Why would anybody buy a 38 special

[cmshoot]

Nowadays, when I think of a .38Spl, I think of a 2”, hammerless, lightweight, revolver. I have plenty of full-size S&W .38’s that are range guns, but I use my old 442 as a summer vacation gun. Very lightweight, compact, easy to carry with athletic shorts and a t-shirt.

 

[Bypass]

In these two guns I'd pick the 38 Because the 357 is just wasted powder. You need a longer barrel to achieve magnum velocities.

 

[letusbuyyourcar]

$$

There's your answer. Price is it. Seems like you can buy two decent auto pistols for the price of one revolver in 357 Magnum.
But as some of yalla know,I'm a fan of the lower end budget guns. Lately I've been watching the video reviews for the EAA Windicator whiycan be had new for around tree fiddy. Also comes in 2" or 4". Before that I really wanted a Rock Island M206. But they're close to the same price. And like the OP said why not get one that does both calibers?

 

[palmettomoon]

Still a comfortable favorite. That's the main reason why.

 

[cmshoot]

I’ve had this 442 since 1996. I won money at my old PD running it at 25 yards against folks shooting much larger handguns.

 

[NewLeaf]

[Broken External Image]:

Like, But you can double the velocity and expansion on almost everyone of'em (safely)

 

[spencer60]

LOL...My goodness....A snub .357, with even the most lackluster ammo, outperforms any 9mm no matter the barrel length. We all have our sources, but I trust the my own testing, plus the proven testing of others that I have already posted in this thread....And just so you will know, I carry a G19 everyday, or a S&W 638, and I do not even own a .357 magnum at this time, so I like those options better for carry, but I will not pretend they are as powerful...They are not.

Unfortunately that's simply not true. Ballistics By The Inch has been doing this testing for over a decade and their numbers are probably the best available anywhere today.

Below is their graph of muzzle energy for several 357 defensive loads.

And here is the same graph for 9mm

You can clearly see that while the 9mm starts off higher than the 357, it reaches it's maximum a lot sooner and additional barrel length only gives marginal improvement.

It really shows how much a short barrel, below 4", handicaps the 357 Magnum round though. The 9mm is between 250 and 350 and the 357s are clustered down around 200-250.

Give the 357 a little more barrel though and things change radically. Most 9mm loadings can keep up at 3" but at 4" the 357 has already hit the 9mm peak energy and is just starting it's climb.


Just so I don't go completely off-track though, comparing 9mm and 357, here's the muzzle energy for the 38 Special.

It's pretty clear how anemic is is compared to 9 and 357 in a typical snubby (2" or less) barrel. It's similar to the 357 (no surprise there) in that it doesn't start getting towards it's full potential until there's 4" or more worth of barrel to work with.



Oh, and Tony... here's your 45ACP. Don't be too smug about it though, you cheated by starting off with a 3" barrel...

 

[crowbusterL579]

Try a cylinder of my 125 gr. xtp handloads & from about 15 feet in the upper torso!!!

 

[alleycat]

When a .357 would do both?

See what you started?

Lol.....

 

[sniper22]

.460 for the win..
Otherwise my .357sig is the boss!