Has the world really changed all that much?

[wbraswell]

Ahhh, the lowly .38 spl., like the 9mm, the .30 carbine, and the .30-30, all highly criticized by individuals who have never been shot by one.

 

[sac-gunslinger]

I worked with a lad years ago who had spent 10 years on the NYPD in the day when issued weapons were 4" Model 10s and issue ammo was round nose lead 38 Special. He interrupted a robbery of a neighborhood market by four armed thugs, all started shooting at him. He quickly drew his M10 and dispatched the four thugs with four shots. Four shots! The after-action report talked about how bullets were flying around his nead.

I could never convince him that his story was not possible for all the reasons the gun-store guy gave at the beginning of this post. He never bought into the "bad 38" stories because he had lived different outcomes. He had two other fatal encounters where the lowly 38 was quite effective. I read the reports! I also learned a great deal from those real encounters.

The double-action revolver is the easiest gun to maintain in a safe condition around the home or on your person bar none. 38 revolvers are all I own any more. You have made a great choice.

 

[holo]

I worked with a lad years ago who had spent 10 years on the NYPD in the day when issued weapons were 4" Model 10s and issue ammo was round nose lead 38 Special. He interrupted a robbery of a neighborhood market by four armed thugs, all started shooting at him. He quickly drew his M10 and dispatched the four thugs with four shots. Four shots! The after-action report talked about how bullets were flying around his nead.

I could never convince that it was not possible for all the reasons the gun store guy gave at the beginning of this post. He never bought into the "bad 38" stories because he had lived different outcomes. He had two other fatal encounters where the lowly 38 was quite effective. I read the reports! I also learned a great deal from those real encounters.











The double-action revolver is the easiest gun to maintain in a safe condition around the home or on your person bar none. 38 revolvers are all I own any more. You have made a great choice.

well said I love my .38's

 

[bbqbob51]

#1, a revolver is a great self defense platform. The simplicity of the revolver is perfect as a house gun, everyone in the house can learn how to shoot it and not have to worry about safeties, hitting the magazine release button by mistake or jams. The 38spl round can be shot by anyone from a 90 pound woman to a a full grown man without pain from excessive recoil. If you use good modern self defense hollow point ammo you will have enough stopping power for just about anybody or anything advancing on you. You are indeed well heeled!

 

[kaaskop49]

Many of the posters on this thread have given me 'likes' for my posts. So they obviously know their stuff! I remember when my job went to the Glock in the mid 90s. Officers who couldn't hit with a 4" Model 10/64 then couldn't hit with a mega-shot Glock. Many of them would shoot door-size 'patterns' slow fire and considered themselves 'gunmen.'

I stayed with the 4" .38 and when qualifying one time, the rangemaster told me to point and shoot fast, not aim. My rounds were in a cup-size group. I answered 'I am shooting fast...' I didn't say I can aim and shoot quickly, he already felt challenged.

When I qualified for the Nevada CCW license, I shot 300/300, again with a 4" .38. My instructor put down my score as 295 saying my 300 score would make me look like an assassin in the eyes of the issuing authority. Can't make this stuff up. I love the 4" in EVERY caliber.

 

[Avery11]

thirty-eight shmirty-eight!

Have humans evolved?

Well, I guess SOME of us certainly have. I wouldn't be seen in public with a wound from anything less than a .45 Les Baer Custom.

.38? Really?

Where do they find you people?

 

[M3Stuart]

Welcome to the forum!

Nope, the world hasn't changed that much;

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/319443-do-i-like-38-special-too-much.html

...that kid just comes from a different 'world'! The world of the 'wonder 9'...

Here's my latest (and greatest) .38 special:



...AND here's a few others...

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Like my .38's too. My CWP out and about town is a 642. My pocket knock around the house/yard gun is a 2" 36. I am well armed.

 

[AR_Black]

.......know you NEVER forget your first.

Ruger GP100 4-inch blued. Followed by many others, but never replaced.

 

[M3Stuart]

One thing I've experienced about a .38 spl. K frame is that it points sweeter than any 9mm auto I've ever owned. This is essential to accuracy. Revolvers are sort of like just pointing your finger.

Reminds me of a description I've always wanted to use on gunbroker to describe a (any) revolver;

"...yessireee, this revolver has the auto-dynamic gyro-stabilized directional pointing system...yessirreee...just hold this revolver normally - extending your arm - hold your elbow stiff AND, now get this sports-fans; THIS GUN will be POINTING DIRECTLY AT YOUR TARGET!!!!"

