gun on dragnet

[horatioo]

I was watching Dragnet last night and the bad guy was said to have a "blue steel automatic". It was said to be 38 caliber. What kind of gun is that?

Thanks

 

[Dave85]

Could be...a .38 Super? A .38 ACP? A technically incorrect reference to a .380? I don't think Jack Webb was necessarily that knowledgeable about guns.