I cut my teeth shooting a 4" GP100, then migrated to fantastic plastic: USP40, then Glocks, then Sigs, CZ, etc. Many moons later I pick up a police trade-in model 64 for a song, I buy a nice Kramer holster for it (at ~1/3 of what I paid for the 64) and I'm digging it. Except for the sights--but that's another story, right?
I have a 638 I use for occasional pocket carry, using 148 DEWCs. So anyway, this 64 riding so nice in the Kramer has got me thinking about the .38 as a defensive piece in a way I haven't before, and I'm wondering why it is loaded the way it is... I think it's no surprise that the .38 is not considered to not be as capable a performer as modern 9s, .40s, .45, etc. There's no magic involved, obviously, so I figure it must be a velocity issue, but I'm not sure it's that simple... When I look at ballistic charts, I see that 125 gr. .38+P is often loaded ~75-ish FPS slower than 124 gr. 9mm standard velocity, and ~100-150FPS slower than 9mm +P.
There is obviously PLENTY of case capacity in those big .38 spls. Can the K-frames not handle it? That would be surprising to me--but that's why I'm asking. What is stopping anyone from loading .38s to proven 9mm velocities with comparable bullets? No one considers 9mm as hard to handle, even with +P rounds, so what gives?