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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
I have an ongoing infatuation with the 38 Super but haven't been able to decide if the cartridge really has anything to recommend it or if I just like it 'cause it's another old cartidge. I'd like to hear from some folks who have experience with the Super about the pros and cons. I'm a 1911 owner and know I like the package. Thanks.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,369
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,369 |
I have a 38 Super in a Colt Lightweight Commander and it is tremendously fun to shoot. Whenever I take young folks (teenagers and twenty somethings) to the range to shoot for the first time, that is the gun they absolutely love the most. The recoil is mild, the gun comes back on target fast, and if you get some of the old Winchester Silvertip ammo the white flash of the muzzle blast is more fun than the 4th of July. After some polishing of the breach face and the feedramp it runs 100%. I don't worry about the cons of the cartridge. I figure if the Winchester Silvertips can't save my butt in a life or death situation then it is my time to go. I don;t try to reload it. I just buy some factory ammo a couple times a year when I can get it on sale and go have fun at the range. have not used it on small game, or any woodsy activities. Get one!! 
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
Dogger - You're a man after my own heart. That's been my line of thinking as I've considered this purchase. I have one of the Rock Island 45s and it's a keeper. I've been waffling between one of their compacts and the 38 Super. I also have a line on a Colt that has been nicely upgraded. Armscor is loading 38 Super and I've heard their 45 is good ammunition. Good reviews on accuracy, consistency, clean burn etc. May be the same for the Super and the price isn't over the top. Thanks.
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,215
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,215 |
What's not to like? The .357 Sig is simply an attempt to recreate the .38 Super in .40 S&W guns.
I play IDPA with a .38 super Combat Commander. Hard to go wrong. I'd love to have a lightweight officers made in .38 Super.
Last edited by Planemech; 05/04/10.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130 |
I have a 38 Super in a Colt Lightweight Commander and it is tremendously fun to shoot. Whenever I take young folks (teenagers and twenty somethings) to the range to shoot for the first time, that is the gun they absolutely love the most. The recoil is mild, the gun comes back on target fast, and if you get some of the old Winchester Silvertip ammo the white flash of the muzzle blast is more fun than the 4th of July. After some polishing of the breach face and the feedramp it runs 100%. I don't worry about the cons of the cartridge. I figure if the Winchester Silvertips can't save my butt in a life or death situation then it is my time to go. I don;t try to reload it. I just buy some factory ammo a couple times a year when I can get it on sale and go have fun at the range. have not used it on small game, or any woodsy activities. Get one!! Amen! Think .357 Magnum performance (or at least EASILY .38 Special +P+) in a 1911 platform. 'Splain me what's bad there, Lucy.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
I'm hooked. I'll let you know when I get it.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130 |
Trust me, if hillbillybear had been more with it and faster in draggin' his ass back to a shop, I'd have one by now myself.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
Hey guys - I've been meditating....I'm looking at 2 Rock Islands. I notice Taurus is also making their 1911 version in 38 Super. Their sights are a little better than the Rock. I'm inclined to think the Taurus looks kinda pimped up but the plain blue one is ok. Just wish the muzzle end of the slide wasn't grooved. Anyone have experience with the Taurus?
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,215
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,215 |
In .45 yes. It's a fine gun. Seriously 4000 rounds or so through the thing, it's accurate and runs as good as any.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
Planemech - Thank you. I'll look at one.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 61,130 |
I'd love to have one of the RIAs in the factory nickel finish.
Deck with a set of high gloss, highly figured burl grips... INSTANT top-shelf Mexican barbeque gun.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,001
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,001 |
38 Super is a great cartridge. My wife qualified with my grandfather's for her CHL. Right now I have a MK IV Series 70 at the gunsmith being tricked out for her. Only problem with the 38 Super is ammo availability it is not plentiful everywhere like 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 etc.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
ISAIAH 41:10
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,938 Likes: 7
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,938 Likes: 7 |
A buddy had a Witness in 38 Super. We shot factory in it until we acquired enough brass and then reloaded. Nothing but praise for the platform and the cartridge.
The 9mm wants to be a 38 super when it grows up!
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
I'd love to have one of the RIAs in the factory nickel finish.
Deck with a set of high gloss, highly figured burl grips... INSTANT top-shelf Mexican barbeque gun. I can't handle a stainless/gold or nickel/gold version. Just over the top for my tastes. However, I am finding myself looking too long at the nickel Rocks thinking, hmmmmmm..... Having decided to do this, I'm going to try some Armscor and Aguila ammunition. I am shooting 45acp Aguila and it's good ammunition. bought quite a lot of it a while back at a very good price.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 22,274
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 22,274 |
I like the cartridge - I had both a Colt GM in the Super and a Springfield Mil-Spec in the cartridge. Both guns ran flawlessly.
The Springer had a neat point in that it was a ramped barrel, which is a good deal if you handload. The Mil-Spec version was also a little looser than most of the Trophy/Loaded models I've handled, and it didn't jam, period. It would even feed low-powered .38 ACP loads.
I'd say the Super is not a .357 mag, nor even a 10mm, but it is a good round, very flexible and easily a good defense load.
"...the designer of the .270 Ingwe cartridge!..."
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,150
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,150 |
I've never had a flirtation with the Super. Don't know why really, except that the platform seemed too large for the cartridge. It's all about scale for me. I have thought about one of those Nickel RIAs in .38 Super so I could feel some solidarity with my "mehican" brothers to the south and satisfy my bandito longings with pearl grips and a plate of frijoles.
Knew a sheriff's deputy who carried a 1911A1 in .38 Super back in the 70s. Worked well for him one dark night on the streets. Bad guy dropped like a sack of sand. It's all relative.
Dan
"It's a source of great pride, that when I google my name, I find book titles and not mug shots." Daniel C. Chamberlain
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 7,920
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 7,920 |
.38 Super...probably would have THE semi-auto pistol cartridge of all time if Colt/Browning had not screwed up and made the original barrels with a chamber with the cartridge that headspaced on the case rim like the parent cartridge the .38 Auto instead of on the case mouth like the already in existence .45 Auto. http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=182030 But this is no longer a worry unless you buy a Colt made before 1990 as they and probably the Spanish Llama were the only ones made this way. I've been shooting reloading for and carrying .38 Super since 1980. can't say enough great things about the round. And with many 1911s a change of just a barrel and magazine one can shoot 9x19 and 9x23 Winchester... Bob
If you can not deal with reality, reality will deal with you....
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284 |
I'd love to have one of the RIAs in the factory nickel finish.
Deck with a set of high gloss, highly figured burl grips... INSTANT top-shelf Mexican barbeque gun. Messican's go in more for MOP or Eagle and Snake ivories. Trust me on this one.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 7,920
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 7,920 |
I'd love to have one of the RIAs in the factory nickel finish.
Deck with a set of high gloss, highly figured burl grips... INSTANT top-shelf Mexican barbeque gun. Messican's go in more for MOP or Eagle and Snake ivories. Trust me on this one. ..you forgot the sterling silver....
If you can not deal with reality, reality will deal with you....
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,412 |
RJM - Thank you for the good thread. I am assuming the Rock Island barrels (and the Taurus) do not have the headspace problems. I have seen no reference to headspace issues with either of those two pistols in my reading to this point and therefore should be able to expect very good accuracy - comparable to my 45s.
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