Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .38 Special

With the decreasing availability and increasing cost of 9mm ammo I've been doing a good bit more shooting with the .38 Special, both in .38 and .357 revolvers, and it's like visiting an old friend.

The cases are easy to handle in a single stage or progressive press and like a .308 you can easily cook up an accurate load for it using most any powder even remotely suitable for the purpose, from Bullseye or 231 up to 2400. For those that don't cast there are more weights and styles of .357-.358" cast and jacketed bullets than you can shake a stick at and I'm still seeing a ready supply of those. Recoil even with the heavier loads in lighter revolvers hardly goes over the "snappy" category. Speaking of, those revolvers courteously hand you your empties back instead of disrespectfully tossing them away, another of it's mild mannered attributes.

Good round. A couple of weeks ago I sold my last big bore handgun but will never be without a good .38 and/or .357 revolver.

I like the .38 Special. Always have.

Kids that want to shoot "the big gun" love them too.

Works just as good as 9mm

The .38 rocks, end of story.

Love the 38 Special!

Lightweight sneezers or deer medicine.

This one probably had some of the old 38/44 ammo through it.

Can't say I've seen or had a 38 jam.

But I've never owned a National Match 38 wad gun.

I only own one 38,but it is my wife's Lady Smith.I shoot a lot of 38 loads in.357 cases in my 686.Looked the other day and I have 3 each 3 # coffee cans full of 38 brass and about the same of .357 brass

My favorite and most used handgun cartridge. I’ve shot loads from being able to see the 148 wadcutters in flight to 38/44 equivalent and many in between. Critters from rats and squirrels to wild pigs with a bunch of others in between. Someday I plan to shoot a deer with one of my 38/44s, maybe this winter if I can get close enough.

I need to cast up a pile of bullets and get another bunch of brass gathered up when the weather cools off a little.

That's a pretty Smith. A man's gun, there. The part of me that is my father is drooling!

It went back to Smith for a barrel chop, T hammer and trigger and the high finish re-blue.

Plus it was specifically made for the 358429!

For a couple of years or so I was shooting this daily, mostly with wadcutters or 158 grain ball. An easy revolver to like.
Bob

RGK -

I would like one like that.

A while back I was in Cabela's and saw an 8-3/8" K frame .38 special. They wanted a bit much but it was still hard not to take it home. Real hard.

I wouldn't mind finding a 6" half lug GP100 either

Tom

Or keep your eyes peeled for a clean 6” Security Six. I picked one up for a song 18 months ago.

Expat

Had this one built around 1992 by Frank Glenn, used it for many years in action shooting and ICORE matches. Only a six shooter so not really relevant any more for todays revolver matches for most everyone uses 8 shot 9mm revolvers which lead to a severe disadvantage .
I use it now for steel challenge matches, only five hits required for all stages in SC, so not really at a disadvantage when shooting against autos or hicap revolvers.

My first handgun was a S&W 586 357 mag and I still have it. I've shot thousands of 38s through it. The 38/357 is also the first caliber I ever handloaded for so this round also has a bit of a sentimental value to me as well as being a practical cartridge.

Ditto, I started handloading at age 16 with a Lee Loader for .38/.357. Had a 3 screw Blackhawk and loaded up some .38 Spl rounds, don't remember the load but it used a scoop of whatever Lee recommended. First shot I stuck the revolver out in front of me as far as I could and turned my head away as much as possible, then squeezed the trigger. It went bang instead of kaboom and my new hobby was born.

The compact .38 Special revolvers make a lot of sense.

The 38 special usually gets used in a Highway Patrolman around my place. With the mild 158 gr/ Unique loads it's fed most 22lr pistols move around more.

I would love to pick up an 8 3/8" Model 14, but a 6 inch would do.

38 Special is my favorite handgun cartridge by a large margin. 158-160gr cast and 4.5 to 5grs of Unique has been my mainstay for years.

This Model 15 is my favorite 38.