Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .38 Special, why was it ever invented?

I'm not so sure. Many will be a lot more brave knowing, or at least thinking, they are likely to survive being shot. After all we have all grown up watching our TV and movie heores being shot week after week only to return and catch the bad guy.

Back years ago being hit with anything, anywhere was something to be avoided at all costs.

I think it was invented so I would have something light to practice with instead of shooting my big magnums all the time. Seriously, I think it was just the evolution of calibers getting started.

I would have been carrying a S&W Triple Lock in .44cal back then. Just Sayin

The sole purpose of it's invention was as a stepping stone to the .357 Mag.

to paraphrase what's been already said, it was an improvement over the .38 Colt. It was also originally a blackpowder cartridge, but according to one reference it was switched to smokeless soon after its introduction. Americans were often more frugal in those days, and the crime rate was a lot less, too. And last, people were often a little thinner and smaller in those days.

It did the job, was/is easy and economical to shoot well, and still does okay with upgraded loads and bullets.

I agree. But the term "stopping power" fits better with shotguns or rifles rather than handguns.

This reminds me of a passage in a book I read some years ago about an encounter between a bank robber and transit authority cop (a black cop, btw, which will figure in shortly) in NY city in the 1970's. I forget all of the particulars except the exchange of gunfire took place at a range of a few feet. The robber was armed with a .45 automatic and the cop had his .38 Special revolver, both emptied their firearms at each other. The cop was unscathed, the robber was dead.

When questioned about it later and whether it was unnerving that he had to shoot it out with a gunman carrying a bigger, more powerful weapon, the cop replied, "Shootin' straight with my .38 beats him givin' me jive with a .45".

That last phrase always stuck with me.

The .38 Special was developed at the end of the blackpowder era as an attempt to provide more power in an easily portable platform than the .32 and smaller .38 cartridges of its day. The large frame, large bore revolvers that were already available were simply too bulky, heavy and expensive for general police use. Shooters generally had much more limited tolerance for recoil and the typical small grips on revolvers were uncomfortable for use with heavy loads.

This was at a time when handgun power was measured by the number of 1 inch pine boards that the bullet would penetrate, there was no such thing as an expanding handgun bullet and even the semiwadcutter bullet had not been invented. The .38 Spl would penetrate 8 1/2 boards spaced 1 inch apart, and was considered powerful for its day.

It quickly became the standard police sidearm and agencies saw no compelling reason to change for 3/4 of a century thereafter, because it seemed to work as well as anything else that was commonly available. This attitude did not change until the advent of more effective guns, bullets and loads in the 1970's and 80's.

Even when the .357 was introduced in 1934, the .38 Spl reigned supreme in police use because the .357 revolvers were bulky, expensive, loud and thought to have excessive recoil. They were considered to be specialized weapons for highway patrol officers and others who might need to penetrate vehicles.

Ok looks like the old .38 is [bleep] and the .380 too so I would like some volunteers to come foward so as I can shoot them with the wimpy guns and see how useless they are . Who's first ? I got some ideas who I would like from this website :grin

The 38 Special properly loaded was and is perfectly competent for self-defense.
As the streets calmed after prohibition and the depression, heavy police weaponry such as Tommy guns and carbines faded away.
Then, and later too, American criminals generally packed various 25ACP & 32ACP autos along with the full catalog of domestic 32 and 38 wheelguns.
Relative to break top 32's and Spanish or Italian pocket pistols, a nice 38 SPL Colt or Smith & Wesson inspired confidence.
In today's dick measuring contest, not so much.

I thought it was because police generally want to arrest you and have you stand trial rather than execute you on the spot.
whelennut

A 22 in the Pump, or CPU, causes serious problems.

The 38Spl was right, in it's time. It has only gotten better with advances in powder and bullets.

Hitting gets a lot of bad press!

The 38 Special was invented for the same reasons the 357 Magnum showed up in middle-sized frame guns. A more powerful inception of its predecessor(s) in a package most average men could fire and hit with.
The 36's probably got some successful press with Hickok.

Well I've treated a LOT of gun shot victims, and my comment comes from direct observation. I've had several patients who were fatally shot, but had a lot of fight still in them at the time I got to them.

Oh that's just priceless.

+2!

Just like the .38, the .380's have the availability all over Europe and mideast and price is ALWAYS right... Low-vel rounds are dirt cheap and easy to use in almost anything with a primer-punch. Sad part is the fact of taking 6 rounds to do what a .357 hp or.45 will do with one.

I can relate to the LEO's hanging on to the .38's, even some had .32 S&W Kit-guns for "hides". The first real gunfight they went through usually was a bad case of DISSAPPOINTMENT. I left the Sheriff Deptin '79 and almost all in the area were still in cowboy mode with wheelguns. The late 70's saw alot going to .357
Mags. (still in the S&W 13 and 19, and Colt Python modes..) Europe got into Steyer(sp) 9's and eventually we got on board with "change" here with Glock and others.. I missed the transition. I lucked out with never having to save my own butt with a .38 model 10 S&W. Viet Nam wasn't so kind, but had a .45 to keep me warm there.

Like meteorologists use models to forecast weather, institutionalized law enforcement uses models in the selection process for firearms and ammunition. Throughout most of the 20th century, the model used was tradition. It wasn't until the 60s and 70s that the models began to switch to experimental and laboratory. As far as the use of LRN as late as '91, that would have to be nothing more than training ammo, as I believe the last ones to hang on to the LRN for duty ammo, such as LAPD, dumped it some time around the late 70s through the early 80s.

Best:)

Gary is right. By the early 1980s NYPD did not use any round nose. They used semi-wadcutter and HB Wadcutter for training.