Note: the '+P ' designation did not take effect until 1974 as explained further down the page.
And so, in 1929 Colt introduced this very powerful new caliber to meet demand and Colt's tough M1911 and M1911A1 automatic pistol was chambered to fire it. When the .38 Super +P was introduced it was the most powerful automatic pistol in the world even more powerful than the bigger .45 caliber that the gun was originally designed to shoot and the magazine held 9 rounds as opposed to the .45 that held only 7.
Rather than use photos of a standard M1911 as seen above for the exposé in this article, I have chosen the Colt .38 Super +P 'La Patria' Gold Cup National Match pistol as pictured below and thereafter.
The Colt M1911 .38 Super +P was selected to become a special edition piece to honor Vincente Guerrero the 2nd president of Mexico August 10th 1782 – February 14th 1831. The pistol was a ' Colt Gold Cup ' competition grade piece and it featured exclusive Colt factory furnishings like the gold plated barrel bushing, hammer spur and strut. Old style factory roll marks with high polished stainless steel slide with 24Kt gold embellishments and the words " La Patria" with the rampant Colt horse logo and " Vincent Guerrero and the date of his presidency.
The .38 Super +P was very popular in Mexico, Central, and South America where it was the most powerful pistol cartridge available to civilians that was not a military cartridge. Mexico adopted the .45ACP for their police and military, and thereafter banned private citizens from owning .45ACP caliber firearms thus the .38 Super +P was the Mexican civilians gun of choice, chambered in Colts M1911, the Spanish Llama, Star, and Astra Colt copies. It is maybe because of the Mexican restrictions that the .38 Super +P did not fade away as more powerful guns were being developed in the USA and hence was ideal to be depicted by Colt on the anniversary 'La Patria' model.
The .38 Super +P cartridge in the center of this photo below is shown next to the popular 9mm Luger on the left and the famous .38 Special on the right. The .38 Special is a larger cartridge but the performance is much lower because the working pressure is less than half that of the 38 Super.
In 1974 the firearms industry added the renown +P (extra high pressure) head-stamp to the .38 Super cartridge to further distinguish it from the common lower pressure .38 ACP. In fact, all ammunition manufacturers now stamp '+P' on all cartridges regardless of their caliber , that fire high pressure rounds.
The standard .38 special has a muzzle velocity of around 980 fps with a 110 grain bullet whilst the .38 Super +P can go over 1500 fps with the right loads, ie:
a 90 grain JHP will have a muzzle velocity of 1,557 fps delivering a massive 485 ft-lb or 658 Joules of energy.
The maximum pressure level for .38 Super +P is an amazing 36,500 psi. This is actually 500 psi more powerful than the awesome .44 Remington Magnum, which is not exactly underpowered itself, and it makes the .38 Super +P the highest pressure pistol cartridges in the world today for its caliber. Just to compare to a real heavy duty high power cartridge, the megga powerful .454 Casull Magnum produces a colossal 65,000 psi, so the .38 super is over half the power which is monumental for this standard sized round.
This is why the F.B.I and C.I.A soon adopted the .38 Super +P into its arsenal, as it was a real 'man stopper' even the criminals who took to wearing the early bullet-proof vests were no match for the power of the .38 Super +P that could punch a whole straight through the vest, killing the occupant inside at 50 yards away.
In the 1930's gangsters, bank robbers and armed fugitives such as John Dillinger were using automobiles during their hold ups and also for the getaway from the crime scene. It was found that the standard issue .38, .38 special or even .45 lacked the velocity needed to propel the bullet adequately through a car door whilst retaining enough energy to mortally injure the occupants at distances over 50 yards.
The .38 super +P however, had the potential to penetrate automobile bodies and kill the occupants inside. With velocities reaching 1400 fps with a bullet pressure equalling that of the later-day 44 magnum, the .38 Super +P was in high demand. The down side to this was that the criminal fraternity were also getting their hands on them, and the .38 Super became the favorite pistol of infamous hood, Baby Face Nelson.
The .38 Super +P cartridge is as stated considerably more powerful than the 9mm Luger, the .380 Auto and even the .38 Special. There is no interchangeability with the .38 Super, and shooters are warned not to use this caliber in other guns, even if the dimensions look to be the same, as the 38 Super +P could blow it apart. All said and done, the .38 Super is a pleasant cartridge to shoot, with modest recoil and superb accuracy and is also a great choice for home defence.
So where is the .38 Super +P today? Well it was overtaken in 1935 with the introduction of the .357 magnum revolver, and as most federal agents and law enforcement officers started to prefer the more reliable and almost jam free high powered 357 magnum revolvers, the .38 Super +P fell into the shadows somewhat.
In today's high tech world the .38 Super has been equalled with cartridges like the .357 SIG and 9mm parabellum +P, all of which can produce roughly the same power and energy levels as the .38 Super +P. It has been stated though that with the use of modern day powders that the .38 Super +P can equal or at best even supersede all other automatics in both power and accuracy apart from the devastating Desert Eagle automatic in .357magum, .44 magnum and the awesome .50 AE Auto-Express calibers.