 

[jhvaughan2]

What has changed is the shooting hobby. In the "old" days shooters grew up admiring Cowboys or G-men. The revolver was king. Now we all want to play Delta-Force, and pretend that we have to be ready to go into battle against drug-crazed jihadists.

In reality that is not what personal protection is about.

I'll post my canned answer to anyone asking the "good enough" question about the .38 special.

-----
Is the 38 Special good enough for personal defense?

This is an absurd question that comes from too much time on the internet. The factor that outweighs all others for whether your firearm is "good enough" is if you have it when you need it.

The odds of needing it are very very low.
The odds that your attacker will be hyped up on military secret performance enhancing drugs, and wearing body armor is very low of the above very low.
The odds of needing to legally shoot through a door, car, wall, or at a distance greater than 7 yards is very low of the above very low.

The odds of getting struck by lightning is far greater than you needing more than a handy .38. So if you want to really protect yourself -- stay indoors.

The .38 special was stoping the bad guys for 70 years before we realized it was not enough to stop the bad guys.

The only place a .38 special will not kill someone is on the internet.

 

[KEN L]

Well, like the old saying goes......"A solid hit with a 158gr RNL is far better than a miss with anything else." Or, something like that. You get my meaning. Many a bad guy has met his demise with the lowly .38 spl.

 

[jrod]

Model 10's are awesome! All of the ones I've used are extremely accurate. My Dept. still uses them. All though we are very slowly transitioning to the Glock 22. I'm very comfortable with a 38 and don't feel under gunned with one.

 

[bmcgilvray]

Perhaps we need a thread to examine the standard velocity .38 Special 158 grain round nose lead load.

We've long been told this load is worse than useless. Is it?

http://smith-wessonforum.com/ammo/320194-bad-load-38-special-158-gr-rnl.html#post137265150

 

[JeepinSoldier]

Ahhh, the lowly .38 spl., like the 9mm, the .30 carbine, and the .30-30, all highly criticized by individuals who have never been shot by one.

Exactly! On another forum, somebody also posted 'The only places that a .22LR and .38 Special are not lethal are the gun shop and the Internet'.

My wife's house gun is a former Victoria Australia Police 3" Model 10 loaded with Speer 135 grain Gold Dot .38 Special +P Short Barrel loads. She is confident, quick, and accurate with it - shooting all double action. I feel that she is quite well defended.

My CC and mountain carry gun is also a revolver - a 3" Model 65 loaded with the .357 Mag version of the same Gold Dot bullet. If all I could find were .38's Id carry the same gun.

 

[rwsmith]

People think that.....

People think that having high tech equipment supplants the need for skill to use it.

 

[jaymoore]

East S. Louis Il. about 1968 (+/- a year) Bank robber shot 3 times in chest by police, one grazed the heart, another through a lung and I don't remember where the third went, but it was in the chest.
AFTER being shot 3 times he killed one officer and very seriously wounded the 2nd, and got away, but not far, but did survive. (I think the thug was using a 1911) Of course this was in the days that the retard police departments insisted on using 38 revolvers and 158 grain round nose lead bullets ONLY.
Of course this definitely DOES NOT apply to today's .38 Special Ammo & bullets, but the attitude to the round / gun continues today. You might say by 'oral tradition' from generation to generation.
AND, I love the revolver, regardless of chambering.

Heck, I've shot deer through the chest (once close enough to the heart to bruise it) and have had them travel 200-300 yards. And that's with a .44 Mag! Handguns of any caliber are marginal immediate "stoppers". Even 12 gauge shotguns have been known to require more than one round to do the job. That said, I've no problem with a .38 Spl. as a primary handgun. I generally "run about" with a tiny 5-shot 9mm revolver...

Awesome reply's.

I'm happy to know that my funny looking pistol that has a weird round thing that rotates when you pull the trigger isn't obsolete.

It's a good thing rifles didn't come up. If he found out I was using a wood stocked, leather sling, blued .30-06 to hunt with he might have thrown me out the shop.

A bit OT, but conversely, I have found the .233 Rem w/ a 55gr soft point out of a 20" barrel about the best deer killing tool I've ever used. Generally they are DRT when the bullet is placed in the chest cavity!

If you have the option, keep a centerfire long gun as the "primary".

 

[Johnnu2]

.38 Spl

My experience over MANYT years is that revolvers ALWAYS go 'bang'; autos do not ALWAYS go 'bang'. 637 carry; 12ga. pump in the home....Always aware of an exit strategy. J

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Ruger GP100 4-inch blued. Followed by many others, but never replaced.

Uh.....that is a .357 magnum if I'm not mistaken We're talking .38's here

 

[gwalchmai]

Could be a GP-100 chambered in .38 Spl...