It can be easy to forget (or never know in the first place) that as far as turn-of-the-20th-century handgunning in America went, the .38 Special was the hottest ticket in town. As the world transitioned from black-powder cartridges to the new smokeless rounds such as Smith & Wesson’s “Special,” men like John Browning and Elmer Keith began designing new cartridges and projectiles specifically tailored to this new propellant. Performance increased drastically, and all of a sudden, a bare-lead, round-nosed slug ambling along at 650 feet per second was as cutting-edge as a powdered wig as far as the cool kids were concerned.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/the-lemon-squeezer-the-38-that-wasnt-special/