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Why is it called .38 Special?

JEDI

JEDI

Lifer
Wiki

"The .38 Special was introduced in 1902 as a development of the .38 Long Colt cartridge which, as a military service cartridge, was found to have inadequate stopping power during the Philippines-American War. "

But the US military switched to the .45 LongColt in repsonse.

So how did the .38 Special get it's name?
 
38 Special (also written .38 Special and Thirty-Eight Special) is an American rock band named for the .38 Special pistol. Formed by vocalist Donnie Van Zant in 1975 in Jacksonville, Florida, the band initially had a straight-ahead Southern rock sound, much like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band of Donnie's older brother Ronnie.
 
.38 Special got their name from Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Saturday Night Special" There is a line in the song "Shoots him full of .38 holes. Donnie Van Zant of .38 Special & the late Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd are brothers.
 
Originally posted by: CadetLee
He's asking why the bullet is named .38 special, not the band..I think..?
Click to expand...

It's "special" because it's different and we do not want to hurt its feelings.
 
I'm not looking to verify this; someone else can:

I believe the gun was called a 38 special because it was cheap and readily available.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
I'm not looking to verify this; someone else can:

I believe the gun was called a 38 special because it was cheap and readily available.
Click to expand...

You're thinking of saturday night special.

As for .38 special... maybe that's just what S&W named it.
 
Originally posted by: JEDI
Wiki

"The .38 Special was introduced in 1902 as a development of the .38 Long Colt cartridge which, as a military service cartridge, was found to have inadequate stopping power during the Philippines-American War. "

But the US military switched to the .45 LongColt in repsonse.

So how did the .38 Special get it's name?
Click to expand...


If you read the page it tells you why.

In short, the .38 Special is a round developed by S&W. It was designed on the already developed .357 bullet, but uses a differentcase. Its 'special' because it isn't really a .38 bullet.

This is similar to the .357 SIG round developed by SIG-Sauer. SIG started with the growing popularity of the .40 S&W case then added a .355 bullet. The diameter of the bullet is smaller than the case, so they "necked down" or crimped the very top of the case around the base of the bullet. This gives a smaller, light bullet with a lot of power behind it.
 
I was in a hurry with that last post.

I won't dig out my reloading books but this is how I think it went.
I looked it up.

38 Smith & Wesson has a brass casing .775" long. It could fire a 158gr. bullet at 750fps.

38 Special has a brass casing 1.155" long. That's what makes it special. It could fire a
158gr. bullet at 950fps.

357 Magnum has a brass casing 1.290" long. That makes it a Magnum. It could fire a
158gr. bullet at 1450fps.

 
For some reason I thought I was about a "special" sale at a 24hr pawn shop, (this is years ago before the 2 day law for hand guns) and a dude in a drunken anger after catching his old lady with another dude, sneaks off buys the "special" .38 snub nose in the pawn window and goes and kills his wife. (maybe the dude too, probably.)

 
Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Originally posted by: JEDI
Wiki

"The .38 Special was introduced in 1902 as a development of the .38 Long Colt cartridge which, as a military service cartridge, was found to have inadequate stopping power during the Philippines-American War. "

But the US military switched to the .45 LongColt in repsonse.

So how did the .38 Special get it's name?
Click to expand...


If you read the page it tells you why.

In short, the .38 Special is a round developed by S&W. It was designed on the already developed .357 bullet, but uses a differentcase. Its 'special' because it isn't really a .38 bullet.
Click to expand...

What r u talking about? the .357 Magnum round was created 30 years AFTER the .38 special???!!!???
 
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