Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Can a 38 Special defend against an attacker?

Pragmatically speaking, the .38 Special is simply a rimmed version of the 9mm.

Anyone that says either one is not suitable for combat, gunfighting, or self-defense, is a fugking moron.

My carry is a .380 Colt Mustang . God forbid it’s ever called on it will likely be close range and in vitals.

And we have an esteemed Fire member who saved a bunch of folks in AK when he used one on a big brown bear and ended its day.

Are you referring to Phil Shoemaker?

I shoot 158 LRN’s out of mine at 650-750 fps. That’s plenty.

Saw them guys last night in Baton Rouge. Pretty sure they ain’t defending nobody from nothing.

Nearly spit/spilled my coffee

These :





are Polymer coated 158 grain SWCs. Thanks to modern advancements in powders (don't ask me for the load) as well as bullet coatings they run around what the old 38-44 loads did back in the day, but are safe for K Frame and J Frames with steel cylinders.



In testing velocity numbers are as follows:

Ruger Security 6" 1200 FPS
S&W Model 15 4" 1115 FPS
S&W Model 442 1&7/8ths" 1020 FPS


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When doing the chronograph work I tested some American Eagle 158 grain .357 Magnum jacketed soft point.

The American Eagle Jacketed Soft Point .357 Magnum was 10-12 FPS slower on average (I tested a couple times) than this Poly Coated SWC .+P 38 Special ammo.

The fact is that with proper loading techniques, and modern components, the .38 Special is far more capable than the old days of round nose lead at 750 -850 FPS.

The only thing holding it back is that there are quite a few older .38 Specials out there, some of which can be over 100 years old, so some of the larger ammo companies put out rather watered down ammo, similar in fashion to the 30-06. Most of the factory 30-06 is not even close to being loaded to its potential due to concerns of it being fired in a rifle that is not in proper working order.

The .38 Special load shown above was far from the max load found during development and T&E. However, it was a good point where excellent velocity and accuracy came together in a fine tuned load.

It turns the 4" K Frame .38 Combate Masterpiece into a whole other animal.

IMO, Humans are the weakest species in animal kingdom.
If a 22 can kill you.
I’m sure 38 special can do it as well.

Good stuff. I've been doing a fair bit of loading & shooting with 38's & 357's lately. Saw your velocity results and my first thought was "Yup, those are about 357 magnum level."

I do enjoy shooting a good 38/357 revolver and carry one often.

Regards, Guy

To turn a phrase, "it'll blow a lung out!"

Seriously, a modern .38 special load is just as effective as any other well placed round.

Yup, they're the same thing, only different. The difference being the round capacity of the firearm.

Confrontations aren't settled by calibers or hardware. They are settled by skill and resolve.

I’ve checked out the +P thread in the handgun section and it’s been interesting.

I’m running R-P brass and CCI-500’s. Have used Unique and switching over to Tru-Blue. Would likely pick up another 100fps with Starline Brass and Win. Primers like the Ramshot Data calls for (a switch I’ll likely make at some point).
I’ll run these loads in both my 15 and Grandads old Det. Special, so 950fps (with different brass and primers out of the 15) is likely as stout as I’ll go.

While I certainly see the utility, if I think I’ll need something more potent, either a .45ACP or .45 Colt will get the call.

Only if you have at least a 4" barrel so after shooing them with all rounds you can beat them with it.

Better off with a slingshot.

One of the internet ballistics geeks will prove you wrong!

It just depends on what you feed it. Most people know I'm a fan of S&W Model 10s. I like 158 grain swaged SWCHP's over 7 grains of AA#5. It's pretty much a duplicate of the old FBI load. I'm not biased against 9mm, however. I've got a hi cap 9mm that stays close.

The difference I see is, a 9mm has to be loaded to high velocity with fairly hi tech bullets to get good expansion where a the old .38 swaged SWCHP made out of a lump of plumbers lead will flatten out the size of a nickel if you push it to about 975 fps. They're old school, low pressure loads that perform. 9mm needs high pressure and high tech bullets to be as effective as those old school, soft, .38 loads.

.38 special's suck, so send me any you have and I'll trash them for you.

38 is a 357 short.