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Taurus 38 Special

Taurus 38 Special Credit: gunsweek

An American Army cartridge of reduced calibre, the .38 Long Colt, was adopted in the 1890s. New ammunition and Colt revolvers with double-action triggers were popular among troops during peacetime. It was discovered, however, during the first armed conflict – the American-Philippine War (1899-1902) – that the new standard ammunition had a low stopping power and could not penetrate even the Moro warriors’ archaic combat shields.

Specifications:

  • The calibre of the gun is mm
  • 7,62
  • Type of Chuck
  • 7.62mm SP-4
  • The sight range is m
  • 50
  • The revolver’srevolver’s weight without cartridges, in kg
  • Without the LCU
  • No more than 0.82
  • When combined with LCU,
  • No more than 0.88
  • The number of cartridges in the drum
  • 5
  • The overall dimensions are mm
  • No more than 191x140x40.2

The Thompson-LaGarde tests were conducted by Colonel John T. Thompson and Major Louis Anatole LaGarde in 1904 to determine the optimal calibre for a military pistol. At the Nelson Morris Company slaughterhouse in Chicago, Illinois, Thompson and LaGarde conducted experiments using live cattle and human cadavers. Calibers tested were 7.65x21mm Parabellum, 9x19mm Parabellum, .38 Long Colt, .38 ACP, .45 Colt, .476 Eley and .455 Webley. As a result of the tests, Thompson and LaGarde concluded that promising military ammunition with sufficient shock and stopping effect at short distances should have a calibre of at least 0.45.” After extensive testing, the US Army adopted the Colt Model 1911 pistol with a .45 ACP cartridge, a standard military system for decades.

Although the .38 Special had superior characteristics to the .38 Long Colt, the American military did not take an interest in it.

Taurus 38 Special Commercial markets

Taurus 38 Special Commercial markets
Taurus 38 Special Commercial markets Credit: athlonoutdoors

Commercial markets were also developing large-caliber cartridges while the military was. A reinforced .38 Long Colt was released by Smith & Wesson in 1898 with a 29.5 mm case and 158 grains (10.24 g) bullet. New ammunition was called the .38 Special. The .38 Long Colt calibre was carried over from its predecessor.

Colt revolvers were converted to 0.36″calibre with the .38 Short Colt cartridge developed for the conversion. This revolver had a 0.374″ (9.5mm) diameter cylindrical chamber and the bullet had a leading diameter equal to the outer diameter of the cartridge case (the so-called heeled bullet). In other words, the .38 calibre for the Short Colt, Long Colt, and Special only indicates the approximate outer diameter of the case neck; the bullet diameter was 0.357″ (9.07 mm).

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