A New BBQ Gun - A New Caliber

[SVT28]

It's been a long wait for me to finally find a quality Colt 1911 at a reasonable price. It just so happens that what I wanted was put on consignment at my local gun range. It also wasn't your run of the mill Colt 1911 though…

This Gold Cup National Match is just, delicious. Smooth, great finish, great trigger…and it's in 38 Super. The first in my collection. Some elk grips that I had custom made just look right on this gun. I have yet to shoot it but it was definitely dirty when I got it so I'm looking forward to getting some rounds through it. I also bought some 38 super dies so ammo options are endless.

What does the hive think about 38 super? Does anyone else enjoy their 1911 in this caliber?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Cheers
SVT28

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CH4]

Beautiful!
BBQ season is around the corner.

 

[31FordA]

That's a nice Colt. I really enjoy shooting my .38 Super, a Colt Classic, I even qualified with it for work. If I ran across a Gold Cup in .38 Super I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[Rudi]

Sweet! Got the holster yet?

 

[mikerjf]

I've often wished my old Commander was 38 Super. Nice gun, nice grips!

 

[Protocall_Design]

That was one of their best ones. Great find!

 

[Echo40]

Excellent pistol in an excellent chambering.

.38 Super is an interesting cartridge with an equally fascinating backstory, but the short version is that it was a hot loaded .38 ACP (not to be confused with .380 ACP, which replaced it) which served briefly in the field of Law Enforcement due to having a good reputation for being able to pierce through automobile doors until .357 Magnum hit the scene and replaced it. For awhile it was popular in Competition Shooting because it could be loaded hot enough to knock down heavy steel plates like .45 ACP yet took up less space inside a 1911 Magazine. It supposedly remains popular as a self-defense cartridge in Latin American nations where civilians aren't allowed to carry firearms chambered in military cartridges like 9mm Parabellum, similar to 9x21 IMI in Europe.

If loaded to its full potential, it can replicate the performance of .357 Magnum FBI Loads or .357 SIG, but most factory loaded ammo is closer to 9mm +P.

 

[.38SuperMan]

Very nice!
38 super is one of my favorite cartridges. It's a very versatile cartridge.

The first one pictured is my Kimber Eclipse Target with stag grips and Colt XSE Commander. Both are a joy to shoot.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a late 60's Commander in 38 Super.

A 38 Super tale: My F-I-L was competing in a Police Combat match, against the Mexican National Champion. This man was a Captain in the Federales and was using a Colt Gold Cup in 38 Super. About halfway through a string of shooting, the Captain starts yelling and screaming! As soon as he can, he clears and safes his weapon, pulls out his hanky and blows his nose. In the hanky is a still hot 38 Super casing that had ejected right up his nose! He maintained his composer, but still came in second.

Ivan

 

[CajunBass]

Now that is a fine looking Colt right there.

I don't think I've ever even seen a 38 Super, until a few weeks ago, when my LGS had one in the "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" case. It was a Colt, a Gold Cup, I'm pretty sure. I forget now what the tag price was but it was closer to two grand than one. It noticed it was gone yesterday.

One of those guns I've never really thought about, but lately it seems everywhere I turn around someone is talking about the 38 Super...and the 10 MM now that I think about it, neither of which I've ever fired.

 

[Skeptic 9c]

In the 125gr HP loadings, the Super is between the 357 SIG and 9mm +P. There are reviews on line and some folks swear by it. Double Column magazines are difficult because it is semi-rimmed.
Geoff
Who notes the strange history of the cartridge.

 

[erikpolcrack]

I have two 1911s set up to shoot either 9mm or 38 Super with a barrel, spring, and mag swap. Have always respected the cartridge's performance, and I really enjoy shooting it.

 

[tmd17]

Gorgeous Gold Cup. I never have had a 38 Super simply because I never found one locally at a good price, nor do I care to have yet another pistol caliber to load.

 

[stansdds]

That is a nice looking Colt Gold Cup and in 38 Super! You don't see too many of these that are in a caliber other than 45 ACP. The 38 Super does drive bullets faster than what is achievable in 9x19mm, but not as fast as the .357 Sig cartridge. Earlier production Colt 38 Supers head spaced the cartridge by catching the cartridges tiny semi-rim on a step machined into the barrel hood. This sometimes worked, but often the semi-rim would slip off the groove and resulted in inconsistent head spacing and poor accuracy.

Aftermarket barrel manufacturers realized this flaw and made barrels that head spaced on the cartridge's case mouth, same as with most other semi-auto pistol calibers. I think was with the introduction of the Series 80 when Colt changed their barrels to also head space on the case mouth, but by then, Colt's 38 Supers had a well established poor reputation.

38 Super ammo today can be hard to find at your local retailer, so it has become a reloader's caliber.

 

[colt_saa]

Congratulations,
That is a sweet pistol

I have Gold Cups in 45ACP, 10MM Auto and 9MM Parabellum. I do not yet own one in 38SUPER.

For more than three decades now, my BBQ gun has been my royal blue Gold Cup Commander in 45ACP

It is wearing African Elephant Ivory from the Colt Custom Shop

I am slowly working on two additional 38SUPERs for myself right now. One is a 6" long slide while the other is being built from a Detonics 38SUPER top end that I am mating to a Officers model frame

I have some Wolly Mammoth grips waiting for me to finish the long slide, I have not decided on the Officers yet, but Elk is in the running

 

[Protocall_Design]

For better magazine feeding, there is 38 Super Comp, which is rimless 38 Super. I think Starline makes the brass.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I need to add a .38 Super Colt to the herd but just have never gotten around to it...yet. All my Colts are either .45ACP or 10mm.

 

[bruce5781]

I picked up my first Super 38 at a local antique auction about 1992 because I liked the grips. It is 1951 Lightweight Commander. I have since added a 1962 Lightweight Commander, a Series 80 Government, and a Gold Cup. I kinda like them.

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Maddog 521]

Years ago there were a lot of .38 Super pistols in the Bullseye pistol league I used to shoot in. I used to glean a lot if information from those guys.

 

[DevilDog72]

Many a Texas Ranger carried 1911 pistols in .38 Super