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Speaking of 38 Special in a 1911....

tomh.
A couple days ago, Mooseyard was asking about a 38Spl barrel for a Gov't model pistol.
Anyway, this got me thinking....Why?
Why does this combination exist? Does it do something that 38Super won't do? And what does Colt mean by 38 Special Mid Range?
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3 comments

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  • perry shooter
    Hello because most people used 38 special revolvers for target shooting and N.R.A. matches used 3 guns 22 long rifle / centerfire/ 45acp many shooters wanted a centerfire pistol that was a semi-auto for speed in the timed and rapid fire stages of the match The research and development on the 1911 colt type pistol had been done but these shooters did not like the recoil of a 45ACP.The 38 Super was available but because of colts barrel design they did not shoot very good groups. 38 specials in revolvers did shoot good groups . SOOOO some one GILES< CLARK< SHOCKEY and others said lets build a 1911 type in 38 special they did but had feed trouble as 38 is a rimmed cartridge and magazines needed much work to function. The military marksmanships units even tried 38 AMU a rimless 38 special. Along came S&W with their great shooting model 52 and colt was left out in the cold . some "IMHO idiot" at colt thought that the slide was to heavy to function with light 38 special loads and designed a MID-RANGE Gold Cup in 38 special but in a straight blowback style they functioned but groups were to %^*& No one in the upper classes of bulls-eye could get them to GROUP. We did buy up all the colt factory 38 special magazines to use in the GILES/CLARK/Shockey guns Now you can buy good 38 super barrels that are head spaced the correct way as well as there has been much developement work done to get a 9MM to shoot and barrel for this in a 1911 type shoot great.Remember today Bulls -eye shooters can tame the recoil of a 45 with slide mounted red dot scopes so it might be a moot point in todays bulls-eye matches. sorry about the long post but you had a good question. "PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"
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  • rufe-snow
    They originated with custom gunsmiths in the 50's who rebuilt 38 Super 1911's into 38 Special Wadcutter guns for the shooters who followed the Bullseye discipline.

    After a number of years both S & W and Colt started producing factory original 38 Special Caliber semi-auto pistols.

    Because of the physical limitations of the pistols, they only could be used with 38 Special Wadcutter Ammo that was loaded with blunt nosed projectiles that didn't protrude much past the end of the cartridge case.

    luger_4.jpg
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  • mpolans
    Some Bullseye competitors back in the day probably wanted something for the centerfire match that felt like the same 1911 they used for the .45 match, but kicked less, and was just as accurate.

    Personally, I don't think their choice was logical, given the alternatives, but I guess some folks thought it was a great idea.
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