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38 cal. or 36 Cal.

Captain
How did the 38 sp get the name 38 when in fact it is a 36 caliber?
Just wondering?
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7 comments

Date Votes
  • rldowns3
    It's one of those magical things...oddly enough, the old .36 cal pistols were in fact .380" diameter round or conical lead ball and the .38spl is roughly .357" diameter....strange, eh?

    If I remember correctly though...calling it a .38 was a marketing ploy...but I could be proven wrong.

    aliens.jpg
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  • gap1916
    If memory serves me correctly, and some times it does not, the term 38 came from the 38 grains of black powder used in the cartridge. [8D]

    Greg
    Former
    USMC
    ANGLICO
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  • Captain
    Thank you. I know the 9mm, 380, 38sp and the .357 are all actually 36 calibers. I also know that some calibers are named for the year they were invented, or the amount of Black Powder that was used. I just cannot remember hearing why these calibers are called 38
    Take Care, Captain
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  • rldowns3
    I don't think the .38 S&W special ever came in a blackpowder reloading from S&W. It was introduced by S&W around 1902 or 1903, by then most if not all new firearms and cartridges for them were smokless.

    aliens.jpg
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  • Contender Man
    If you spend enough years around guns and cartridges, and are a student of the history of firarms one thing you lear pretty early on is that a lot of what is done in setting names makes little logical sense. And just when you think you are beginning to see some logic things will rapidly reverse that opinion for you.

    For a given cartridge you even encounter different bore diameters. Which in the days of lead bullets were not all of that big of a deal.



    2470099-S.jpg
    If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!
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  • Bert H.
    Just to illustrate that the error in bullet diameter versus the cartridge name goes both ways, the 38 Winchester Center Fire (W.C.F.) (a.k.a. 38-40) originally chambered in the venerable old Winchester Model 1873, is actually a 40 caliber! Now try explaining that... by my way of thinking, it should have been the "40-40"[:D]

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
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  • v35
    The 38-40 is a bass ackwards designation. It's a 40 caliber with 38 grains of black powder. The early 38 cartridges had a case dia and heel bullet of .375 as do the case dias of current 38s.
    The .375dia bullets of 36 cal percussions carried through and became early 38 cal rimfires. The 41 colt used to actually be 41 in both case and body until they got rid of the heel bullets and used a .386 dia hollow base bullet.
    There's as much logic to it as the English language has.
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