
 
all factory .38 supper ammo is underpowered (like there's a lot to choose from :roll: ) with 'only' 425ft-lbs of energy. FYI the most powerful 9mm +p is 511 ft-lbs (but most 9mm target loads are only about 360ft-lb)

I'm guessing .38 super can be handloaded to almost 600ft-lbs pretty wild...
 
Anyone heard of 9mm Largo? just a somewhat hotter version.
Had one Spanish destroyer bolt face opened up just a tad to allow .38 super to feed. Some idiot thought .38 super was too hot for it. :lol:
 
i load for the 9 x 23 largo. lots diff from the 9x23 WIN in case strength however.
the 9 x 23 largo can quiet safely be loaded to the 1200 fps mark in a pistol

starline make nice largo brass. i think that it would make much more cents to use a rimless cartridge like this, rather than the .38 super. i have a colt series 70 in 9 mm largo, and love it
 
Beater said:
9x 23 WIN. same thing without the rim
Click to expand...

But a whole bunch rarer* and correspondingly difficult to find; not to mention more expensive. And try finding a factory gun chambered in 9 x 23. I think Colt offered a factory Gov't Model in 9 x 23 a few years ago but I doubt it's still in the catalogue. At least guns were offered in .38 Super for over seven decades (and still are IIRC) so there are quite a few kicking around....


* the only thing rarer would be .356 TSW!
 
i started with a 38 super- back when they colt was the only game in town and they had a real grouping problem- using the rim for headspace instead of the shoulder- they'd group to pie plate size- think of it as a 9mm on super speed- even then, the mag only held 9 -and brother, was it hard to get ammo for- not like now- went up to 45 and in spite of slightly less muzzle, it grouped far better- and you could get different bullets for it- all that was a round at that time were 9mm fmjs- 130 grain instead of 115/124 but still fmj
 
I like it in the 1911, particularly with a ramped barrel. You get 10 rounds in a flush fit mag. All the performance of 9mm and more on tap if you need it. A wide range of suitable bullets, and the brass is relatively cheap.
 
Does anybody actually use real 357sig brass? Don't most people just use .40 necked down? Slightly shorter I know, but I don't ever recall seeing a piece of real Sig brass at an IPSC match, for instance. Actually can't say I've ever seen a 357SIG headstamp for that matter! :shock:

Just askin' cuz I don't know.
 
joe-nwt said:
Does anybody actually use real 357sig brass? Don't most people just use .40 necked down? Slightly shorter I know, but I don't ever recall seeing a piece of real Sig brass at an IPSC match, for instance. Actually can't say I've ever seen a 357SIG headstamp for that matter! :shock:

Just askin' cuz I don't know.
Click to expand...

If I could get proper headspacing of the shoulder, and enough neck tension with the shorter neck from resized .40 brass, I'd use it :D
 
That's why I'm asking. My only experience with the Sig is with the IPSCers. I don't own one. A good friend of mine only uses .40 brass. Not sure what he does for headspace on the first firing, but he doesn't seem to have a problem with neck tension. I believe the reformed 40 leaves a neck that is about .015 shorter than a real Sig case. Is that a significant amount?

I guess I have wandered OFF TOPIC here, :D sorry!
 
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