Claven2 said:
So what's the "most correct" way to refer to the caliber in your opinion?
In
my opinion, the most "historically accurate" way of referring to the
military round would be as the ".380 Service Revolver" cartridge, which I believe is what the British would have been most likely to call it if they felt any need to make it clear that they weren't talking about the old ".380 Revolver" cartridge. Perhaps needless to say, however, during the time-frame these revolvers were in service, the military community would probably have referred to it simply as the ".380" - at least in conversation - since everyone would know what they were talking about ... And I suspect that, except for supply requisitions, inventory manifests and the like, they sure as heck didn't speak (or write) of them as "Cartridges, Small Arms, Service Revolver, .380 Inch, Mark IIZ", or whatever ...
Hitzy: ".38 S&W" is probably as good as anything nowadays, for a "shooter' at least, because that is really the only ammunition commercially available for these revovers anymore. However, by changing both the projectile and the propellant, the British did create a new service cartridge - at least in their eyes - and of course it just "wouldn't do, Old Boy" to keep calling it .38 Smith & Wesson, when their minds seem to have
needed to think in traditional War Department jargon ...
Their purpose in messing with the cartridge in the first place was to attempt to have a reduced-caliber cartridge comparable in "stopping power" to the .455 cartridge with its 265 gr. bullet. They purportedly achieved that goal, at least with the original 200 gr. lead bullet moving at higher velocity than the .455, but in actual service during WWII the round (now loaded with a lighter jacketed bullet, of course) definitely got a reputation for being anemic ... Anent that, read on ....
Years ago (more than I care to admit) when I was in university in Edmonton, there was a big hullaballoo over the ineffectiveness of the obsolete .38 S&W revolvers (including some Webleys inherited by the EPD from the old City of Strathcona when they amalgamated, IIRC) still being carried by the members of that force, as a result of a most unfortunate incident. Two police officers on foot were approaching a bank robbery in progress (my recollection is that they were unaware it was going on, and were simply on foot patrol, not actually responding to the crime) when the culprits came charging out of the bank. One fired at the officers with the shotgun he was carrying (loaded with birdshot only, as I recall). They took most of the pellets in their legs, and went down. At quite close range, both of them emptied their revolvers (presumably we are talking commercial-spec .38 S&W ammo here) into the rear of getaway car as it pulled away. When it was located abandoned, it was discovered that most of the rounds had struck the vehicle - two or three of them even hitting the rear window.
None of them penetrated either the metal skin or the window!
