Good Grief! Whats wrong with a .38 Special?
There’s nothing wrong with using a revolver chambered for .38 Special for self defense. It will do the job provided you put the shot where it needs to go. Especially if you empty all six shots into the center of mass on a person from close range while using +P hollow-points. The reason that the people at the range were telling you that you needed a more powerful gun is that more powerful guns do a better job stopping an attacker. Here’s what that means. In a defensive situation, you don’t want to kill the attacker eventually. You want to stop him/her as quickly as possible since that prevents him/her from being able to hurt you. After all it doesn’t matter to you if an attacker dies from his wounds in an hour if he/she’s already killed you. Will a .38 Special stop a person. Yes, if they’re not strung out on drugs. Will it do it as quickly/effectively as a .45ACP, .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, or .44 Magnum? Unless you hit the S.O.B. in the brain with your first shot, probably not. That’s be
The 38 Special is significantly more powerful than the 380 Auto, which is considered the minimum for personal defense. Every time some new and more powerful gun comes out for some purpose, the local wags go on and on about how now it takes more gun than the day before for all similar purposes. Use good ammo for your situation, which might or might not involve low wall penetration to protect the brothel next door. Another possibility is to use +P ammo, which I mistakenly told lots of people was 10% hotter than standard. Oops, it is 17% hotter, and the +P+ is 35% hotter in terms of pressure generated. Still, the proof loads are much greater than this, and a gun which cannot take +P+ shouldn’t be sold. And yet all guns eventually shoot loose (Rugers seemingly taking a century or two to do so when hardcast non-jacketed bullets are used) and it all depends on the details what can be gotten away with, and for how long! I discovered my mistake while working out a plan for homeowners who want
Friend, you bring up a point that has been bugging me for some time now. Everyone says you need some whizz-f**king-bang caliber to kill a man, when there are “lesser” calibers that have been doing it for 100+ years now. Bulls**t on all of them. A .22 in the gut will have a fully grown 6’5” 250 lb. man writhing on the ground screaming in agony. A .38 is MORE than adequate for HD or CCW. They’re just screwin’ ya. You got a nice little gun, and I’d keep ahold of it. By the way, I’m a rather proficient machinist working on an engineering degree… and guess what? I pack my Ruger MkII in you guessed it… .22LR. It’s my CCW because I know *how* to use it. I’d like them to tell me I’m simple minded… I’d quickly ask them how to turn a rectangular billet without running a cross wall.
They might just be razzing you, or they might be serious. .40s and .45s are great, but they aren’t for everyone and some people don’t understand that. The 38 Special is a good cartridge, and has served well. Your revolver is rated for +P according to Smith and Wesson’s website. That is a very acceptable defense cartridge, especially with modern ammunition. The important thing is that YOU like it and have confidence in it. The only other thing that they might be ribbing you about is that the 64 is a fairly large frame for the 38 Special, but big deal. Just makes it that much easier to shoot. I’d say you did fine.
