Originally Posted by
Borderland
For what it's worth, I have a model 36 that I hardly ever shot. I did carry it some but when I shot it with published 38 spl loads I wasn't impressed with how well I could shoot it. Consequently, I went back to my 9mm Sig P-239.
Recently I got curious about 38 SC. I loaded some up in 3 different flavors but I went off the res with a few loads not having any load data for the powder I was using. Snappy. I settled on a load that seemed to be a perfect fit for my 36. I really like the fact that the recoil is tame and the accuracy is pretty damn good. Just my observations here, but 38 spl loads are not conducive to good accuracy in J frame snubbies, especially for people that voted for Nixon. That's where 38 Short Colt shines in my opinion.
I've also owned and carried a .380. You won't get any blowback from me if you like the cartridge for SD.
I'll just turn this over to the experts now. LR has probably done some testing. I haven't.