I'm an autoloader guy. I believe that it IS a better platform for military, police and regular people self defense. There are better calibers. Calibers that have more energy, velocity.

That said, for whatever reason, I just have a infatuation with the boring, simple .38 Special.

One of my favorite guns, that I tend to carry in the fall is a Smith & Wesson model 10 Military & Police. 38 Special.

It was a duty gun for a short time. When I did security work, it had to be. 38 Special. So a Smith & Wesson Model 10 Military & Police with a tapered barrel is what I carried. I Qualified 95 to 100 percent with it. The course was the FBI Qualification.
After a short time we could carry anything and for me it was a .40 S&W Glock Model 22.

But still, I still like the .38 Special. There is just something special about it.

Yes it's weak

Yes a revolver and slow to reload

Yes it only holds 6 rounds

But, for some reason, the. 38 Special is special.

Easy to shoot, and just about anywhere that you are.

There is just something special about the. 38 Special.


ARman

You summed it up pretty well with those last three lines.

The VAST majority of us will only ever shoot in peace vs in anger and may almighty God always make that so.

As such we ultimately shoot for fun and 6 rounds of docile .38 special out of a fixed barrel, well crafted revolver is……… well sublime. Accurate, easy, no brass to chase, quiet”ish”, no real concussive wave and frankly adequate for serious social situations if called upon. It’s just a wonderful cartridge. Do I want to use it in 2024 as my primary self defense choice? Probably not. Would I lose sleep over it if it was my only self defense choice? Absolutely not.

As you said it really is “special”.

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:
...boring...38 Special

Nothing boring about my .38 Special ammo cache. I have birdshot, buckshot, Hydra-Shok (the original, not Federal), MagSafe, Hi-Way Master, 95g Silvertip, Nyclad, Super Vel, Winchester armor piercing, etc. Some pretty exciting stuff, actually.

quote:

Yes it's weak

Not necessarily. Also, being a purpose-built revolver cartridge, it isn't subject to bullets pulling loose under recoil and doesn't need moon clips or other schemes for case extraction, unlike the 9mm.

I too love .38 sp. Although I usually use it as a warmup to .357, with limitations, it's a respectable caliber in its own right.

Me too. My latest acquisition is a mid-70's Colt Detective Special. One of my all time favorite guns is a well-worn Smith Model 64 3 inch I got as a police trade in.

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:
Yes it's weak
ARman

I think catching one or more 158JHP in the chest would suck more than I'd care to try. We all like to accept that bullet technology has made 9mm adequate for self defense when a decade or two ago "all defensive calibers needed to start with 4". I'm pretty sure a modern day 38Spl has also benefitted from those advances and isn't THAT much weaker than a 9mm.

I carried a Model 13 Heavy Barrel on duty with 125gr +Ps on board.
Great accuracy, low recoil and good bullet performance. Off duty was a round butt 3 inch Model 65. Same load.
I wish I still had them!

.38 Special is like the starter pistol in a video game, you end up keeping it way long than you should and continuing to use it just for funsies. I've got a couple M&P/Model 10s and a Model 19, so I've got a decent stash of .38 on hand. One of these days I ought to find a decent lever in .357 to really utilize the stash.

quote:

One of these days I ought to find a decent lever in .357 to really utilize the stash.

Yes, yes you should.

I have a Rossi lever action and it is fun to shoot and accurate with both special and magnum.

My wife brought an old Colt Detective Special .38 into our marriage, and it's a bit snappy to shoot.

I tried a friend's S&W Model 10 .38 that he carried on the job in Chicago, and it is very soft shooting. A delight to shoot, such that I considered getting one. I haven't yet, as I have a Ruger GP-100 in .357, but I still consider it.

His department changed to P220s back in the '80s or '90s, and he hated them. But he loved his Model 10.

I carry my tapered barrel Smith & Wesson model 10 4" barrel quite often in the cooler fall mouths, especially while hiking.

I have a Colt Official Police that's nickel but I rarely shoot it, and never carry it. It's original and in very good condition. So I don't want to mess it up.

Then I have a Ruger GP100 and SP101 .357 Magnum. The GP 100 is a 3" barrel and it's also carried on the trail.

The SP101 is stuffed in my coat pocket and such for quick potty breaks with the pups when I got my sweats on.

I have a huge tub of .38 special brass, and it's what my Square B is set up for most of the time. I shoot that caliber the most. I have a couple of light target loads and it's super low recoil and a Pleasure to shoot.

I guess one of the things that I love the .38 Special for, is teaching a new shooter. It's soft shooting enough that almost anyone can handle it, but it's a "real" caliber. Even the softest target loads can do in a pinch for self defense.


ARman

I'm also fan of the 38 special, and snubbies.

A few times a year I shoot a S&W 66, loaded with 38s at IDPA. When one of the ranges used to have bowling pin matches I would it at those to. It's a lot of fun to shoot. I sometimes carry a S&W 442.

I have a 642 in my rotation and recently received a Milt Sparks VMII for a Detective Special I plan to carry sometimes. I still enjoy 38 special revolvers both on the range and on my hip.

For several years I shot a S&W 10-6 heavy barrel with 6 speedloaders in our local USPSA matches.
Usually was in the middle of the pack overall - but always first in the revolver class (I was the only one).

PC

It's no secret here that I love the .38, particularly the +p versions. I like the .357 too, but out of longer barrels.

The .38+P is a potent and practical cartridge. It's like 9mm for revolvers, but since you don't have to worry about feeding it through a semi-auto you can use a lot of wider, flatter bullet profiles. It's easy to shoot, even out of Airweights, and pretty potent on the receiving end. It's relatively inexpensive for a revolver cartridge, and downright cheap if you reload for it.

Out of a levergun it's like shooting a .22. Barely any recoil but you're shooting a real center-fire cartridge.

It's also nice that you can shoot it out of anything chambered for .38 or .357 Mag. That provides a lot of options...but the most efficient use of the caliber is to stick with guns designed around it. Here's a pair of my favorites:

If one were to break into my home in the middle of the night, there is a much better than even chance of getting shot with a .38 Special than by anything else. An extremely hot .38, but a .38 none the less. The .38 Special has been killin folks since 1898. It still works.