Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 10mm vs 38Super

I've been thinking about a 38 Super for sometime, but have failed to pull the trigger as yet. Just want one to shoot basically, and since Jeff Cooper had one he liked I thought I'd like one. However was at a gun show today and there seemed to be a preponderance of 10mm's. I haven't compared the cartridges ballistically but assume the 10 is much more powerful than the Super. Is the 10mm the new wave? Opinions, comments, comparisons on performance?

The 10mm is more powerful than the 38 Super. But I think a 1911 in 38 Super is pretty cool - especially a pretty one.

I think the same way, the 38 Super is cool and has a history. Especially now that it is headspacing on the case mouth and not on the rim as in the early years. Granted Cooper's gun was probably worked over, but he considered quite accurate. Carried it with him in at least two wars.

Pretty similar really.
Faster/flatter shooting than a 45.

Mostly a power vs capacity thing.

Add 45 super to the mix, now it gets cornfusing.

The 10mm holds a distinct power advantage when it comes to factory ammo, plus the same advantage when it comes to variety. The Super is like a 1980's 45 Colt or 44 Spec. factory-ammo-wise. Fifteen or so years ago, the 10 and the Super were both moribund but now the former seems to have taken off slightly with a lot more new guns and ammo made for it. I think you could better the Super's performance with handloads. While I wouldn't call the 10 the "new wave", it is currently riding a small wave of popularity whereas the Super isn't. Around here, you can get 10mm at Walmart, but not 38 Super.

The Super is, was and will always be cooler than the 10. IMO it is best experienced in a 1911 style platform.

If you want to compare the two in terms of power...a top end .38 Super load is just short of .357 Magnum...a top end 10mm load is just short of .41 Magnum....

I've been shooting and carrying a .38 Super since 1980. Just started shooting the 10mm in 2016. Love the .38 Super for 95% of everything I do with a handgun....which is CC with two legged vermin in mind. If I were in an area with bear and was using a semi for personal protection I would go 10mm.

When using a 1911 .38 Super one can easily change barrels to be able to shoot 9mm. Most .38 Super barrels will also run 9x23 Winchester which is the exact equal of a .357Magnum.

With a 10mm one can get a drop in barrel to be able to shoot .40 S&W and I also found that at least with a Kimber, 38 Super and 9mm barrels can also be fitted so one can have a multi-caliber gun.

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=777762

https://web.archive.org/web/20170624164255/http://38super.net/

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


10mm Forums...

http://10mm-firearms.com/index.php


You can't go wrong with either caliber....Bob


ps..as to Cooper's .38 Super... It was a Commander with a 6" BarSto barrel and the rounds he made up were cut down .223 brass.... It was basically what the 9x23 turned out to be. I still have the article that he wrote on it. I spoke to him at one of the SHOT Shows in the mid-1980s about that gun...he said it was hanging on the wall in his office at Gunsite... Skeeter Skelton also had Jim Clark make him a Government Model .38 Super not too long before he died....

You sure about that? I'm thinking that didn't happen.

MOGC...you are correct...Cooper carried a 1911 .45 not a Super....

Ok, I stand corrected, thought I read in one of his books he had the super. I got my pistols mixed up, "the Complete Book of Modern Handgunning" on page 55 shows a picture of Jeff's Super which was set up as a trail gun. Sorry about that, shoulda checked. Anyhow, I kinda think I prefer the Super, I don't need the extra power of the 10mm. Just wondered if I was really missing anything. I would really like a 1911 blue steel and walnut Super. Yes, old school I know, but it is what it is.

..this is about what you want then....

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/802937514

That's exactly it!

I love my 1911 38 Super. The fellas on here helped me pin down what I lucked into, which turned out to be a Colt reworked by the master, Swenson. Blind squirrel and all that. It is one fun gun to shoot.

If mainly for SD, I'd go 38 Super, both my 38 Super and 10mm are 1911's and 10+1 capacity, the 38 is a Colt LWT Commander and fires the 125gr Barnes copper hp's to 1321 fps, the Dan Wesson 10mm fires 200gr XTP's to a bit over 1200 fps, and 140 Lehigh Defense penetrators to near 1600 fps, to me the 10mm is more of a hunting handgun.

Nice little heater FB, Congrats!

That is a nice gun that I really like the look of. The only thing I'd change personally is the square trigger guard. But that's just aesthetics.

Fireball2,

You're so LUCKY that I bet if you fell headfirst down the hole of an outhouse that you'd find numerous GOLD BARS.

NICE piece.

yours, tex

Hey the photo of the Super above led one member to contact me and he's convinced there's some features on this pistol that Swenson didn't do, like forward slide serrations. After the first round of discussion a few years ago on here we were convinced it was a Swenson because of all the features that are right.

Heck if I know one way or another, I'm just going by what those on here are calling it. Ima stay out of it.

A Colt El Capitan with ivory grips is on my Want List. I had a blue 38 Super 1911 a few years ago and loved shooting it. Almost no recoil for a SSP gun.

....like this....




There is one on GB now...only $4K but no box... I have been offered $6K for mine and turned it down....

Yea like that! The only thing I would do different is make the grips plain and put a medium solid trigger on it.
I believe in different guns for different calibers. That would be my 38 Super and my 10mm would be a working gun--the Glock 20.