The current most powerful production handgun in the world of course is a revolver, the Smith & Wesson .500 magnum and I have a web page on that gun too, in my interesting firearms section.
In its heyday however, the .38 Super +P was the best automatic around and pioneered the start of the high powered handgun, as stated earlier, criminals were now using cars and body armor, so the law enforcement wanted more powerful handguns to punch holes through them and the .38 Super +P was up to the task.
Although now superseded, the .38 Super +P is still a cartridge that shooters enjoy firing and it can often be found in the hands of marksmen in many shooting competitions across the USA, where the .38 Super +P has made a serious come back.
The below image is of a target that was shot at from 15 yards using Corbon 100 grain PowRball bullets and as you can see, the grouping is very tight, just one big hole with at least one shot going through the same hole !
Just to note here that although these type of guns are generally always referred to as 'automatics' this is technically incorrect as they are in reality only 'semi-automatics' as the trigger needs to be pulled once for every shot fired. Only a machine gun is truly automatic in that it will keep firing as long as the trigger is depressed...
...unless your name is John Dillinger of course, he and Baby Face Nelson both had a Colt M1911-A1 .38 Super +P converted to fire on automatic. John Dillingers gun featured a 25 round extended curved magazine, a forward grip adapted off a Thompson sub-machine gun and a cuts compensator on the muzzle to arrest some of the recoil. The image below is of the actual gun, as recovered by the FBI.
I think that Dillinger would have found that a shoulder stock would have been needed too, as this adapted pistol would have been quite uncontrollable to fire accurately, or maybe he wasn't bothered and an adapted pistol like this would have been used for close up work against several closing law enforcers, in which case it would have been quite deadly. The concealment factor would also have been advantageous. Dillinger always preferred the .38 Super +P in place of the .45 as it was more accurate, more powerful and Dillinger didn't like anyone getting back up once he had shot them !
Below: a photo of John Dillinger's actual Colt M1911-A1 .38 Super ( being handled with extreme care as its a museum exhibit ) It was made in 1931 and has the serial number 12187 which is stamped on the lower frame. The right hand side of the pistols slide was later engraved with the message " Taken from fugitive John Dillinger when caught by Dayton Police Sep 22 1933 R.G. Wurstiner "
Dayton Police Chief Rudolph Wurstiner carried the gun around with him on duty until 1949 and it would have been quite a show piece to impress any discerning viewers of it. Later a member of Chief Wurstiner's family donated the gun to the Dayton Police Department Collection of historic artefacts, where it is still in storage to this day.
| Model 1911 Colt .38 Super & Super Match .38 Serial Numbers | |||
| YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER | YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER | YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER | YEAR & SERIAL NUMBER |
| 1929 --------- 1 | 1940 ---- 34450 | 1954 ---- 112950 | 1964 ---- 167800 |
| 1930 ----- 5850 | 1941-45 Limited Production | 1955 ---- 117800 | 1965 ---- 172000 |
| 1931 ----- 9850 | 1946 ---- 36550-37835 | 1956 ---- 120000 | 1966 ---- 177600 |
| 1932 ---- 13650 | 1947 ------ 40001 | 1957 ---- 124500 | 1967 ---- 186200 |
| 1934 ---- 15100 | 1948 ------ 56700 | 1958 ---- 129600 | 1968 ---- 192200-202188 |
| 1935 ---- 17300 | 1949 ------ 73300 | 1959 ---- 136900 | 1969 ---- CS001001 |
| 1936 ---- 19250 | 1950 ------ 78900 | 1960 ---- 148800 | 1970 - CS002800-CS005280 |
| 1937 ---- 24050 | 1951 ------ 86400 | 1961 ---- 155200 | - |
| 1938 ---- 32100 | 1952 ------ 95500 | 1962 ---- 158850 | - |
| 1939 ---- 33450 | 1953 ----- 107300 | 1963 ---- 163000 | - |
Below is the famous and venerable old Colt Government M1911 .38 Super finished in stainless steel. Equipped with checkered rubber composite grips to resist slippage in the hand after firing, gives it a sleek look. The Colt Gov is still one of my favorite pistols, a very successful and reliable design that actually first appeared in 1911.
If the truth be known, John Moses Browning actually drafted the design for this gun whilst he was working on his own semi-auto variant, the 9mm Hi-Power.
Below is another M1911 .38 Super, this time fitted with original design "diamond" walnut grips and a nice traditional blued finish. It is amazing to think that this popular semi-auto ( in .45 caliber ) has now been used for nearly 100 years, and its still going strong. Modern semi-automatics are all generally double action but these "old" Colt designs are strictly single action, if the hammer is down it will have to be cocked by the thumb before it can be fired.
Firing a semi-auto via double action is best left for home defence, FBI,CIA undercover work and police or military shoot outs, but at the local gun range then its single action all the way, that is...if you want to hit a target at 25 yards.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the .38 Super and don't forget to check out more interesting firearms on my site by clicking on the links below.
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