Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 38 Super....

Yeah, this is an itch that needs to scratched...

If you were going to buy a new 38 Super today, what one would you spring for?

Just bought one a couple weeks ago and can't quit carrying it, it's quickly becoming my favorite everyday piece.

Colt TALO LW Commander, have two loads worked up for it, the 124 gr Rainier plated fmj flat points and the 125 gr Barnes HP's for serious work, both bullets powered in the neighborhood of 1325 fps with Longshot powder, it's really a sweet little shooter and highly addictive.

Depends what you want it for...as gunner indicated the Colt TALO Commander is the finest out of the box .38 Super for carrying Colt has ever made...

If you want a GREAT all-around shooter take a look at the Kimber Stainess Target II. Very accurate, BoMar style sights and can be found for right around a grand...add a Kimber .22 Conversion Unit and a 9mm barrel and you have total versatility in one gun...

Bob

Read that Colt stuff & drooled on my keyboard...

Dispatching chupacabra is the best reason I can come up with currently.

Wish Ruger would make their Commander in one. Really been impressed with their 1911's at that price point.

38 Super in the LW would be welcome

Another vote for the TALO Colt, that's one nice Super right there.

Do it Tomk, Gunsinternational had one advertised by Cabelas for around $1025 IIRC.

...some more "encouragement"....

Out of the box....










With arched mainspring housings silver trigger to match my other Supers...








With the 9x23 barrel and standards width grips...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/1911/DSCF6930_zps39f10226.jpg[/img]

...and new Dawson adjustable rear sight...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/1911-II/20130809_154557_zps6de22791.jpg[/img]

Saw the listing in the 26th, went and looked last night and couldn't find it, there is one for 1250 though.

Nice work Bob.

yeah, looked--gone.

This "scarcity marketing" for all things that shoot erodes my fiscal resolve...you guys ain't helping...:)

Glad to be of service Sir.

My 38 Super...

I am totally enjoying this thread! A 38 Super 1911 will be on my short list of guns to aquire when I am back in an aquisition mode, for sure.

How does the 38 Super stack up with other rounds for one shot stops etc? Anyone have data or such for it? With the right bullets, it seems to be it should be right there with the 357Magnum 125gr loads which were considered pretty effective for a long time. If Hornaday were to make a Critical Duty load for it, that one would have to be a pretty snappy and capable loading, one would assume.

The .38 Super is, for all intents and purposes, a .357 Magnum. The .357 is still king of one-shot stop data.

Imagine a .357 Sig with a straight-wall case for the 1911. That's the Super and it was the "Sig" 65 years before the Sig came out.

38 Super was the first pistol I ever owned. 1911 70's series that came ANIB and that box was a small cardboard one.

Got it in the 90's for 500 bucks - shot it, loved it and then sold it for 500 bucks. Idiot.

You're in good company...

Well, not sure about the "good" part but when it comes to Colts and Superposed I am certainly in the idiot category...

nice...did it come that way, or smithed?

If you're asking me, mine is a full blown custom by Benchmark Precision.

Here it is on BP's website...

http://www.benchmark-precision.com/nm148208-springfield-38-super-fixed.html

will do my best to help you in return

yep, thanks for the link

Nice piece Clark, that Super and a lower added to that 11.5" upper you have all tucked under a long coat would have a man WELL armed.

haha...very true!

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=469219802

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=470654018

Usually there are 3-6 new ones on GunBroker all the time...now only these two lightly used ones. Gotta feeling that the supply at the wholesale level has run out...

safariman....the Super with real Super loads like from CorBon, Buffalo Bore and Georgia Arms is just short of the 125 grain .357 Magnum. A 115 JHP will run 1450 fps and a 125 1350. Loads from Winchester, Remington, Federal and Aguila are all watered down in the 1200s.

From the late great Steven Camp....

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Corbon%2038%20Super%20Ammo%20Tests.htm

Lots of info here:

http://www.38super.net/

Bob

Cheapest entry fee:

https://us.armscor.com/products/gi-standard-fs-38-super-1

I bought a Rock Island Standard FS, with comabat sights, full length rod guide, and ambi safety, in 9mm, and my Colt 38 Super and 9x23 barrels fit and functioned w/o a hitch on that 9mm frame.

I've since sold the original Colt w/ that 9x23 barrel, but kept the Super barrel. I worked with HS-6 and 124 Remingtons that I went to 1400, but came back down and run them at 1300 even.

Thanks Bob.

Any issues with the Rock Island?

Not on my end. With any of the 3 barrels, I never had a FTF.

Google the reviews on RIA...pretty solid gun across the board.

