BEST .38 Super defensive ammo

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Rockman

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Although most of my guns are Smith& Wesson revolvers, I do own a great Colt Lightweight Commander chambered in .38 super caliber. A number of years ago I happened to be in the right place at the right time and "lucked" into the purchase of seven boxes of Winchester Silver Tip ammo at less than $9.00 per box. Since that time I have considered this pistol and it's "stash" of ammo to be my primary home defense gun and occasionally I take it to the range and shoot it with the ordinary Winchester and Remington rounds. While looking for additional ammo at a gun show last weekend, I was told that the Silvertips were "old" ammo and there are several types of .38 super that are better than those that I have held in esteem. What do you think? Have you used or read about any brands that outperform the Silvertips? Comments will be appreciated.
 
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IMHO, your ammo has been superseded only by a very small amount. I often carry an all steel Colt Combat Commander in .38 Super as my EDC. I wouldn't hesitate to load it with your ammo. The only thing that really counts is where and how often one 'hits' the BG. I have been known to load mine with either silver tips or Super Vel. I have every confidence in your pistol and your ammo. ....... Big Cholla
 
Silvertips are hard to beat even today. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any .38 Super round. They're that good!
 
Was in wally world and as usual walked by the ammo counter. 4-50 round boxes of federal 40S&W hollow points at $4 bucks a box. Course this was before the ammo crazyness. Frank
 
The Winchester 125 Silvertip +P is really only a topend 9mm...velocity is only in the 1200s...

If you want your Commander to be the best that it can be then try any of the following:

CorBon 115....Uses a Sierra bullet at 1450+ fps...I have had some boxes that chronograph 1494 average. If you believe in expansion this is the round...

CorBon 124...uses a Hornady XTP at 1350+ fps. Pushed at this velocity the XTP both expands like no 9mm and penetrates better than the 115.

CorBon PowR'Ball....a 100 grain capped bullet that doesn't come apart and doesn't depend on a fluid filled cavity for expansion. Velocity out of a Commander is 1500+ fps...

CorBon DPX...uses the 125 Barnes all copper HP at 1350 fps...it turns inside out but the copper base holds everything together.


I tested several of the above in these tests...

...a few bullets tests... - 24hourcampfire



Buffalo Bore also now has a line of .38 Super....

Handgun Planet: "Super" Super: Buffalo Bore 38 Super +P Ammo



From the late great Stephen Camp....

Corbon

How Does



.38 Super Homepage...

38 Super



If you are going to run topend loads in your Commander, and I have several aluminum frame Commanders that have well over 5K rounds of 1300 fps+ ammo through them, use a 18-20# recoil spring. I have also always used a now discontinued Kings Recoil Buffer. It looks like a regular recoil spring guide but has a spring loaded tip that slows the slide down the last 3/8" of travel...

You can also add barrels in 9mm and 9x23 with minimal modifications to the gun...

Checkout MidwayUSA...they have some of the ammo in stock and a lot of rounds from different makers...Buffalo Bore, DoubleTap...and more...

I've carried a .38 Super Commander every day for 34 years... Daily carry ammo has been the PowR'Ball.

Hope this helps...Bob
 
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One other thing... If you have a Colt .38 Super made before 1990 you really need to replace the barrel before using any of the topend loads. You will end up piercing primers if you don't.

Colt cut the Super chambers to headspace on the case rim instead of the case mouth like the 9mm and .45 ACP from 1929 till 1990+-...the below link tells all about it...

The Old Super .38 Barrels - 1911Forum

ROTO4M barrels from SARCO are not much money and I've had excellet luck with them. That 7" in the ammo test pics is a ROTO4M and it is an excellent shooter...

Kart, BarSto, Wilson, Clark, Nowlin all make excellent stainless barrels...

Bob
 
Big Cholla said:
IMHO, your ammo has been superseded only by a very small amount... I often carry an all steel Colt Combat Commander in .38 Super as my EDC. I wouldn't hesitate to load it with your ammo. The only thing that really counts is where and how often one 'hits' the BG...
Click to expand...

^^^ I tend to agree with this.

Though I have been shooting my Commander .38 Super since the summer of 1969, I haven't nearly the day-to-day .38 Super experience that Superman has, so my comments are "old think," I guess. To my credit, I do have a couple boxes of Corbon DPX ammunition with the Barnes bullet. I haven't shot enough of it to comment - except to say it is pricey (!). :)

My little stash of .38 Super Silvertips seems to run about 1250 FPS, which is a little improvement over run of the mill 9x19s. But it is also probably the most accurate .38 Super ammunition I have tried. I have a P220 .38 Super that you can almost count on to cut a cloverleaf at 50-feet if you are doing the best you can. It shoots very well in every gun I have tried it in.

I have always wondered if .38 Super Silvertips were "deficient" in penetration, like it was rumored .357 Magnum Silvertips were... ? I think most of those complaints were based on police shootings where the suspects had barricaded themselves in or behind automobiles. If so, I am not sure how much that worries me. In any case, I am just old fashioned enough that I still prefer Silvertips. If I were carrying a full-length, steel .38 Super, I might be inclined to switch over to the Corbon DPX. Might... :rolleyes:
 
There is an article/test of a Colt .38 Super within the last 3 months in SWAT magazine. You should snag and read that, too.
 
jimmyj said:
Hi:
In a bygone era I was issued a Colt Combat Commander (Stain Nickel) .38 Super. The issue ammo was Winchester Silver tips. Good combination. I had negative complaints.
Click to expand...

Jimmy...are you allowed at this point to tell what department or agency that was... I have heard of some places that issued Supers but it was eons ago...

Bob
 
SuperMan said:
Jimmy...are you allowed at this point to tell what department or agency that was... I have heard of some places that issued Supers but it was eons ago...

Bob
Click to expand...

The Agency was Levy County (Florida) Sheriff Department. (1990)
In that region/era weapons from evidence of cases closed were issued out to Deputies. Most anything that was safe to fire was issued. At the present the Agency purchases Sig-Sauer .40 cal to everyone.
 
I can state that if there is a 38 Super Expert on the Planet, it is SuperMan, also for the 41 Mag.

Bob and I worked and shot together, back in the day and he was a 41 Mag and a 38 Super "kind of guy" way before IPSC ever heard of it.

His handloaded ammo was actually approved for Duty use on our Dept, which was one of the 10 largest cities in the USA. A LOT of guy carried it.

I have always been a 44 Mag, 45 ACP kind of guy, so when we got together, we never had to worry about one of us shooting up the others ammo....
 
I too carry a .38 Super every day, usually my custom CCO (normally with Crimson Trace grips).

I load it with Pow'Rball as it is totally reliable in feeding and extracting, particularly in short barrel autos. I also use it in my Colt Defender (w/Bar Sto .38 Super barrel) and AMT Back-up.
In my full size guns, I use Georgia Arms 124 grain uni-bond (Gold Dot) load. It's never given me a bit of feeding or extraction problems and is as accurate as I can be.
 
Very nice selection of guns safearms....

Who did the work on the CCO? I thought about doing a CCO or a Defender in Super but the Commander just balances so well for me I would end up not carrying it...

Bob
 
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