Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The 38 thread

It's not much to look at and has the lock but this 642 is with me most days. Spent a ton of time in fishing tackle bags , pockets, shoved in a vehicle console while driving and looks the part. Gets carried as a backup occasionally sometimes the primary gun. One .38 I'll never be without

Got a lot of history with the .38SPL, going back more than 60 years, now. I’m sure stuck on it, still:

Embassy Duty in El Salvador, 1984. Getting some practice in at an informal shooting range.

In the holster is my duty revolver, a S&W Model 10, 4" with round butt and skinny barrel. Our duty ammo was Federal Nyclad 125gr hollow point, it was the new thing about that time.

what's the story on the finish of that revolver?

I have three straight .38s. My 642 pocket gun. A model 12-2 that I had set up as my EDC that I used until I got the 642. And last but not least, a model 15-2 made in 1963. My mom bought it for my dad when he became a police officer. He carried it his whole career as a full time and later reserve officer. I carried it as my first duty gun.

Love the .38 Special. It's tied with the .22 LR as my favorite handgun round.

As age creeps up I'm becoming a real recoil wimp. Sold off the .45's and .44's and don't really like to shoot full power 357's much anymore, either. Replaced the big bores sold off with .38's to the point that they now represent the largest portion of my inventory.

You can find or create loads from mild to wild and even the wild ones don't kick much at all. Lots and lots and lots of suitable components available and an accurate load can be worked up with pretty much any combination of them.

Plus, brass lasts forever. I have a batch of Winchester .38 Special cases that just went through their 27th firing. Started with 200 cases and lost 12 to neck splits starting around the 20th firing so down to 188. Given the current attrition rate that batch should still last a good long time. Got another batch of Winchesters on their 16th firing, they're youngsters in comparison.


My only problem is what to do with the 1000 brand new Starline cases sitting on the shelf. Guess I'll need to mention them in my will...

Brass life is one of the great things about standard pressure handgun ammo Jim. I too have some mixed 38 brass, some as old as 1940s era WW Midrange wadcutter brass, that I have loaded more than 20 times. 95 percent of it was used when I got it and there’s no telling how many loading some of it has seen.

I have lost enough to splits in the mouth that I need to get some new replacements. Been keeping an eye on the classifieds lately waiting for some to come up.

When I carry my Python around the ranch or out in the sticks, I'm almost always loaded with .38 specials. Most things I encounter are smaller predators, and two legged varmints. So a .38 Special is kinda perfect for me out here in the desert.

When the crappie start biting it generally means the snakes are coming out about the same time around here. I’ve sunk a bunch of them that swam a little too close to the boat with the 2” M15 I’m carrying in this picture. Many more went to Davy Jones’ locker via a SWC launched from my 38/44 OD.

Nickel 15. Nice.

LOL. Don't you hate that? I've got buckets full of once fired .38 Special brass, but keep using the same bag of three hundred over and over.

I don't own a .38 but that is about all I shoot in my .357 pistols. Must have 4 or 5. It and the .44 spl are my favorite pistol rounds. I guess along with the .22. Great thread.

S&W Model 15-4






S&W Model 14-3

I went to the ranch for a little bit when it cleared off this evening for some DA shooting. I recently watched an old interview with John Prine back when he was king of the PPC world. Being a self taught handgun shooter I gathered several tips on technique that he mentioned and my DA shooting has markedly improved. Still have to get a flyer in every cylinder full it seems but I’m getting better.

All these were shot at 10 yards offhand DA. All the 38s were with a 158 wadcutter over 3.5gr of W231.

LD those are some nice S&Ws. If you could loan them to me for a couple decades I’d try my best to wear them out.

[quote=Mackay_Sagebrush]I have an old .357 Flattop that I have used to hammer the Jacks a time or to as well, using .38 WCs and SWCs.







Yours is a bit rougher than mine Mackay. Mine’s a 1978 production New Model with some pitting down the left side of the barrel and a stripe down the cylinder where it was lined up with the barrel at the time. Some guy left it under the seat of his pickup and it rusted into the carpet, still had fibers stuck on it when I got it. Has a big cylinder gap and lots of play but shoots way too good to monkey with it. I’d buy ten more in the same shape for what I have for it.

Nice 14-3 I've got one in the safe I need to dig out

Nice looking family.

10-7
A line up
357 flattop with a 9mm cylinder. My thought is to ream out the 9mm to 38, can be done?
One of two 64-5s
60-7 and 36-7