38 Special

In 1935 the 357 magnum eclipsed one of the finest cartridges developed and refined this century. Though it was born in the last days of the 1890s and hit the market in 1902 or so..it was a 20 century round for sure. But even with the coming of it's big brother in the 1930s the 38 Special by S&W ruled the shooting public’s favor to well into the late 1970s. And still is hugely popular. Because it is superbly accurate, fairly powerful when needed, and chambered in uncountable numbers of handguns, been adopted as a police and military round...it has made a mark on the shooting world that no other 100 year old cartridge can claim.

Even the figures of the 357's popularity overtaking the 38 special are somewhat suspect...because it is unknown how many people who purchased 357 handguns, really fire 38 specials in them. Certainly most 357 shooters at one time or another, do that...but there are those out there, a goodly number that use 38 specials in their mag handgun fairly exclusively. Then add in those that reload to 38 special levels in 357 components regularly, and the numbers get even larger for the old round still today.

The military and the police in this nation for the most part were armed with the 38 special for over seven decades! The Air Force for example still has a number of Air Police Units that are outfitted with this round. I continuously get questions from readers about having ....a small 38 for home protection...lets face it there has to be tens of millions of 38 special handguns out there still in the active hands of Americans.

At one point in the late 1950s while doing quasi spook work for the military in Africa...the great minds decided the 45 1911a1s we had spelled military, so they had us turn them in and we were issued 38 specials. I was being shipped TDY to Southeast Asia and felt I needed something with more punch...because the military ammo was awful...I once fired a military round into a hunk of 3/4 inch plywood and the base of the bullet was clearly visible, all it did was bulge the off side and not by much. A cry for help to Elmer Keith brought a 357 Magnum S&W (old S-Frame)...and the old gun served me well over there and for awhile on the streets of some of our meanest U.S. cities.

My first law enforcement position in 1965/66 was on the streets of New York City. They issued me a 38 Colt...but it was the Officer's heavy barrel 38..approx 4 and ½ inch barrel and on the bigger 41 frame, windage adjustable back site, fixed front site. The frame that the 357, the Trooper and then the Python were eventually built on. We used to take the issued ammo...I preferred the 200 grain 'Super Police' load. And carefully took them apart, replaced the powder with around 5.5 grains of Unique. At 1000 fps for the 158 grain round nose and around 900 fps for the 200 grainer...we had at least decent power.

I had a partner that carried a small five shot S&W 38 with the infamous 7/8ths inch barrel. He shot a car's side window one night and the 158 grain issue bullet didn't make it thru the second layer of glass. To which he shouted those unforgettable words at the departing car...."Halt!!! Or I'll scratch your Paint!!!" Right after that we began reloading the issued ammo.

When I left that agency and New York the Colt went with me. But somehow it got lost in the early 1970s. Over a quarter of a century later here in the southwest it turned up again. This time I'm making sure it doesn't get lost. I also have a 4 inch Colt double action on the same frame that was produced in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It's chambered for the 357 mag and is the model that Colt used to build the Python...actually they just changed the barrel and had the frame top meet the rib of the Python barrel and history was made. Both these guns are basically the same. The prePython has a floating firing pin and classic hammer known to be on the Python...while the older 38 has the firing pin in the hammer...and the hammer is the older flatsided shape..not the crescent shape that later showed up on the Trooper model 357s.

I have had a number of S&W 38s...but the very best in accuracy was a simple five inch tubed M&P with the slim barrel. It was worked over by a master gunsmith...given target hammer and trigger...and all the gun smithing tricks to make it accurate and it had one load. With fixed sights cut to shoot 148 grain wadcutters dead center at 25 yards...I cleaned up on the revolver matches of the early 1970s in the southeast. I have cut string with this gun at 25 yards...it was that accurate. Taken squirrels heads off at all kinds of ranges (much better than a 22 RF) and did a lot of trick shooting with it. The inherent accuracy of the 38 Special and a fine gun made a winning combination. Every shooter should have one handgun and load that is exquisitely accurate...built just for that...accuracy beyond all his other guns. It keeps us sharp because we have a control to test ourselves against every once in a while, and then bring our shooting back to our gilt edge abilities....

Where the 38 special is suspect for police and military use...it is a fine choice for home protection. It can be used with any number of commercial loadings that will give good across the room power...without being a danger to others in the house or apartment. It's mild recoil allows those not used to firearms the ability to learn how to shoot without being intimidated...and more importantly, not being afraid to fire the gun in practice or when needed. It's an excellent handgun caliber for those that are weak, ill, or have some sort of debilitating problem like arthritis.

I like wadcutters. The wadcutter is rated at around 770 fps and the old police 158 grain roundnose was rated at 800 plus fps...I doubt either attained those velocities because they were taken in 6 inch pressure barrels. But the point is, I feel the wadcutter is a better home defense round. Walls will slow it way down...and if it has to be used on a criminal or burglar or some such, the energy dump is so much more the 158 grain round nose. Today’s expanding bullets are fine when they work...but I've investigated cases of where they didn't expand because of heavy clothing or leather. And the penetration of the 110 grain jacketed hollow points from a short barrel are zilch!

I'm not saying any of these won't change an intruder's mind about doing mayhem at your house but what I am saying is they are less than effective stoppers. Of all the 125 grain whiz-bangs, the 110 grain frangible types, and the 158 grain round nose...I like the wadcutters.

