7/27/2024 4:16:17 PM
Reply
or ReplyNewSubject
Section 10: Defense Weapons/Ammo Subject: Snub-nosed Autos? Msg# 1208351
|
||||||
Good analysis. One issue for those wanting a 9mm revolver these days is that no one offers one made for the 9mm with a short frame and cylinder (like my 905i) anymore. Those still around in snubby form are all .38 Special/.357 Magnum size that have simply been rechambered for 9mm. The longer jump from cylinder to forcing cone, albeit a minor concern, can't help.
You made a good point about clips vs speedloaders. With a speedloader you press the bullets in, turn the knob or push in on the loader body, depending on brand, pull the loader away from the cylinder, drop it--where you'll have to retrieve it later, close the cylinder, and resume shooting. With a clip, you drop it in the cylinder and close. Much faster for me, and I suspect much faster for most people. |
||||||
|
||||||
For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: Here is an article comparing .38 Special and 9mm ballistics. It mentions using both in revolvers but also gets into semi autos on the 9mm side. One misleading thing concerning revolvers in the article is the article saying 9mm generally means more ammo capacity but that's only in the case of semi autos. Taurus used to offer both calibers in two nearly identical snub revolvers and the 9mm model held 5 rounds while the .38 held 6. The extra pressure generated by the 9mm round has been given as the reason for needing more metal between the chamber holes. Old Colt snubs hold 6 while most newer S&W snubs hold 5 in .38 Special. Is a 9MM better than a 125 grain 38 Special +P, how about a +P+? This pretty much depends on what you mean by "better". If you mean a gun that is more compact, the answer is yes. Snubs designed for 9mm rather than .38Sp or .357 Mag have considerably shorter cylinders and frames which make them lighter and more compact. 9mmP is a high pressure round so it's going to be easy to find a load with a particular bullet weight that outperforms a .38 Special with the same weight bullet. I think that 9mm being a high pressure rather than a low pressure round is also responsible for its ability to lose less velocity than the .38 does as you step down to shorter barrels. If you're talking about better when it comes to reloading speed the 9mm is more likely than the .38 to be able to use moon clips which greatly speed up dumping the empties and slapping in new rounds. Personally, I can reload a revolver faster using moon clips than I can using speed loaders. Most of that comes from my finding loaded moon clips easier to carry and handle than loaded speed loaders, but that's going to vary between shooters and isn't a distinct advantage. Finally, nobody who has to buy their own practice and shooting ammo is going to find the price and availability of .38 Special ammo better than the price and availability of 9mm. It's probably fairly easy to find .38 Special +P ammo that performs close enough to standard 9mm ammo but switching to +P 9mm (which will still be cheaper) will pretty much walk away from +P .38SP. +P+ .38 Special ammo is not rated or recognized by SAMMI and you shoot it at your own risk. I really see no purpose for it in this comparison because if I wanted painful recoil I would just choose a featherweight snub revolver in .357 Magnum in the first place. I doubt I'd have any trouble finding a .357 Mag load that outperformed .38 SP +P+ but if I had my heart set on +P+ I'd still start with a .357 snub and then hire somebody else to shoot it. I wouldn't risk shooting it in a favorite old .38 Special snubby. I think the only place a .38 snub probably has an advantage would be in having lower recoil using standard loads making it a better choice for recoil sensitive folks. And, I'd have to really force myself to worry about the effectiveness of today's .38 Special self-defense loads. They have better bullets, better powders and better primers than were used in the loads back when the caliber was king with police departments in the days when they all carried revolvers. |