30 Super Carry Pistol

Thoughts on any of the SW pistols in 30 Super Carry. I'm thinking about ordering one but not 100% sure.

This has been discussed quite a bit on here and other sights. The general consensus is what you might expect. Some (a large number actually) see it as an answer to a problem that does not exist. There are others who see a need for it and say that they will try it out.

Personally, I would say that I guess if you are so recoil sensitive and desperately in need an extra round or two capacity, a warmer .32 caliber might appeal to you. If you can handle the recoil of a 9mm and can live with serious mag capacity as opposed to outrageous mag capacity, I am not sure why you would consider this thing.

Those of us of a "certain age" have seen numerous new wonder rounds come and go. Mostly go. I really sucks to have a bunch of money tied up in a gun that a few years down the road shoots ammo that is almost impossible to find and goes for collector item prices when you do.

This is my opinion. Others, of course, feel differently but I think that I might be in the majority.

30S...........YAWN.............

I like the idea - more choices is always a good thing. I’m hoping it comes out in the CSX before I take the plunge. The ammo seems to be widely available.

Eh, not going down that road. It will go the way of the 327 mag, 45 GAP, and all of the other novelty cartridges. It will always have its fans that swear by it but, will never make its way into the mainstream. In 30 years you will see the 30 Super for sale here as a rare and unique firearm that will go for a crazy price.

I will stick to the mainstream. BUT, amazingly enough, I was able to see that Scheels carries 30 Super. Can't find any 44 Special but, they carry 30 Super. Go figure.

I'm thinking about picking up one for a carry gun. Currently I alternate my 41 Action Express and 440 Corbon.

No, I try to avoid the odd balls. I can't see the 30 Super being around long term. It may make it, but I don't think I'll ever be onboard.

The 32 Magnum is a example of why I would go broke manufacturing firearms particularly J-Frame Revolvers. I think the addition of one more round (6 vs. 5) and lighter recoil while offering excellent bullet performance is a great choice for conceal carry and those who cannot handle a lot of recoil due to medical problems. I think ammo and gun manufacturers and the gun ‘riters of the era never decided if it was for self-defense, hunting or something else.

With the 9mm the trend is towards 124 and the heavy 147 gr. bullets. This is leaving a real gap in lighter weight bullet for self-defense. In addition there is the gain of additional round(s) of cartridges. There is a increase in interest in the 32 over the last few years. Time will only tell if the Internet ‘xperts will successfully kill it.

racoonbeast said:

Personally, I would say that I guess if you are so recoil sensitive and desperately in need an extra round or two capacity, a warmer .32 caliber might appeal to you. If you can handle the recoil of a 9mm and can live with serious mag capacity as opposed to outrageous mag capacity, I am not sure why you would consider this thing.

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Every review I have seen of 30 SC mentions that the recoil is indistinguishable from 9mm. Anyone buying a 30 for reduced recoil is going to be disappointed.

Looking at the SAAMI specs it has a maximum average pressure of 52,000 compared to 20,500 for 32 ACP and 35,000 for 9mm.

After decades of seeing nothing but weak 32 calibers like 32 ACP, 32 S&W and to a lesser extent 32 H&R Magnum it's easy to think all things 32 are weak, easy shooting and ineffective cartridges. But while the 30 SC will not match the power of a 9mm +P it comes quite close to standard pressure 9mm power.

IAM Rand said:

I will stick to the mainstream. BUT, amazingly enough, I was able to see that Scheels carries 30 Super. Can't find any 44 Special but, they carry 30 Super. Go figure.

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If you stick to the mainstream why were you looking for 44 Special?

Magtech makes very good .44spl ammo, still. I handload .44spl, as I own 4 .44's, one DA GP100, two Vaqueros, and one antique 1923 HE. The right load is as accurate as .22 LR, just a lot more recoil. The Elmer Keith experiments proved that true, and his wildcats gave us the .44 magnum. The Skeeter Skelton loads gave us a .44 special we could still shoot and not flinch after every round.

The .30SC is an ok, what if, round. Yes, it is a lot like most of my factory 9mm +P and military grade rounds. Maybe the handloaders will do something with it. We will see.

If you are curious about the cartridge, if you have the funds, and you can find enough ammo to practice with and carry, why not?

Personally, I have other projects budgeted right now so I am not in the market.

I bought the S&W Shield EZ to try out the concept and the pistol. I think both are quite valid.

Initially had the NMS version. After examining how the various passive safety features operated in this hammer-fired pistol, I returned it and went with the thumb safety version. The two main passive safeties are the firing pin block and trigger bar interrupter, and both are slaved off the the grip safety. As soon as the pistol is gripped, the firing pin block and trigger bar interrupter are disabled. I wan't comfortable with that system in terms of holstering and re-holstering the pistol. The manual thumb safety, when engaged, interrupts the trigger bar and the pistol cannot be fired even with the grip safety depressed.

Having shot all three versions - .380, 9mm and .30 SC - the recoil of the .30 SC is perceptively less than the 9mm (the .380 is popgun like).