A wadcutter loaded over 4 and ½ grains of Bullseye or WW231 is just about right. It will be doing around 850 fps and a pressure of 18,000 psi so any handgun even the small ones can take it. I like reversing the wadcutter so the hollow base is forward. I once killed a black bear with a load like this. Didn't mean to...the first round to come up under the hammer of my Python was this load...I ran into the bear unexpectedly and snapped off the first shot forgetting it was the wadcutter. I learn just how nasty these loadings are. That bear didn't run very far and was down...I shot him again with a heavy loaded 173 grain Keith, my second round...but really wasn't necessary. The reverse wadcutter did the business.

But even commercial wadcutters with the standard flat face are great for inside the house protection. They knock our tough southwestern jack rabbits for a loop...and those things can carry a lot of lead away. They are great for squirrels...especially those that lay flat on a limb...I shoot right up thru the branch...surprise. I’m tired of 22 RFs not going all the way thru. The wadcutters accuracy is legendary out to fifty yards or so. A good four inch 38 and wadcutters, excellent combination. And good used 38 special handguns go for much less then there 357 counter parts.

One of the powders I find that will give substantial velocities for the 38 and keep pressures low is our versatile 2400. With a cast bullet in the 150 grain class 10 grains of 2400 will give near 1100 fps and still be under 20,000 psi...the PlusP level. I put a gas check on the reversed wadcutter over this load...fouling is minimal and the killing potential is down right dangerous. With the 173 grain Keith 8 grains of 2400 will give near 900 fps and the accuracy in my guns is better than excellent. I use 1 in 20 cast Keiths and had them expand a bit in coyotes.

I find that HS7 is a fine powder also in the 38 special case....around the same loading levels as 2400 and also accurate. I like 4756 but I have to be careful with it...I’ve gotten pressure excursions quickly when getting close to top loads. Clays...W231...HP38 are also good. Of course Unique the second oldest American smokeless powder is still a fine contender for the title of BEST POWDER in the 38 special....what ever you use the 38 special is exactly that, very special and it tries hard to serve you.

44 SPECIAL

The 44 magnum in 1955 did the same thing to the 44 special the 357 magnum did to the 38 special twenty years earlier. But with the 44 special there has always been a strong population of supporters crying the virtues of the caliber...and it has many to cry out about.

The thing that hurt the 44 special just like the 38 special was the round nose bullet. At 246 grains it had the weight, but it lacked the ability to dump it's energy in it's target.

One year we took fifty commercial Winchester 44 Special rounds and cut the noses off making them flatfaced 230 grain bullets. Several of my gunny buddies took them Javelina hunting in there 44 Special and 44 magnum handguns. Out of the seven of the little pigs taken five were one shot kills. The other two had been hit very badly with the first shot...but the second took care of the bad shooting. The longest range was 88 long paces and the shortest was 20 feet. All the wounds looked like the little animals had been hit with 45 Colt Keith reloads to 800 to 900 fps. It shows graphically the difference between the round nose and flat face bullet’s transmission of shock. More than we would at first realize.

A flat faced 44 Special of 246 grains at 800 to 900 fps would have been a fine police load in the 60s and 70s...before the street scene turned to gang warfare.

The other problem the 44 Special had the 38 Special didn't...was the number of guns chambered for the round. Where as the 38 had guns everywhere...the 44 special only had a few models and makes available. And even then what was made disappeared in the 1960s...and didn't resurge until Charter Arms brought out their little five shot Bulldog in the 1970s. It was a neat little gun but was so light, it was a bear to shoot. I carried one as a backup for a few years...

I was one of those Shootists like John Taffin and Brian Peirce, that kept crying about the merits of the 44 Special. And continued using it all through the dry years when no guns were being manufactured for the caliber. Custom gunsmiths were rechambering and rebarreling Ruger single actions...and a number of others like the S&W 357 double actions to the 44 special caliber. Finally S&W geared up with a reissue of the round in their big double action, and many clone Colts chambered for it..Colt chambered it’s single action for it in the 1970s before it closed down the single action line.

I have a favorite load for the 44 Special...it's 16 grains of 2400 under a 250 grain cast Keith shaped bullet. I don't know how many animals I've taken with this load...but I started with it when I was 17 years old in a Christy rebuilt 44 Special Colt SA. I have harvested bear, deer of all types, antelope, feral dogs, coyotes, 2 puma, wild cattle, and varmints and vermin of all kinds in the U.S. In Africa in the 1950s I used to reload with this bullet over powder we used to take out of military 45 ACP ammo...I took lots of plains game, meat 'bucks' up to hundreds of pounds...wart hogs...and much more.

The 44 special is in a resurgence...clone Colt type single actions are on the market...the run of S&W mod 24s is over but you can usually find one at gun shows...though they are pricey. Taurus and Rossi make five shooters...so does S&W. They are fine defense guns...remember just cut the standard ammo flatnosed and the recoil is nil but across the room home defense is superb. A number of ammo makers have upgraded the 44 special loading.

The various Colt clones are excellent. I have two by Uberti called Regulators...their tolerances and parts and fit and finish..are as good as you can hope for. And my two give not only good service but outstanding accuracy. My hunting loads with these two is the 250 grain Keith loaded to 1200 fps...warm but the guns digest them with ease. Which brings up a question...have you picked up a Cimarron Colt clone lately. You want a single action Colt like they used to be made before the Second World War....the Cimarrons are it....beautiful and no worries about hurting the collectors value shooting them. Do yourself a favor if you like single actions...check them out.