In the local emporium yesterday when a lady came in with a S@W box. She said she had bought it here a few weeks ago and she did not like it because it kicked to hard, made too much noise and had a big fireball every time she fired it. She said her husband and a lawyer friend had also fired it and one of them had even cut his hand doing so. So she wanted to trade it on something better suited to her needs. When the box was opened it contained a small snub nose ,38 Special revolver. She then produced the box of ammo that she bought when she bought the gun. It was a box of .38 SUPER plus P plus!!! Clerk that sold her the gun had stated that that was the best ammo for self defence in that revolver, They had fired 25 rounds from that box in the revolver. Ouch! She traded for a Taurus TCP I think.

Me thinks she was lucky to have not been injured in the process. Even though they did injure her check book in the trade. The clerks thought it funny that she thought the .38 special kicked hard.

My attempt to explain the error on their part in the ammo they sold her went unheeded, They will likely have similar experiences in the future me thinks.

And morons abound, even behind the counter it seems.

I am thinkin it was lucky the gun held together for 25 rounds.

I wouldn't have even guessed that it was mechanically possible to load and fire .38 Super in a revolver chambered for .38 Special. How could it have headspaced on the mouth of the cartridge, being of different lengths? Must have been a long firing pin.

The .38 Super is a partially rimmed case.

Rocky Raab has even commented on how he fired .38 Super ammunition in a revolver (can't remember if he said it was a .38 or a .357 chamber).

Didn't know that it was partially rimmed. Makes sense now. Thanks.

They all must take an IQ test. If they score too high then they do not get the job.

No, that's the police.

The case is a smidge bigger on the .38 Specal, so it's actually doable...But there is no pressure standard on +P+, so that part's a REALLY bad idea.

There was a company called Rogers & Phillips that did a nifty conversion of K frame S&W's that allowed you to shoot basically any .35/9mm cartridge; downright nifty conversion. But truth be told, I have fired .38 Super out of a Special revolver just to see if it could be done in a pinch. I've also fired .32 ACP out of my H&R Magnum with acceptable results. Kinda nice to know that if need be, you can do it, but it's not something I'd be in a hurry to make a regular practice.

If you can't find .38 Special ammo, there' not much of a chance you're going to come by .38 Super. But .32 H&R mag is not all that common, so it's nice to know if I were ever desperate (not that I can really think of a likely scenario), .32 ACP will work in a pinch.

Ejection of the semi-rimmed cartridges is dicey. You really need to turn the barrel skyward before hitting that ejector rod, or you'll very quickly jam a cartridge under the star and you'll have fun from there. Something very likely to happen ONLY in a gunfight, so using something other than the designated cartridge is truely a last ditch move.

That's all good to know.

Most modern J-Frame guns are designed for .38+P or .357mag pressures. That, combined with cylinder gap and the slightly smaller bullet diameter of the .38 Super probably helped with the safety issue. Unfortunately, the idiot sales clerk is probably beyond help. It's a big problem with retail in general these days. Budgets are so tight, most stores can only afford one or maybe two knowledgeable people on the floor. Everyone else is a minimum wage halfwit.

Not a week goes by that somebody don't come into the "Real gun shop" and ask why these .32's (.32ACP) or .38's (.380ACP) won't work in their REVOLVER!

I asked the guy in Wal-Mart for thirty two's and he gave me these.

...our local Cabela's is just as bad T Lee. I called the other day and asked if they still had bulk packed .45 ACP ammo----after a hesitation, the "kid" on the line mumbled to himself, "let's see, that's lever action ammo...." as he thumbed throw some inventory sheet that he had.

I was going to shoot in a shotgun tournament in Cody one time and needed some Winchester AA's in #9 for the skeet portion of the event. I went to the counter at Cabela's and asked if they had any 12 AA #9's. The clerk said, "what brand do you want?" I said "AA's.......AA's are Winchesters." He said, "ok, is that lead or steel shot?"!!!!!! I told him thanks and said that I'd try to find them myself!

We have to keep reminding ourselves that most of those clerks don't have those jobs because they did so well on their SAT's. :-)

Okay so now the only question is do I shoot Supers in my 38-44 Heavy Duty or my GP100?

It would seem you could get away with it in a pinch.

I love gun store wisdom...
and the customers too.

One old guy bought a $99 .32 a while back and wanted ammo.
The clerk got him a box of 25.

"But the gun only holds 6. Why do I need more?"

And he biatched and complained that no one would sell him only 6 bullets.

Actually, there are two times cartridges get stuck under the ejector star... in a gunfight, and in an IDPA State match when the revolver championship is on the line... trust me, I still have nightmares about it!

Murphy's Law.

More bits of wisdom from the same clerk.

The 308 and the 243 are just necked down 30-06's
The 243 is the best brush gun because it has more knock down than the 30-06.
The .22 win mag is a different cartridge than the CCI .22 mag and if you shoot the CCI in a .22 win mag you will blow up your gun.

