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Throwback Thursday: A History of the .38 Special

Good article. .38 spl was king as the standard round for LE for the first 16 years of my career. A lot of guys liked the .357 but it was easier to train recruits with the softer recoiling .38 spl. Muzzle flash was also an important factor. Drug wars and a desire to match firepower pushed the revolver aside as the standard in the 80's, when everyone jumped on the hi-cap, semi-auto bandwagon. If you master the speed load, the revolver will hold its own. It remains an effective defensive round and I continue to admire the workmanship of S&W and Colt revolvers manufactured until the 80's. Some of us old timers, though, still default back to the .45 ACP. But on final analysis, many miscreants are graveyard dead from the .38 spl.
 
Never felt underarmed carrying one of my .38s, .380s either. Spend quite a bit of time carrying 38 specials.

This one spent many days in detective and court bailiff duty in the Detroit PD in its day.

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I've reloaded .38 Special far more than any other caliber. It's cheap, accurate and easy to reload. Any manual will offer a crapload of different powders and bullets to satisfy any shooter. I shoot them a bit quicker than larger calibers although the grins don't quite measure up to them big boys.
 
HayesGreener said:
Good article. .38 spl was king as the standard round for LE for the first 16 years of my career. A lot of guys liked the .357 but it was easier to train recruits with the softer recoiling .38 spl. Muzzle flash was also an important factor. Drug wars and a desire to match firepower pushed the revolver aside as the standard in the 80's, when everyone jumped on the hi-cap, semi-auto bandwagon. If you master the speed load, the revolver will hold its own. It remains an effective defensive round and I continue to admire the workmanship of S&W and Colt revolvers manufactured until the 80's. Some of us old timers, though, still default back to the .45 ACP. But on final analysis, many miscreants are graveyard dead from the .38 spl.
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I love the 38 Special. I still have the Colt Diamondback I first started shooting when I was 10. Only downside to the Diamondback is it led to a lifelong addiction to Colt Pythons.
 
This unfortunately is the last of my .38 Spl. probably 30 yrs old too. Once so ubiquitous it made 9mm the big expense.

I’ve been holding off the past two years buying a case just to have on hand, but I don’t think the prices will ever come back down, currently at $25 box…maybe it’s the supply scarcity is due to limited production. The Curse of El Cheapo I guess.

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When I bought my first .357 Mag in a Ruger Security-Six , I put 1 - 2 boxes of .38 plus a half box of .357 through it each night .

I had a neighbor named Bob who worked with my brother-in-law. My B-I-L told me one day that Bob had told him , " Don't be surprised if your father-in-law's place sinks one of these days! " . When my B-i-l asked him what he meant , Bob said , " Well with all the lead that boy is putting into the ground up there it has to sink. " . 😂
 
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