Compared: The 9mm Luger and .38 Special By Chuck Hawks The .

38 Special is a classic revolver cartridge developed in the U.S. in 1902 by Smith & Wesson. It was developed as a ballistic improvement over the .38 Long C olt, and proved to be one of the most accurate and successful handgun cartridges ever designed. The .38 Special also became a very popular and successful police service cartridge. That same year, in Germany, Georg Luger was introducing a 9mm cartridge that wou ld come to bear his name, the 9mm Luger. Both his pistol, the P-08, and his cart ridge were adopted by the German military in 1908. Germany used the 9mm Luger ca rtridge (also known as the 9mm Parabellum and 9x19) with great success in two wo rld wars. After the Second World War the 9x19 was adopted as the official NATO p istol and sub-machine gun cartridge, and in 1985 the U.S. finally relented and a dopted the 9mm Luger as the U.S. service round, replacing the venerable .45 ACP. The 9x19 is also a popular police service cartridge around the world. These two circa 1902 cartridges remain among the most popular handgun cartridges in the world, widely used wherever they are legally available. Any cartridge th at has enjoyed so much success for so long must have a lot going for it, and thi s is true of both the .38 Special and 9mm Luger. A great many revolvers on large, medium and small frames have been offered in .3 8 Special, along with derringers, single shot pistols, rifles, and even some sem i-automatic pistols. And guns chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge can also u se .38 Special ammunition. Likewise, a great many semi-automatic pistols have be en offered in 9x19 on large, medium, and small frames, along with a few sub-mach ine guns, revolvers and derringers. The .38 Special uses a traditional rimmed, straight case designed for healthy ch arges of bulky black powder. It was quickly converted to the new and much more e fficient smokeless powder, as it became available. Much of that case capacity is wasted with target and standard velocity loads, but it does provide the flexibi lity for more powerful "+P" and "High Speed" or "High Velocity" loads. The .38 S pecial case is 1.155" long with a base diameter of .379" and accepts .357" diame ter bullets. The SAAMI maximum average pressure (MAP) for the .38 Special has be en reduced to only 17,000 psi. The MAP for .38 Special +P loads is a modest 20,0 00 psi. This is below the pressure of the High Speed factory loads offered from the 1930's well into the 1970's for strong .38 Special revolvers. (Those loads o ffered a 158 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity [MV] of 1090 fps with muzzle ener gy [ME] of 425 ft. lbs.) There are so many different commercial .38 Special loads that it would require t oo much space to examine them here. I counted 74 loads from 9 different ammuniti on manufacturers using bullets weighing from 101 to 158 grains in the 2003 editi on of the Shooter's Bible, and there are other loads and manufacturers that were not listed. For the purposes of this article I am going to select one common an d widely available load which is easy to compare to a similar 9x19 load. This is the Remington Premier +P load using a 125 grain Golden Saber JHP bullet at a mu zzle velocity of 975 fps and muzzle energy of 264 ft. lbs. At 50 yards the figur es are 929 fps and 238 ft. lbs. The mid-range trajectory of that load is 1.0" ov er 50 yards. These are Remington figures, measured in a 4" vented (revolver) bar rel. The 9x19 uses a much more compact rimless case with a slight straight taper to i mprove feed reliability in self-loading pistols. Indeed, the 9x19 is one of the most reliable semi-automatic pistol cartridges ever designed. This case is .754" long with a base diameter of .3926" and accepts .355" diameter bullets. The SAA

MI MAP for the 9x19 is 35,000 psi. As with the .38 Special, the popularity of the 9x19 insures that a great variety of factory loads are available. I counted 76 loads from 10 different ammunition companies using bullets weighing from 95 to 147 grains in the 2003 edition of t he Shooter's Bible, and again I know of others that were not listed. For compari son purposes I chose the Remington Premier load using a 124 grain Golden Saber J HP bullet at a MV of 1125 fps and ME of 349 ft. lbs. At 50 yards the numbers are 1031 fps and 293 ft. lbs. The mid-range trajectory of that load is also 1.0" ov er 50 yards. Again, these are Remington figures measured in a 4" (closed breech-not vented) barrel. Trajectory is not usually of primary importance with handgun calibers, and in an y case there is no practical difference between the selected .38 Special and 9x1 9 loads over 50 yards. For use by small game and varmint hunters and general rec reational shooters in the field, it must be remembered that not all game is shot right off the muzzle, so the relatively flat trajectory (for standard handgun c alibers) of the .38 Special and 9x19 is appreciated. Let me point out that more loads are available for these two calibers than for a ny other handgun cartridges. Since for personal protection both use bullets of r oughly the same weight and diameter, no practical difference in performance will found based on bullet frontal area or sectional density. Bullet design (which i s the same in our comparison loads), velocity, and kinetic energy will decide th e issue of stopping power. Today the clear advantage in both velocity and energy belongs to the 9x19. The a dvantage in MV is 150 fps, which translates to an advantage in ME of 85 ft. lbs. This is because of the 9x19's higher MAP. If the cases of both calibers could s imply be loaded to 100% density with an appropriate powder, the larger case capa city of the .38 Special would make it the more powerful caliber, but this is not possible within SAAMI pressure guidelines. As an aside, that is how the .357 Magnum was originally developed. It started as high velocity loads for the .38 Special that drove a 158 grain cast lead bullet at a MV of approximately 1100 fps. Such loads are no longer available. Today's "+P" loads are a pale imitation of the commercial High Speed loads of the past. This difference in energy translates to perhaps a 10% advantage in one shot stop ping power for the 9x19, based on the results published by Evan Marshall and Edw in Sanow in their book Handgun Stopping Power. The Remington Golden Saber bullet s used in our comparison loads had not been introduced at the time of that book' s publication. Of the loads for which Marshall and Sanow had data, the top .38 S pecial load was the Cor-Bon +P 115 grain JHP with a one shot stop rate of 83%. T he Cor-Bon 115 JHP +P load for the 9x19 became the top "stopper" in that caliber with a one shot stop rate of 91%. For hunters and recreational shooters the .38 Special has at least three advanta ges over the 9x19. First is the superbly accurate target type revolvers with 6" and longer barrels available in the caliber. Second is the greater velocity rang e of factory and reloaded ammunition (approximately 600 to 1100 fps). And third is the possibility of +P loads using bullets of superior sectional density (SD) in the 158-200 grain range for increased penetration. The 147 grain .355" (9mm) bullet has a SD of .167, compared to SD's of .177 for the 158 grain and .202 for the 180 grain .357" bullets. This makes the .38 Special superior to the 9x19 fo r protection against potentially dangerous predators like wolves, black bears an d cougars. Handloaders will be well served by either cartridge, as there are plenty of bull ets and brass for both calibers. Bullet weights range from about 90 to 147 grain

