Yesterday afternoon after it cooled down a little I put the new/old LW Commander .38 Super on the bench. Tried Federal American Eagle 115 grain HPs, Winchester 115 grain Silvertips, and a mid-velocity handload with the Ranier 115 grain plated hollowpoint. All three shot VERY well at 25 feet - Nine of the Federals went into one ragged hole except for one called flyer that hit just outside the group. The Silvertips grouped nicely too, but they are "stimulating" to shoot in that little light gun! Too dang expensive to shoot many of them anyway. I was really pleased with the Ranier handload as well - accurate and pleasant to shoot - gotta get my reloading stuff cleaned up and make up some more of them.

All three loads tried shot about 3" high, but I can deal with that. The sights are a problem for my old eyes, but I don't want to change them. What's really pleasing is that all three loads fed and functioned fine, and none of the hollowpoints seemed to scuff the feedramp.

Not meaning to start an argument here, but I have been convinced for some time now that the feed geometry of the .38 Super is MUCH better than the 9mm in the 1911 platform. The Super is the same length as the .45 acp for which the 1911 was designed. The 9mm is shorter, and it is extremely difficult to make a 9mm 1911 magazine which doesn't let the round nosedive into the ramp as it feeds. My old 9mm Commander absolutely does not like short OAL rounds. The Commander was designed to meet an Army requirement that specified the 9mm cartridge, and the magazine had to be modified with a filler to make it work. It does, but just barely. With long OAL FMJ ammo. Put a short, blunt-nosed 9mm round in a 1911, and you're asking for FTFs. I like the 9mm a whole lot, and of course I love the 1911, but I just don't think they go together well. YMMV.

Great to hear your grail gun is turning out to be a real shooter. To me, half the fun of a new gun is finding the load it likes best. I can't imagine finding one that likes them all.

Murphy

Murphy, it's all John Purcell's fault anyway. He let me shoot that beautiful .38 Super of his and I was hooked instantly. Had to have one of my own, and now I can't stop.

It sounds like you done good, to say the least. I'm happy for you.

Bro' Dan bought a Rock Island (maybe?) 1911 in .38 Super. It's a pleasure to shoot and seems to be within 'minute of water bottle' down at the gravel pit. We may have to keep our eyes open on this...

Hoot, the .38 Super has a long and storied history. Colt made a mistake when they originally cut the chambers in the same way as they had on the older .38acp pistols, so that the round headspaced on a tiny portion of the rim. Many of the older Supers gave poor accuracy, and that hurt the round's popularity.

For several years the only cure for an inaccurate Super was a new barrel, usually from Bar-sto. It wasn't until the early 1980s that Colt began headspacing the barrels on the case mouth like the .45 and 9mm. They were losing market share to other manufacturers who figured out how to make .38 Super guns shoot VERY accurately.

One of the apocryphal stories about the .38 Super dealt with it's role in the demise of one Lester Gillis, aka "Baby Face Nelson" in November 1934. Nelson, his wife Helen, and John Chase were driving from Wisconsin to Chigago when they were spotted by two FBI agents. A running gun battle ensued, during which one of the agents put several .38 Super rounds through the engine compartment of Nelson's Ford, holing the radiator and smashing the water pump. Nelson's car overheated and eventually stalled, allowing two more agents to catch up with the fugitives. Nelson killed both agents in a raging gunfight in the middle of the highway, but was mortally wounded in the exchange and died a few hours later.