But Wait...there is more but I have a headache just thinkin of those!!

How does this dude still have a job????

Local shop owner was talking with someone looking to get his first handgun and was wondering about hunting deer with it. Guy asked about the 357's in the case. Owner says "nope, you need AT LEAST a 44 mag to kill a deer, they are tough".

A shop I frequented many years ago carried only Winchester and Remington ammo. The shop owner told customers that using Federal brand ammo would void the warranty of their firearms.

I walked into a local gun store that has a great supply of reloading equipment told the gentleman behind the counter I wanted a set of 300 Savage dies, he handed me a set of 300 Win Mag dies and told me it didn�t matter which brand of rifle I was shooting just take the 300 mag dies he handed me....it wasn�t until the owner came over that he would admit he was wrong

I haven�t sent the guy there lately.

I still like the "venturi" barrel.
It's a thurty aught six but haff way down, it necks down to .270 and then goes back to thurty caliapter.
THAT makes the slug fly 4500 FPS!

To address the .38 Super thing a bit more, yes I have fired it in a .357 revolver. Funny thing, though: they'd fit nicely in my Ruger Security Six but wouldn't chamber at all in my flattop Blackhawk. Tight chambers on that old flattop! BTW, I got 1200 fps from those .38 Supers from a 3" barrel.

If you have a .32 H&R mag or the newer .327 Federal revolver, you can also fire .32 Short, .32 Long and possibly .32 ACP rounds in it. I'd treat the latter as emergency fodder as Kevin suggested.

"How does that guy still have a job?"
I think he is the bosses brother-in-law.

Rocky..do you think the 38 super to be too much for the airweight/lady smith .38 special revolver?
While I trust and respect you and Kevin I don't think you are recommending the average shooter should shoot ammo in a gun for which it is not chambered. That is probably a bad practice for folks to get into.

It's a regular and widely recommended practice in the case of the Russian 1895 Nagant Revolver. It's quite ordinary, for those who own these old relics, to load and fire .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum cartridges in them rather than the 7.62x38mmR for which it was chambered.

Hawk
I think that is in a bit different realm.

Maybe and maybe not. That said, short of a very dire need, it would take a lot of universal agreement among experts for me to attempt firing a round in a gun for which it's not precisely chambered.

I worked in a large So Cal gun shop in the early 70's. A guy walked in one day and in a loud voice asked: "Does anyone here know anything about Mexican hunting?" No one said anything, so I said: "I don't think it's legal to hunt them". With an amazed look on his face, he said: "I mean down in Mexico". To which I replied: "I don't think it's legal to hunt them down there either". Dumb founded by what he had just heard, he quickly left. The minute he cleared the door, everyone started laughing Some even accused me of "setting it up", but I didn't. And yes, I am a smart ass.

There are dolts and twits on both sides of the counter.

That reminds me of my father's standard restaurant joke when me and my brother were kids. Today it wouldn't fly, due to political correctness. If he saw a Chinese person, couple, or family, eating at another table, he'd call a waitress or waiter over and ask "Do you serve Chinese food in this restaurant?" When he or she said no, he'd point to the other table and say "You're serving them food, aren't you?"

32 ACP is also semi-rimmed. I've used them in 32 S&W long revolvers in the past, but not in the earlier 32 "short" guns. I know a guy who loads his S&W 32 long with 32 ACP Silvertips, just so he can have an expanding bullet, which isn't offered in 32 long.

That's an instant CLASSIC! Thanks for sharing that. You caught me completely off guard with that tale of woe.

Yes they are Magtech makes them in JHP & JSP.

When I first got into handgun shooting, I bought a S&W M27. I'd read that they shot 38s as well as .357mag cartridges, so I bought a box of 38 Smith and Wesson cartridges for an easy recoiling practice session. It was easy recoiling for sure as I couldn't fit them into the chamber. This was 40 years ago.


I was embarrassed to return the ammunition, but learned to specify .38 Special. I couldn't blame the gun shop owner. For all he knew, I may have been shooting an old M33 in 38 S&W.

I had a Colt 1911 in 38 Super that you couldn't hit the side of a barn with. I soon converted it to 45ACP and found myself with a box or so of 38 Supers left over. I remembered an article in a gun magazine that listed all the cartridges that could be fired in a 357 Mag and 38 Super was one of them. I shot them all in a Ruger 357 Mag Security Six, they shot fine and were much more accurate in it than they were in the Colt auto.

He could get a job writing for a NEWSPAPER !!

Same guy different day.
"The Ruger Mini 14 is the modern version of the M1 Garand battle rifle used in the war."

TooTech..you may be right about that.

Shootin 38 super in a .357 frame gun would certainly not be an issue, Shootin that ammo in a .38 frame might not be as wise.