THE .38 SNUB
             OLD FASHIONED OR OLD  FAITHFUL?

             TRULY COMPACT SEMIAUTO PISTOLS
            ABOUND, BUT IS IT TIME TO RETIRE THE
                SHORT-BARRELED .38 SPECIAL?

            When I entered the Detroit Police Academy in
            the fall of 1969, there were several things
            expected of us. There were items to purchase,
            notebooks to assemble, shoes to shine, khaki's
            to press, and a .38 snub to put on lay away at a
            local gun shop. Detroit had a liberal firearms
            policy, issuing a .38 Special revolver with 5"
            barrel while allowing officers to carry any
            personally-owned Colt or Smith&Wesson
            revolver, .38 Special or larger.

            While many of us planned to buy a more
            powerful duty weapon, I have to admit that my
            off- duty plans did not extend beyond the five
            shot revolver I was paying for over time.
            Approximately half way through the 15 week
            academy, I became aware of a new line of
            handgun ammunition called Super Vel. Lee
            Jurras, the inventor of this ammunition line, had
            reduced the bullet weight in .38 Special and
            .357 Magnum to 110 grains from 158. The
            bullet was designed with a soft lead core, thin
            jacket, and a significant hollow point. He had
            dramatically increased the velocity and the
            result was a bullet that would actually expand
            in soft human tissue.

            My Agency for some unknown reason had
            decided that it was ok to carry hollow points in
            a privately-owned handgun, but not a
            department issue one. Shortly, before
            graduation I walked into the gun shop to make
            another payment on my snub. While there I
            noticed they had a couple of boxes of Super
            Vel .38 Special 110 grain jacketed soft point
            ammunition. Since the department regulation
            said nothing about soft points in department
            issue handguns I bought two boxes of this load.

            I had already planned to replace my Model 10
            with a Model 58 .41 Magnum as soon as I
            could find one, but decided to do the best I
            could for the moment. Dean Grennell, a gun
            writer of note, was kind enough to chronograph
            this load out of a 5" barreled revolver and
            inform me that five rounds averaged 1114 feet
            per second, a dramatic improvement over the
            780 feet per second produced by the
            department issue Federal 158 grain round nose
            lead load. He also informed me that the Super
            Vel load out of a 2" barrel averaged 1030 fps,
            while the rnl offering averaged 618 fps.

            I had been converted to the concept of carrying
            a second gun, so my snub served double duty as
            both a backup and off-duty weapon. I was
            perfectly happy with this approach until one
            night in a corner grocery store. I came as close
            as I ever care to come to dying violently
            because the 110 grain jhp from a 2" barrel did
           not produce the desired results.

            My response was to carry a single action .45
            Auto until I got jammed up at Homicide one
            night for carrying a non-approved handgun. By
            then I had found a .41 Magnum and started
            carrying it both on and off-duty. Of course I had
            to dress around the gun, but that big old
            revolver brought a level of comfort that more
            than overcame the complications its carrying
            brought.

            The .38 snub was relegated to second gun use
            only, and the 110 grain jhp offering was
            eventually replaced by Winchester's excellent
            158 grain lead hollow point. The original snub
            had been replaced by a light weight version
            with a shrouded hammer. It was never fired in
            anger, but I routinely made traffic stops with it
            hidden behind my leg. On several occasions,
            the mere displaying of this weapon brought
            things to a screeching halt.

            During the coldest winter months in Michigan,
            the short jacket was replaced by the long
            winter coat. During this period I switched the
            location of my second from the right rear pants
            pocket to the right side jacket of the heavy coat.
            I made every vehicle stop and every field
            investigation with my right hand gripped
            around the snub in my coat pocket.

            Some years before retirement I made a critical
            decision and decided that it was foolish to
            carry a second gun on-duty and only a single
            handgun off-duty. After all, when off-duty; I
            was not easily identified as a law enforcement
            officer; without a partner, and without radio
            communication. The snub was relegated to a
            coat pocket in cold weather and an ankle
            holster the rest of the year. I've never been a
            big fan of ankle holsters but there wasn't a
            viable alternative until Greg Kramer produced
            his superb horse hide pocket holster. Today,
            my .357 SIG semiauto is backed up by a .38
            snub in a Kramer pocket holster. Now, it may
            seem paranoid that a 57 year old retired police
            sergeant carries not one but two pistols. All, I
            know is that redundancy in this area seems
            simple common sense to me.

            Recently I met a local cop at our Sportsman
            Club and he started to lust after my hammer
            shrouded lightweight snub. I sold it to him and
            promptly went out to buy a replacement. Now I
            know there all sorts of small semi auto pistols
            that are chambered for serious cartridges, but
            there's something about the .38 snub that I find
            comforting. It's simple, reliable, and we go
            back a long ways. There was many a time I
            went in harm's way knowing that I had an
            option-just in case.

            When I went to a nearby gun shop and after a
            careful analysis of what's currently available I
            purchased a Taurus Model 85 Ultra
            lightweight. I compared it with the competition
            and found it was not only the equal of better
            known brands; but that the fit, finish, and
            lockup were superior.

            Curious as to what the current crop of .38
            Special loads might do, I loaded up my car
            with ammo, the Taurus Model 85, and a
            Competition Electronics ProChrono
            chronograph (Dept GW, 3469 Precision Drive,
            Rockford, IL 61109, 815, 874-8001,
            www.competitionelectronics.com) , and drove
            to my local range.

            Ten rounds of each load were fired, and
            although recoil was stiff with some loads I
            found them manageable and accuracy was
            acceptable for the weapon's intended purpose.
            Enclosed pictures show slugs recovered from
            actual shootings. In spite of what some
            self-anointed experts might tell you, many of
            the current crop of high performance .38
            Special loads do expand in actual shootings.
 

            Of rounds we don't have shootings for yet, I'm
            really intrigued by Georgia Arms excellent line
            of ammunition. They use factory new brass and
            Gold Dot bullets. The combination is an
            excellent one and their velocities are high with
            very good accuracy. Their .357 SIG load is
            significantly faster than the competition and is
            superbly accurate in my SIG P239. I would
            suggest you check them out at;
            WWW.GEORGIAARMS.COM. Their prices
            are very friendly and their packaging fairly
            unique. Instead of conventional boxes they used
            heat sealed, heavy duty clear plastic bags.

            Yeah, I know all the ""experts"" tell you the
            .38 snub is obsolete and you should carry of
            one of the hot new compact autos from Glock
            or Kahr, but I'll let you in on a secret. I've
            caught more than one of these Guru's with a .38
            snub stuck in their waistband. Where's their
            super duper compact auto?

            Home in the gun safe, of course. Their lame
            response is they did not expect trouble. If I
            expected trouble, I'd carry a .308 rifle! When I
            don't expect trouble, I carry a .357 SIG backed
            up by my Taurus snub.

            The .38 snub may be considered old fashioned,
            but sales indicate that there are a lot of people
            out there who considerate it appropriate for
            self defense. What the self-anointed experts
            seem to forget, is that the end user needs to
            have confidence in the weapons system.
            Obviously, a lot of people have voted their
            confidence in the .38 snub with their wallets.
            While I've relegated mine to second gun usage,
            I have no doubt it is superb for that purpose.
            For those who've chosen it for concealed carry
            and home defense usage, it will certainly meet
            their needs with coupled with the right round
            and appropriate training.

            Evan Marshall
            P.O. Box 2671
            Midland, MI 48641-2671

            email: evan@evanmarshall.com