.38 Super

The .38 Super, also known as .38 Super Automatic, is a pistol cartridge chambered for a 9.04 mm bullet. The.38 Super was introduced in the late 1920s as a higher-propellant variant of the.38 ACP or.38 Auto. The previous.38 ACP fired an 8.4 g bullet with a velocity of 320 m/s. The improved.38 Super also fired the same 8.4 g bullet with a velocity of 390.1 m/s. The.38 Super has earned a reputation as the cartridge of choice for several practical shooters; It remains one of the main cartridges used in IPSC competitions.

DESIGN

This cartridge was designed for a variant of the Colt M1911 pistol and was able to drill the bulletproof vests and car bodies in the late 1920s. When the cartridge. 357 Magnum was introduced to the market in 1934, this advantage of 38 Super was not enough for police and officers to abandon the traditional revolver.

The Casquillo del 38 Super retains the original dimensions of 38 ACP. It was originally designed as a semipestaña cartridge, to be able to be used by the Colt M1900 pistol due to the design of its feeding ramp. When the Auto became the.38 Super, the power ramp of the Colt M1911A1 could no longer be used as a support for the tab. Because of this, the accuracy of 38 Super was bad until Irv Stone of the Bar-Sto Barrels company redesigned the bedroom to allow the proper insertion of the cap of the cap. Since then, all serial guns that shoot EL.38 Super have this feature. It is known that the sheller with semi -sheds causes food problems in some loaders, especially those of double row, which led to the development of variants with reduced tab.

In 1947, cartridge manufacturers added the marking +P to the culum of the Casquillo del.38 Super to distinguish it from 38 ACP with low pressure. Most of the current cartridges label the packaging of this cartridge with 38 super +p.

As el.38 Super has the same dimensions as. The problem with Colt M1900, M1902 guns and others derived from this design, is the assembly wedge at the front of the slide. If the wedge is released, or if the slide is strained near the wedge, the slide can go back and get out of the frame when firing. Colt M1911 and M1911A1 guns, which have a slide whose front is solid, cannot be released in this way.

Dimensions

The Casquillo del 38 Super has a capacity of 1.14 ml (17.6 grains) of water.

Maximum dimensions of the cartridge. 38 Super according to the C. I. P. All in millimeters.

The rifling rotation rate for this cartridge is 406 mm (1 in 16 inches), 6 rifling, ø bottoms = 8.79 mm, ø rifling = 9.02 mm, bottom width = 3.07 mm. Both the SAAMI and the C. I. P. specify a bullet with a diameter of 9.04 mm.

According to the official specifications of the C. I. P., the.38 Super case can withstand a pressure of up to 230 MPa. In countries regulated by the C. I. P., each pistol and cartridge must be tested at 130% of this maximum pressure to obtain a sales certificate.

The pressure limit for the.38 ACP or the.38 Auto is 182.72 MPa according to the SAAMI. The pressure limit for the.38 Super +P is 251.66 MPa according to the SAAMI.

Both the C. I. P. and the SAAMI specify that the.38 Super (+P) cartridge has a semi-flanged case.

Variants of the.38 Super with flangeless bushing

Recently, flangeless case cartridges such as the.38 Super Comp,.38 Super Lapua,.38 Super RL (Armscor), and.38 TJ (.38 Todd Jarrett) became available, transforming al.38 Super in almost a cartridge without a flange. These "flangeless cartridges" In reality, they are not such, since the flange of the bushing does not have the same diameter as its wall in front of the extraction notch, which is why it is a semi-flange that barely extends.003-.004" on the sides, compared to the.007-.009" on the sides of the standard.38 Super. The main reason for the development of new cases was that the semi-flanged case of the.38 Super did not always chamber correctly from a double-row magazine, such as those employed by several semi-automatic pistols popular with practical USPSA or the IPSC. Almost flangeless cases improve cartridge feeding in these pistols, but are intended for use in weapons whose chambers have a notch for the mouth of the cartridge to fit. Other improvements that the cases of these cartridges have are improved extraction notches and greater thicknesses in key areas to be able to use high-pressure propellant charges.

