Why 38 Super? If 9mm x 21 and 9mm x23 Winchester already pre-existed?

[Chuck_S]

Colt Super .38 was introduced as an automatic pistol cartridge in the 1930s as a response to .357 Magnum. Marketing.

-- Chuck

[jetfire]

Colt Super .38 was introduced as an automatic pistol cartridge in the 1930s as a response to .357 Magnum. Marketing.

-- Chuck

That would be a hell of a magic trick, since .38 Super was introduced in 1929, and .357 Magnum wasn't introduced until 5 years later in 1934.

[ToddG]

That would be a hell of a magic trick, since .38 Super was introduced in 1929, and .357 Magnum wasn't introduced until 5 years later in 1934.

The .38S is so fast, it traveled back in time.

[Tamara]

The .38S is so fast, it traveled back in time.

You'll get "Super Face" if you don't use 9x23 brass for that trick.

[JAD]

The .38S is so fast, it traveled back in time.

Interestingly the one time I shot 9x25 Dillon it aged me by three years.

[dbateman]

Colt Super .38 was introduced as an automatic pistol cartridge in the 1930s as a response to .357 Magnum. Marketing.

-- Chuck

The story I got is it was developed to punch thru auto bodies/glass and body armour at the time.

It's a good round one of my favourite pistol rounds, good all round chambering for SD hunting and general range use.

[Gary1911A1]

The 38Super was introduced in 1929. Maybe the Depression had something to do with it not taking off? I have three 1911s' in 38Super, one a single stack with a compensator on the end of the barrel I used for IPSC Matches built by Les Baer when he was in Allentown before he went to work at Springfield Custom.

[John Hearne]

The 38 Super was endorsed by John Dillinger for its ability to punch through auto body. How's that for a celebrity endorsement?

[Tamara]

The story I got is it was developed to punch thru auto bodies/glass and body armour at the time.

I don't know how much of that is truth and how much is after-the-fact romanticization.

The cartridge itself is a pretty logical up-loading of the existing .38 ACP to take advantage of the greater safety margin of the 1911 design over the earlier "parallel rule" Colt autos.

[BLR]

The story I got is it was developed to punch thru auto bodies/glass and body armour at the time.

It's a good round one of my favourite pistol rounds, good all round chambering for SD hunting and general range use.

Raw velocity does more for armor (soft or hard) penetration than any other individual factor.

It wasn't until more "modern" steels (meaning less strain rate sensitive, but still "hard") that projectile composition comes into a more significant role. Which is one reason any multifunctional armor is composite (composite as in more than one type, not necessarily "composite" like carbon fiber) nowadays.

Armor and knives make my inner materials engineering nerd all giddy.