I was going to drop the coin on another in 45, but scored a Para 14-45 at a recent gun show instead.

You are welcome...

That first gun up there on GB sold for $870.00. I have not seen a used one sell for under $950 and that was a BuyNow...

The other gun has been on there for a while...a long while.

Bob

This is great info/news here for me. I really like my RIA Tac10 1911 10mm, and have decided that my next handgun purchase (Quite a ways down the road, unfortunately) is likely to be their 17 round 22TCM/9mm combo pistol. My plan then is to add barrels a barrel in 38 Super. Then obtain uppers or barrels for my single stack 10mm in 22LR and 45ACP. I don't think that there are magazines to make 10mm, 22LR or 45ACP run in that widebody 22TCM pistol or I would just get all of the barrel/spring sets for the one frame. I might do that (just get the other barrels fitted to it) anyway with this single, railed dustcover 10mm frame.

That combo set up all packaged into a single hard case with cutouts for the other barrel/spring combo's would make one heck of a useful bug out or other crisis piece. Whatever ammo one could find, one could run with a simple quick changeout. That 22TCM is a very interesting round to me.

Bob, lots of great reading and info there, THANKS! Yep, going to have to have to add the 38 Super to my mix one of these days.

Good grief.

22TCM doesn't exactly grow on trees. Neither does 10mm. "Finding" that ammo just doesn't happen. You won't be carrying a hard case with friggin' gadgets, either, if you have to "bug out". You'll be carrying as little as possible, and what you carry has to work as is and to as much double/triple duty as possible. The Serbian lessons on this are relevant and stark.

For the SHTF piece, a modified cylinder GP100 .357 that will then take .357s, .38 Specials, .38 Colts, 9x23, 9x21, .38Super, and .380 is a much more realistic BUG.

But, please don't let reality get in the way of fantasy.

I very well realize that 22TCM and 10mm ammo are relatively scarce, even in the best of times. Which is exactly why I am thinking that having extra uppers or fitted barrels in 9mm, 22LR, 45 ACP would be important additions.

BACK on topic.... being something of a speed freak regarding guns and velocity, I am surprised that I have not yet owned a 38 Super. That will hopefully be rectified in the not too distant future.

yeah...must have been karma...:)

IIRC, which is open to question, there was a used one at Bud's that went for 907 or thereabouts.

Mark...a single stack .22 TCM conversion is coming this summer so if one did it right one can have one frame, four slides slides and up to about 14 calibers...


Bob

y

A better idea, yet!

To whom would you turn to get barrels fitted properly in 9mm, 38 Super and 45ACP? Add a 22LR conversion kit and voila' there be a pretty universal, ammo eatin, critter-killin machine. I wonder if barrels in 380ACP and or 9x18 MAK could be made to run OK in a 1911 ful sized frame, just for the sake of ammo availability in harder times. One Could even go 45 Super or similar in the ACP set up since I will already have the extra power, stiff spring for my 10mm. The slide on my 10mm definately requires big hands and a strong grip to rack it and use it.

This could get to be a really fun and addicting hobby here....

First you need a base gun preferably in 9mm/Super or 10mm/.40 S&W because of the location of the ejector. Then slides in the base calibers you don't have...in your case Super and .45. Then you start adding barrels. As to who, just ask around to see if there is a good 1911 smith in your area...much better and probably cheaper than sending it off some where especially if the project is going to be done a little at a time.

From what I have read there is a way to modify either the .45 slide or the 10mm and Super slides so that the ejector doesn't have to be switched out when going to the .45. I had a Combat Commander at one point that had two slides that would shoot 9mm/Super and .45 ACP without changing the ejector on the frame.

You may be able to get most of the parts for your gun from RIA since you are starting with one for a base gun. And as you said, add a .22 Conversion and you are all set. As to .380 I am not sure if the magazines for 9mm will handle the feeding of .380....

Possible calibers:
.22 LR

.22 TCM
.30 Luger
7.62x25mm (rounds must be slightly shortened to fit into the mag)
9mm
9x21
9x23 Largo
9x23 Winchester
.38 Super

.40 S&W
10mm
.400 CorBon
.40 Super
.357 SIG (unsolved as of yet feeding problems)

.45 ACP
.45 Super
.460 Roland
.45 Detonics Magnum


...just takes money....

Bob

was watering my Super fetish tonite and came across this 24hr RJM thread--worth another look...:)

Supers

Bob, did you have a trigger job done for the Talo?

Appreciate it,
tom

..yes...local guy who was an Army Reserve Armorer for 20 years...came out at 3.19#..it is one of the lighter ones I have.

