Hey folks, i got the chance yesterday to shoot a 38 super and a 10mm. Needless to say i was impressed with both. The 38 really suprised me it was a great shooter, flat and fast the 10 wow i like the recoil. So now i have added 2 more 1911's to my list. Of course the list is already longer than my arm lol. What has been your experience with these 2 calibers good or bad. Colt commander is at the top of my list , but one of these 2 is next.
I've had good experience with both calibers. The 10mm can be setup with a .40S&W barrel without too much work. The .38Super is one that has a large following in countries that do not allow citizens to own any handgun chambered in a military caliber. (I believe Mexico is one such country)
Either i heard or read somwhere that baby face nelson carried a 1911 in 38 super. I could be wrong please dont quote me on that. I used to be interested in dillenger gang and there exploits.
You heard right ellwood. Nelson had a 1911 in .38 Super modified to fire full auto. The .38 Super was developed in the 1930's for Federal law enforcement, primarily because it was fast enough to penetrate car doors and the body armor of the day, something the .45acp couldn't do. A 1911 in .38S held two more rounds and had better second shot target acquisition due to less recoil. It fell out of favor because most LEO's carried revolvers and with the advent of the .357mag, speed and power were no longer an issue. The .38 Super made a comeback with competition shooters for a while in the 80's, but has been pretty much kicked to the curb by .40 S&W. Still, the .38 Super is an excellent performing round, will run rings around the 9mm and keep right up with the .40S&W and 10mm. It's my personal favorite cartridge. Trouble is, unless you load your own, .38S is expensive and can be hard to find.
Well thats the good thing about both i do reload and actually bought a whole set reloading set upfrom a guy that has both. I looked last night and i have 620 brass 38s and 370 10mm. Lucky me as well as the dies.
Hello ellwood, I have owned quite a variety of both .38 super and 10MM pistols and revolvers, since the early '70s in the case of the Super. I have shot, and reloaded a fair amount, for both cartridges. You mentioned the Commander. My first Super was a Combat Commander ( steel frame) back about 1970 or so. My first Commander, and later '70 Series Govt., both had the earlier barrels that Tried to headspace on the semi-rim of the cartridge. Terrible!!! Inaccurate, flattened and pierced primers,etc. My later Colts, and one Kimber, had the barrels that headspaced properly on the case mouth like the 9MM,.45,etc. Problems solved. The best of the lot for me has been the Kimber Target II in .38 Super. Accurate, totally reliable, well fitted and finished, well supported ramp type barrel. etc. I much preferred the Kimber over my, considerably more expensive, Colt Custom Shop .38 Super Special Combat Government. Within my humble experience, the main advantage of the Super over the 9MM is with the 147 grain and heavier bullets. The Super may appear to be very superior to the 9, but most ballistics charts and reload data give Super velocities in 5" barrels, whlie reporting 9MM ballistics from 4" barrels. I have chronographed both from 5" barrels which show them to be much closer with bullets lighter than147 grains. I have owned 10MM pistols and revolvers since about the time the 10 was introduced. I've had Bren Ten, Colt Delta, Kimber Eclipse, S&W pistols and revolvers, Glock and a Ruger Blackhawk in 10mm. I'm a 1911 guy and, obviously, a 10MM fan, but I have not found the 1911 to be the best platform for the 10MM. The Glock and S&W autos, with their heavier slides, handle the real 10MM ( 200 at 1200fps and similar) better than the 1911 IMHO. The Super, even in the heaviest loads, recoils much less than the 10 with the "real" 10MM ammo. Seems like some of the 10 now days is loaded down to approximate the .40 S&W. Obviously, with this ammo, the 10 has no advantage over the .40 S&W. Anyway, both useful cartridges and fun to shoot and reload for. I recommend both.
10mm in a commander is a handful. Trust me, I own one. It's really more for show and great for personal defense. But for range time, I take my full size 1911 in 10mm. But I reload mine pretty hot. My FIL can walk his 10mm 1911 out to hit a 12" gong target at 100 yards! Talk about a fireball too! If you are set on a commander, the .38 Super would be my first choice. Save to 10mm for the full size guns.
