Driftwood Johnson
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The 38 S&W was a short revolver round developed by Smith and Wesson for their 38 caliber pocket revolvers. Bullet diameter is about .360.
Not to be confused with the 38 S&W Special which is the same thing as 38 Special. 38 S&W ammo is still manufactured today, although it may be difficult to find. Colt Police Positives were commonly chambered for the 38 S&W round. Colt Police Positive Specials had a slightly longer cylinder and were chambered for 38 Special.
38 Colt was developed during the cartridge era as a cartridge for Colt percussion revolvers that had been converted to fire cartridges. The 38 Colt originally used a heeled bullet, meaning the outside diameter of the bullet was the same diameter as the outside of the shell, around .375 - .380. Heeled bullets had a smaller diameter 'heel' at the rear that was inserted into the case and crimped over the heel. Case length for the original 38 Colt round was about .880.
22 Rimfire ammo is the only commercial ammunition still manufactured with a heeled bullet. You will notice that 22 Rimfire ammo has the bullet lube on the outside of the bullet, modern 22s use a waxy bullet lube.
In 1902 the Army chose the 38 Colt as their official sidearm cartridge. However heeled bullets with their lube on the outside of the bullet could pick up dirt and other contamination. That is the reason for the 44 Russian cartridge, but that is another story. So the Army lengthened the 38 Colt case to about 1.030 and reduced the bullet diameter to .357 (sound familiar?). The new bullet carried its lube in grooves and when the bullet was inserted into the case the lube grooves were covered so they would not pick up any contamination. This was the 38 Long Colt cartridge. However barrel groove diameter was still around .375, so the 38 Colt bullet had a hollow base that would swell when fired and engage the rifling.
Later on revolver manufacturers smartened up and started producing revolvers with .357 diameter rifling grooves, which still later made the 38 Special and 357 Magnum cartridges possible, each with a slightly longer case.
The 38 Long Colt cartridge usually had a 150 grain bullet loaded over 19 grains of Black Powder with a muzzle velocity of 770 fps from a revolver barrel. This was the puny load that performed poorly in the Moro Insurrection in the Philippines and the reason the Army went back to the 45 Colt until the 45 ACP became available.
The cartridges in this photo, left to right, are 38 S&W, 38 Colt, 38 Special, and 357 Magnum. Note, this is the 38 Colt with the heeled bullet, not the inside lubed version.
