Craig Boddington was the senior contributing editor of our modern gun and ammunition caliber dictionary. Craig was involved in the development and testing of many of these and writes from first hand experience. This dictionary was written exclusively for Wholesale Hunter with unique information found nowhere else.
GUN CALIBER DICTIONARY
Handgun
38 S&W
The 38 S&W (38 Smith & Wesson) was introduced as a blackpowder cartridge in 1877. Colt and S&W were already fierce competitors, each doing its own thing with its own cartridges. The 38 S&W thus uses a unique .361-inch bullet with a short .7752-inch case. Although no current handguns are so chambered the 38 S&W was extremely popular and ammunition is readily available. By today's standards it is a very mild cartridge, but its 200-grain load, though slow at 630 feet per second, remains a legendary personal defense round. A lighter 145-grain load at 685 fps is also manufactured. — Craig Boddington