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Five-shot group from 15 yards with Remington 146-grain lead bullets.
Five-shot group at 15 yards with handloads using 3.1 grains of Unique and 146-grain lead bullets.
Smith & Wesson continued to produce their smaller I-frame Terrier and .38 Regulation Police revolvers (later the Model 32 and Model 33, respectively) in the little cartridge, but with the introduction of the Smith & Wesson Chief’s Special in 1950 and the rival Colt Detective Special both chambered in .38 S&W Special, there was not much interest in the little .38 S&W revolvers anymore. They soldiered on until 1974, when Smith & Wesson made their last .38 S&W handgun.
Yet while the .38 S&W has been on the brink of extinction at one time or another, it just refuses to throw in the towel. This is in no small part due to the sheer multitude of handguns around the world chambered for it. Not counting the more than half million Military & Police revolvers produced for the British, Smith & Wesson made over 1,000,000 handguns of the little pocket variety over a period of 60 years. Then there were the countless thousands of revolvers made by various other companies all over the world. .38 S&W ammunition is still very easy to obtain, with Remington and Winchester both offering loads using the venerable old 146-grain lead bullet that is advertised at 685 fps and has a muzzle energy of 150 ft. lbs. These modern smokeless loads can be safely used in the break-open revolvers as long as the gun itself is in safe working order.
A word to the wise on some of the old .38 S&W pocket revolvers: those from Smith & Wesson were the best quality break-open guns of all that were produced, with the possible exception of the Webleys. The copies of those little S&W handguns range from excellent to barely functional, so if you have an old .38 S&W revolver and are considering shooting it, have it checked by a competent gunsmith first.
More powerful ammunition can also be had for the stronger revolvers like the Smith & Wesson M&Ps and the I-frame revolvers. Fiocchi loads their 145-grain lead bullet at 780 fps, which will work just fine in the swing-out cylinder revolvers but are too hot for the break-open guns. Surplus military ammunition can still be found, and more often than not it is the full metal jacketed .380 Mk IIz.
A word of warning when it comes to shooting .38 S&W ammunition out of guns that are chambered in .38 Special: Don’t even think about it. The .38 Special has a bullet diameter of .358 whereas the .38 S&W’s is .361. Even though a large number of the surplus British M&P revolvers have been rechambered to .38 Special, their bores are oversized and accuracy won’t be the greatest. Some of these guns were not converted properly and can even be dangerous to shoot. Stick to guns that are original .38 S&W guns; you will be happier and safer in the long run.
Recently I decided to take an original .38 S&W Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver to the range with some factory ammunition as well as some handloads to see what I could make of the old warhorse and the cartridge. This particular Military & Police was part of the first batch of pre-Victory Model revolvers in 1940. It was shipped to the U.S. Government Hartford Ordnance Depot in Springfield, Massachusetts, but somehow ended up here in the states for the duration of the war.
I managed to scrounge up some original military ball ammunition, which was the 178-grain jacketed round-nose .380 Mk IIz loads. Velocity was less than what I expected, averaging only 560 fps from the Smith’s 5-inch barrel. Shot from a rest at 15 yards, the shots grouped at 2-½ inches but were a couple inches high with one flyer skewing off to the right.
Next I decided to try a vintage box of Remington factory ammo. These were the same 146-grain lead round-nose bullets that are still offered to this day. Velocities with these were much better, running about 650 fps from the muzzle. From the same range of 15 yards, these also grouped at 2-½ inches but hit a bit low and off to the right.
I followed these up with a few of my handloads. The first were 146-grain lead bullets over 2.3 grains of Winchester 231. These turned out to be a disappointment, with a muzzle velocity of only 500 fps despite the fact that some of my manuals listed it as being much more. Groups were fairly ragged and a few inches low.
Next I brought along some loads using the same 146-grain lead bullets with 3.1 grains of Unique. These proved to be very accurate, hitting at nearly point of aim at 15 yards and having a velocity of 640 fps. Of all the loads I shot that day, these were the best overall with a 2-¼ inch group.
I then decided to see what kind of punch the little .38 S&W cartridge had. I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good surplus military helmet, so instead I found an old round metal kid’s sled that appeared to be just as thick. (Sorry for those of you that may be nostalgic over these.) I first decided to shoot some .38 Specials from a 5-inch-barreled Model 27 Smith & Wesson for a comparison. These were nothing more than standard 130-grain FMJ ammunition. The three .38 Specials I fired went right through with little difficulty. For the .38 S&W I used some vintage .380 Mk IIz loads from the same distance out of my 5-inch-barreled Smith & Wesson Military &Police revolver. Again I fired three shots, just to the right of the .38 Specials. Two .38 S&Ws went through, but one only tore the metal as it bounced off of the metal sled. I can see why the little .38 was not exactly seen as a manstopper during World War II.
Vintage Remington Kleanbore .38 S&W rounds (left) with modern, nickel plated-cased rounds (right).
What the .38 S&W really has going for it is its inherent accuracy combined with almost no recoil. In the K-frame sized gun, it had little more recoil than a revolver of the same sized chambered in .22 Long Rifle. With the right handloads and in the right gun, it makes for a very handy small game cartridge. Rabbits and squirrels would certainly be within the .38 S&W’s limits in either an old Smith & Wesson M&P or a Regulation Police. It has enough power to get the job done on game animals without destroying too much meat like more powerful calibers.
The .38 S&W, despite being written off at one time or another, is still hanging on even though no handguns have been produced for it for 35 years. I have little doubt that while it has been on the ragged edge of retirement more than once, the .38 S&W won’t be going away any time soon.
THE WEST AND THE GUN
BY JIM FORAL
After the Civil War, America moved westward across the continent. In the two decades to follow, civilization gradually but steadily stretched from ocean to ocean. The old emigrant trail had given way to the iron horse and the settler made certain that the savage made room for him. Cattle grazed where the buffalo once roamed, and regions formerly devoid of humanity were how inhabited.
In 1890, the Director of the Census announced that an unbroken frontier line in the West no longer existed. Lawless territories were tamed and granted statehood. The times were changing. By 1900, the Indian had been overpowered and his threat eliminated. The days of the open range were a far-gone memory and distances were abridged by the railway and the trolley. All of this had happened during the short lifetime of many individuals, and these were sad times for older men. That the West and its times had finally faded was a crushing and unpleasant thought. Their West, a unique period of about 40 years, the likes of which men never saw before and will never see again, was vanishing into history and folklore just as the bison and plains grizzly had vanished.
Against this backdrop of vanishing frontier and fading memories, a fanciful image