The extra 2 round capacity over the 9mm version, however, is somewhat gimmicky. If you do the math, an identical length magazine would only add 1 extra round to capacity. I suppose for marketing reasons S&W wanted a 10 round magazine, so they made the baseplate of the .30 SC magazine longer to add another round. Personally I would have preferred the normal baseplate and have a pistol that carried better, for a capacity of 9+1.

Accuracy is better than the 9mm examples of this pistol I have fired, and in any event is very good for the purposed intended: both the Federal American Eagle FMJFP round and the Remington 100 grain JHP group into 1.5" @ 50 feet. The Federal 100 grain HST round does a 2" group at that distance. I had no trouble firing a clean score on a 50Y LE-style qualification course using the FBI Q target.

Ballistically, if you are a .32 calibre hater, the .30 SC is not changing any hearts or minds. If you are a .32 calibre nut, you will love it. If you are an open-minded individual, you will see that the .30 SC is roughly the ballistic equal of standard pressure 9mm loadings. 9mm +P loadings have greater energy and higher recoil and blast, but in terms of handgun power at these levels there is little to quibble over.

In actual terminal performance, at this point in the cartridge's history, ballistic gel is main medium of comparison. I just finished today, some testing of the .30 SC and will post the data shortly once collated. Preliminarily, I don't a nickel's worth of difference between the .30 SC HP rounds and 9mm 115 grain HP rounds - except the .30 SC penetrates more more.

For someone interested in something new; or who would like a pistol with higher capacity at slightly reduced recoil with similar power to 9mm in the same size pistol; or is a .32 aficionado... it's good choice. I'm keeping mine.

Model 15-4ever said:

...the .30 SC is roughly the ballistic equal of standard pressure 9mm loadings.
9mm +P loadings have greater energy and higher recoil and blast...

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I would have thought that the 30SC's higher pressure (52K psi) loads would have considerable blast, unless that's just an unrealized limit?

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I have not tried it, but I have read that the 30 super does in fact have a lot more blast and noise than 9mm. Is this true? If so, I would definitely not be interested since blast and noise are significant detriments in a carry gun.

pasound said:

Magtech makes very good .44spl ammo, still. I handload .44spl, as I own 4 .44's, one DA GP100, two Vaqueros, and one antique 1923 HE. The right load is as accurate as .22 LR, just a lot more recoil. The Elmer Keith experiments proved that true, and his wildcats gave us the .44 magnum. The Skeeter Skelton loads gave us a .44 special we could still shoot and not flinch after every round.

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I wasn't saying 44 Special is a bad caliber, I shoot a lot more 44 Special through my S&W 69 than I do full power 44 magnum ammo. But it is a hard to find and expensive niche cartridge. The Magtech load, which shoots very well in my gun, has always been at least twice as expensive as 38 and about 3 times the price of 9mm.

If 44 spl was being introduced today instead of the 1800s the internet would be full of posts about it being the answer to a question nobody asked, only good for people that cannot handle a 44 or 41 Magnum, too expensive and sure to fail.

If the price of ammo and popularity was all that mattered all guns would be 22, 9mm and 223. Plus 12 gauge and 30-06 for hunters. Sounds pretty boring to me. I am going to keep buying guns in calibers that appeal to me even if they are not the most popular and least expensive. There's room in my safe for guns in 44 Special and if it is chambered in the right gun, 30 SC.

I traded a gun for a new S&W Shield Plus EZ in .30 SC. Seems to be a pretty slick little gun that is accurate, easy to shoot, and would make a decent carry gun. My EDC gun is a Performance Center Shield in 9mm.

BLUEDOT37 said:

I would have thought that the 30SC's higher pressure (52K psi) loads would have considerable blast, unless that's just an unrealized limit?
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I have read it has more but not as much as you would think looking at the pressure.

Muzzle blast depends on both pressure and case capacity. Both 9mm and 357 Magnum have a pressure limit of 35,000 but even without a cylinder gap the 357 is much louder due to the larger powder charge.

The 30 SC definitely has the pressure for an ear splitting muzzle blast but not a lot of powder. The pressure fades quickly as the bullet travels down the bore compared to a cartridge with more case capacity.

Muzzle blast is a concern but I am going to reserve judgement about how much of a problem it is until I have heard it first hand. I expect it to be more than 9mm but much less than something like a 357. If 357 was OK for police and home defense use for many years despite the muzzle blast 30 SC should be OK too.

I always use ear protection now but in my youth fired rifles with much more muzzle blast than any handgun without permanent damage. I haven't shot a gun without hearing protection in decades but if I did have to fire a 30 SC gun in self defense I don't think I would be rendered instantly deaf.

The 32-20 (aka 32 Magnum in a easy to reload straight wall case) was considered to be a adequate deer cartridge 100+ years ago. Then came high power cartridges such as the 30-06 and .270 and the gun ‘riters pronounced it to be to weak for deer.

Modern day writers and Internet ‘xperts have embraced the .223 as a deer cartridge. Hummm.

With nine 9mm semi-autos and a market swamped with the last plastic fantastic 9mm pistol I don’t have any interest in adding another one. (Maybe a 9mm revolver for a change).

So the 30 SC does have my interest if it is something that hasn’t been done yet.

If you can locate it on the internet, Julie Golob has a great comparison of the 380, 30SC, and 9mm.

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