s in 9x19 and 95 to 200 grains in .38 Special. As always, the revolver caliber h as the advantage for reloading, as its action does not indiscriminately toss fir ed brass on the ground. Also revolvers, unlike semi-automatic pistols, are not s ensitive to the pressure or recoil impulse of their cartridges. This allows .38 loads to have a much greater velocity range than 9x19 loads without sacrificing reliability. While high performance 9x19 factory loads are loaded to full pressure, .38 Speci al factory loads are very conservative and the judicious reloader can produce mu ch more effective ammunition without exceeding the +P pressure limit. A 125 grai n JHP bullet can be driven to a MV of about 1100 fps with ME of 336 ft. lbs. fro m a 6" revolver barrel. For the handloader, the .38 Special revolver has more po tential than the 9x19 semi-automatic pistol. The final factor to consider when choosing any handgun cartridge is recoil. And recoil is certainly an important factor when considering handguns for personal p rotection or home defense, and to a lessor extent for recreational shooters and hunters in the field. Fortunately, both the .38 Special +P and 9x19 loads in our comparison have fairl y moderate recoil and muzzle blast in medium frame guns of average weight. Howev er, either can become a handful in very lightweight, small frame guns. They have noticeably more kick and blast than .38 Special target loads, but also noticeab ly less of both than handgun calibers like the .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .357 Magnum . The "Handgun Recoil Table" shows that in guns of typical weight the 125 grain .3 8 Special +P load develops 2.9 ft. lbs. of recoil energy and a recoil velocity o f 9.2 fps, and the 9x19 develops 6.0 ft. lbs. of recoil energy and a recoil velo city of 16.0 fps. This difference is primarily because the average medium frame auto pistol is lighter than the average medium frame revolver. In a gun of equal weight (2.25 pounds in this case) the 9x19's recoil would be about 4 ft. lbs., still greater, but much closer to that of the .38 Special +P. To recap what we have learned, both cartridges are very popular and offer a larg e assortment of factory loaded ammunition. There is no shortage of guns in eithe r caliber, although the revolver shooter will likely choose the .38 Special and the semi-automatic pistol fan will likely choose the 9x19. In terms of velocity and kinetic energy the 9x19 is superior to the .38 Special +P with typical factory loads. The .38 Special +P can be brought up to 9x19 ener gy levels, but this requires full power handloads. The 9x19 is likewise superior to the .38 Special +P in terms of stopping power, at least when factory loaded ammunition is used against human assailants. As pro tection against dangerous animals for campers, fishermen and hikers, full power .38 Special +P loads using the heavier bullets available in the caliber (158 to 200 grains) offer superior penetration and presumably killing power. In trajectory there is little to choose between the two cartridges. They are abo ut equal over normal handgun ranges. Neither shoots as flat as a magnum, but bot h out range most other standard pistol cartridges. For use in the field as a plinking, target, or hunting pistol, the .38 Special h as the advantage. This is partly due to its greater range of bullet weights and velocities, and partly due to the fine target revolvers available in the caliber , which are more suitable for field use than most autoloading pistols. Both cartridges are suitable for reloading, but the .38 Special has the edge in load flexibility. And, for the reloader, revolvers are inherently more convenien

t and forgiving than semi-automatic pistols. With factory loads in pistols of average weight the .38 Special +P kicks less th an the 9x19. If full power handloads are compared in pistols of equal weight the re is little difference in recoil. One should conclude from this comparison that the .38 Special and 9x19 are both excellent handgun cartridges that have survived the test of time. For home defen se, personal defense, or general recreational use they are pretty hard to beat. The choice between the two is much more likely to come down to a preference for either the revolver or the autoloading pistol than any advantage possessed by ei ther cartridge.