Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Nice, Jeff.
I have shot Government size 1911s and like them. I find them soft-shooting, very mild recoil compared to the tiny, alloy carry guns firing +P 9mm. If/when I get a full size 1911, I’ll probably look for an all-steel model chambered for .38 Super or 9mm, for even lower recoil. I think the former used to be popular for some types of competition, so there should be some used ones around.
I bought the Detonics as a carry gun, but never carry it. Heavy, slightly finicky, and it’s worth too much. Someday I’ll offload it to a collector. The 442 is the carry gun now, eventually I’ll find the cheap G26 and the 442 will become the fishing vest gun.
But really, what I’m in the market for now is a shooter C96 Mauser with stock.
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Yup, .38 Supers used to be quite popular with the IPSC - International Practical Shooting Conference - shooters. This was the game that Col. Jeff Cooper and friends invented in SoCal in the early 1960's, hoping to create a more "practical" course of pistol competition than the standard NRA "2700" bullseye game.
One of their criteria was that competitors use actual defensive arms and loads. No "bunny fart" bullseye loads - full power defensive loads. As such, they created a "power factor" that, unsurprisingly, favored the .45 ACP over the 9mm, .38 Special, and such. Center hits earned full value when accomplished with a "major" caliber, but only 80% when using a "minor" caliber.
Well, it didn't take long for the "gamesmen" to figure this one out. Introducing the dangerously over loaded .38 Super, in an effort to "make major" with a "minor" caliber. This is where the barrels with the integral feed ramps came from, that little appendage hanging down behind the chamber off the back. If you look at a standard barrel, the feed ramp leaves a bit of the case unsupported, which is fine with standard pressure loads. These .38 Supers were anything but, and regularly blew the unsupported bottoms out of their cases and the magazines right out the bottom of the gun, sometimes injuring the meathead shooter who had loaded it up that way.
So, in other words, a former IPSC gun may not be the one to buy. I, too, would love to have a .38 Super, but mine would have to be a really pretty Colt Royal Blue and polished like a mirror. Kinda 1930's style. That's when Colt introduced them, in an effort to provide the G-Men with a round that could penetrate the car bodies that were hiding gangsters and bank robbers inside.
Really interesting, and at times, checkered history on this one.