Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Best handgun cartridges that aren't popular

Oh man, there are a lot of cartridges that should have been popular but never really took off. Here's my top 5 list of handgun cartridges that have SO much to offer, but just don't seem to have the popularity.

1 - .38 Super. Basically it's a 9mm +P+ with a little heavier bullet. Closer to a .357 mag, but not quite there. As a personal defense cartridge this cartridge isn't really lacking much of anything. Pushing a 147 grain bullet at 1150fps you get great penetration against intermediate barriers, and good, reliable expansion. Put that in a LW Commander with 10 round mags, you have a light, flat, high(ish) capacity powerhouse.

2 - .45 Super. Had Ace Hindman not been so hell bent on getting royalties, someone would have picked this up and made it a legitimate. As it is, analogies were tried kind of half heartedly with about zero success. But the .45 Super is really a fantastic cartridge. It's basically everything the 10mm is, but with a .45 caliber bullet. Over the long term, it can be hard on a 1911, but who cares? And your average .45 Super an still function full power .45 ACP rounds reliably often without even changing springs. So you can have your powerhouse in the field, and a combat master when you're back on the street. Too bad the shooting public never really caught on to this one.

3 - .41 Magnum - It can do anything a .44 Mag will do. The original S&W 29 was much better as a .41 mag (57 & 58) than it ever was as a .44. Flatter trajectory, better penetration and the bullet is only .009" smaller. So any job you'd do with a .44 can be one with the .41 mag. I often suspected had they designed the cartridge by elongating the .41 Colt that it would have done better because there'd be a ".41 Special". But it wasn't, and the .41 remains the cartridge of fans mostly.

4 - .327 Federal. There is only one real problem with this cartridge; the guns. The .327 is a hangunners cartridge, and not something Joe-6-pak is going to "get". I have always pictured this cartridge in one gun, and one gun only. A 4 3/4" Ruger Bisley Single Six with a 5 shot cylinder. That gun would be a delight to carry, and could handily dispatch anything on up to deer at reasonable ranges. On predators, or varmints with the right loads (and good hearing protection), it would be a hoot at a prairie dog town. The other gun I see this cartridge working well in is the S&W Model 15. 7 shot DA revolver 4" light weight profile barrel; would just be slick.

5 - 10mm. This one is such a great cartridge, but people either don't understand it or know about it. Here's the "one" handgun that can do it all, and do so with factory ammo. If you're a handloader, it offers nothing over the .45 Super other than the fact you can buy ammo off the shelf. But if a guy wanted one gun to do it all, a 10mm 1911 with a .22 conversion unit would cover you for pretty much anything you'd ask from a handgun.

Honorable mention - The 9x23 Winchester is a VERY interesting cartridge. Probably the toughest brass case ever created (for anything, handgun or rifle). Ballistics analogous to a .357 magnum but the bullets are sometimes not quite up to the task. Buffalo Bore's .38 Super 147gr load at 1150 is pushing the design specs of that bullet. Any faster and the bullet starts to rip open too liberally. The 1300-1350 that the 9x23 can push the 147 is just too fast for a bullet that was really designed for a 950-1000fps 9mm Luger. It's too bad, because the 9x23 really shines with the heavier bullets. The one saving grace is the Winchester 124gr soft point. The 9x23 is one of the only handgun rounds that will make a soft point really work, and the Win 124 isn't bad. Still, a well constructed 147 would be Manna From Heaven for the 9x23; unfortunately there just aren't many asking for such a thing.

Gotta throw the 480 Ruger into the mix.

All of these have fairly strong groups of devotees, but yea, what could have been........

Yes!!! I liked the .480 Ruger from day one. I've never had ANY use for one, but it's a cool cartridge.

.41 Mag
10mm
38 Super
.327 Fed.
357 Sig.
.44 special

Kevin, our lists are almost identical. Just a little difference in opinion on how I ranked the order of importance.
But I'll take the .357 Sig Cartridge over the 9X23, though just because it's a bottle neck cartridge. Which should make it out feed any other round fired through a self-loader, in theory, anyways. Mine's Never Jammed

I like the 32 H&R MAG in my Ruger Single Six Vaquero and S&W 432 PD Airweight Snubbie.

I would vote 32 H&R (wish I had bought one), and 480 Ruger.

Nothing wrong with any on the lists so far. All should be more popular.

The 32 H&R Mag is a GREAT trail gun.




DMc

You make me jealous!

.32 H&R Single Six is a cool revolver.

The 45 Super is available in factory form from Buffalo Bore, Underwood Ammo, and Double Tap. Double Tap calls their 45 Super the "450 SMC". I like the 45 Super very much.

Normally the larger caliber beats it's smaller sibling, but not in the case of the 41 mag, it seems to offer the same terminal performance as the 44 mag with a bit less recoil

The real sleeper is the 460 Rowland. Don't take my word for it. Google it!

One more. 327 Federal. If you just can get them out of the cylinder after firing!

I know all about the 460 Rowland and it doesn't interest me in the least. I can load a 45 Super Case to the same ballistics level if I desire, but I do not. 38,000 psi is more than I want in a semi auto handgun.

jwp475-

We had this discussion before.

I kicked your ass!

Love ya.

I can't educate you again because I need to leave the house this morn'n. But I will leave you with one thought!


Think Compesator!!! Releases out of battery at 15-18 psi.

Yeah that's a good list. I'll go one further and say one of the worst ideas of a cartridge in a hand gun was the 30 carbine. Ear splitting.

Oh what about the 45 Win Mag. Good or bad.

You ain't kicked my ass and I doubt that you can educate me. I just do not want a 38,000 psi 45 caliber cartridge in a semi auto handgun.a bit much IMHO. I have plenty of revolvers for those type loads.

If you want a 38,000 psi semi auto then go for it.

I about to compare a 10mm to the 45 Super soon. I will be using a link less 1911, if such existed in 45 call I might reconsider a 38,000 psi 45

The compensator doesn't address all of the issues, I know one top smith that will not even do a 460 Rowland in a revolver because of it's many issues. But you may rock on, but I personally have zero interest.

The cartridge require a grip that is too large for most shooters to grip properly in a semi auto and we have rimmed cartridges for the revolvers. IMHO bad.

38/40 is a great revolver cartridge, but a PIA to load in volume for.

Kevin, I think you meant to say the 41 is .019 smaller than the 44.
The 41 Mag is my favorite revolver ctg bar none. Have 10 or 12 of 'em.

Pete

5.7 X 28