There are now three barrels in the TALO. The original that is match tight, a second .38 Super barrel from a friend's XSE Commander that was match tight and opened up to 9x23 Winchester and a KART 9mm barrel.

The XSE barrel solved the problem of shooting all the rounds with bulged brass. That said I have since bought a Lee die from EGW that puts the Super brass back to factory specs...wish I had know about them long ago...

The 9mm barrel just needed a little fitting and now runs 100%...

Bob

The factory crimp die?

...no but I use one of them also....

This is the die available only from EGW....

http://www.egwguns.com/index.php?p=product&id=839

Thank-you Bob

Daughter and future son-in-law visiting this week, in from CO. She announced her desire that she and Luke should start shooting pistol at a range together.

Will keep the Super under wraps for a while...the cool stuff has tended to migrate in a westerly direction lately...

Am a sucker for Colts sporting deep blue or black slides & lighter grips--preferably ivory...:)

...well this blue with ebony and ivory...

1952 Commander...carried daily from 1980-2007...




1960s vintage Super with carved Indian elephant ivory...





My first Super...also ebony and ivory...





...good luck with your quest....

Bob

You're gonna have to change your 24HR handle to "Super Bob"

It's the small block Chevy of handguns.

But you need to start with a .38 Super/9mm frame or switch to ramped barrels. I personally think the ramped barrel is THE way to go if you're going to do a lot of caliber swapping.

I agree with having ramped barrels, the major drawback being expense. Unless you buy a base gun with a ramped barrel, like a Kimber Stainless Target II, one then has to have a very competent smith mill the frame. Then price ramped vs. non-ramped barrels...

I have not found any major drawbacks to non-ramped 1911s...ramped is nice but expensive.

Bob

Interesting that the thread morphed into conversions.

Random comments:

The .400 Corbon is a .45 ACP case necked to .40 cal, so you need a .45 ACP slide & extractor.

The 9x25 Dillon is a 10mm case necked to 9mm, so it could work with .40/10mm slides.

I had a .40 S&W Double Eagle for a while. After I fixed spring & extractor problems, I noted that it fed better using regular 10mm magazines, as opposed to the shorter .40 cal mags - so you might try std 10mm mags with the .357 Sig.

I was told years ago that 9mm & .45 Colt Commanders share the same ejector and frame ramp, so one can theoretically just swap top ends & slide stops. This Commander:



came to me as a parts gun in .45 ACP. I found a 9mm slide, fitted a 9mm barrel, and it ran perfectly fine.

I prefer ramped barrels in frisky calibers:

I didn't think you put any stock in the "One Shot Stop" data. I haven't seen a compilation for a number of years. The last that I knew of had the 40 S&W as tops, having eclipsed the 357 Mag. after that round had been the top stopper for a number of years. Not nearly as much data existed for the Super or 10, IIRC. Those are specific loads though and not some summation of the whole cartridge.

My RIA 10mm has a ramped barrel, one of the reasons I am not afraid of my orignal spec level loadings. So, getting additional hot rod rounds for that frame sounds like a good way to go.

Please tell me more about this 9x25 Dillon! Sounds like an awesome additional barrel for my ramped already 10mm.

Faster than the 357 Magnum, even? If so, me likey!

I just looked it up and answered the question from above. Yes, significantly faster than even the mighty 357 Magnum with the lighter bullets. 115's at 1800fps!

I am guessing that these rounds would be a tad.... ummm...


LOUD!

Though

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9%C3%9725mm_Dillon

Impressive

Never really interested until my son sent me a line on a Tanfoglio Match Target...

Does he compete?

My interest goes back to reading outdoor rags in the barber shop...the kind where your mom used to drop you off and ask "how long" from the comfort of the threshold...

One stop shot is a complete myth. That's one of the big reasons that the FBI is going back to the 9mm. Data has shown that it's very rare that one shot actually ends a fight, and often not even two shots end the fight. So they feel since all common combat handgun cartridges are having mostly the same effect (meaning, regardless of cartridge, you still have to shoot multiple times), having more ammo in the magazine is much more important than what cartridge is in the magazine. And even though I carry a single column magazine gun, I can't really find much flaw with their conclusions.

If you start with a 9mm/Super frame, then it all works. If you start with a .45 frame, when you get the 9mm/.38 Super barrels, often the barrel with over-hang the frame at the feed ramp by a thousandth or two. One way to get around that is to cut the little dimple like Colt's been doing with some of their new guns, but that's not always a sure fire solution. Best to just start with the .38 Super feed ramp, the you can make it all work much easier.