Performance

Due to its large case volume, which allows for a greater propellant charge of smokeless powder and produces higher muzzle velocities at approximately similar pressure levels, the.38 Super offers a greater potential bullet velocity than the 9 x 19 Parabellum when manually reloaded and with some propellant charges for self-defense. However, the 9 x 19 Parabellum is approved for +P propellant charges by both SAAMI and C. I. P., which compensates for differences in case volume of mass-produced cartridges. The.38 Super is generally considered a balanced cartridge, with a flat trajectory, good accuracy, and relatively high muzzle energy; Most propellant charges have higher muzzle energy than many mass-produced.45 ACP cartridges.

Muzzle velocity

• With rolled bullet of 7.5 g: 425 m/s
• With 8 g encamised bullet: 410 m/s

Cor-Bon/Glaser offers the.38 Super +P with several high-power thruster loads for self-defence, with speeds of 434 m/s and 410 m/s. When other cartridges were tested alongside those of Cor-Bon/Glaser, an average speed increase of 7.6 m/s to 15 m/s was found in the latter.

Employment

The.38 Super has resurfaced in IPSC and USPSA competitions, where custom pistols are used, especially when equipped with a compensator because it exceeds the power threshold to be considered a propellant-charged cartridge &# 34;large", while having a more manageable recoil than the.45 ACP. Part of the recoil reduction is due to the use of lighter bullets. Most of the recoil reduction is due to the use of a compensator or muzzle brake. The compensator works by diverting shot gases from the muzzle of the cannon. The greater the gas volume or pressure, the more efficient the compensator will be. Since the.38 Super produces greater pressure than the.45 ACP, the compensator will reduce recoil.

The resurgence of this cartridge began in the early 1980s, when Rob Leatham and Brian Enos began experimenting and entering IPSC competitions with pistols firing the.38 Super. At that time, M1911 pistols with single-row magazines for.45 ACP cartridges were the dominant weapons in competitions. Their pistols that fired the.38 Super carried one or two more cartridges in their magazines, because of the smaller diameter of the case. However, the biggest advantage was the muzzle brake, which allowed them to fire continuously faster, quickly passing the stages and thus obtaining higher scores. Competitors still using.45 pistols attempted to keep pace, both by adding compensators and reducing bullet weights, quickly reaching the 152-155 grain (9.84-10.04 g) limit.). The.38 Super can be reloaded with a higher propellant charge and mount a lightweight 7.45 g (115 grain) bullet.

The use of compensators in competition is limited to the IPSC and USPSA Open Division. The other divisions do not allow its use, and the IDPA prohibits its use. Without a compensator, the recoil of a pistol firing the.38 Super with increased propellant charge is very similar to that of a pistol firing the.45 ACP and greater than that of the 9x19 Parabellum.

In addition to its popularity in practical shooting, the.38 Super +P is one of the most popular cartridges in Latin America due to firearms ownership laws that fire military cartridges, such as the.45 ACP. For this reason, police departments in the southwestern United States frequently consider that.38 Super casings found at crime scenes are indicative of the use of a weapon from Latin America.^{[citation required]}

The.38 Super received further publicity through the 'Colt Combat Commander' single-action pistol; and the aluminum alloy framed pistol 'Colt Commander'. When Colt changed model supply inventory from the Series 70 to the Series 80, demand for this model decreased.

A small number of submachine guns, such as the Ingram Model 6 and the Thompson, were manufactured to fire the.38 Super. Hyman S. Lehman produced an automatic variant of the Colt M1911 that fired the.38 Super.

The ballistic performance of the.38 Super +P cartridge has improved over time, due to the use of modern powders. The cartridge is available with velocities greater than 430 m/s, a very high velocity for a semi-automatic pistol and which is comparable to that of the.357 SIG. This cartridge is very popular in Australia (partly due to gun ownership laws). that prohibit the use of cartridges with calibers greater than 9 mm in IPSC competitions) and in Latin America regarding practical shooting, in addition to once again being a suitable cartridge for concealed carry weapons. This cartridge is available with hollow point bullets and excellent ballistic performance. A pistol with a standard single-row magazine can hold nine or eleven cartridges, plus one in the chamber. Pistols with double-row magazines that use this cartridge hold fifteen or eighteen cartridges, plus one in the chamber.

Synonyms

• .38 Super Auto
• .38 Super ACP
• 9 x 23