38 long colt vs .36

[jonah hex]

I have heard a million reports of .36 navies used in the west
but only complaints on the .38 long colt.
arent they ballistically almost exactly equal?

[Delmonico]

Don't have the figgers right at hand but in kinetic energy the 38 Colt wins.  course that's on paper and paper will not kill ya very often, just give ya paper cuts.  Simple by the time the 38 Colt came out the 44 and 45 caliber rounds were popular.  simple they are better. 

Also the Army had trouble with Moro's who were all drugged up.  Have also heard that the Krags had trouble with them, trouble is they just didn't realize they were dead.  Stopping power is so hard to define, shoot somebody in the right place with a 38 Colt and they will die very quickly, shoot them in the wrong place with the new 50 S&W and the person will beat yer lights out.

[Cheyenne]

One of the reasons, I believe, the .36 had the better reputation is when loaded with a round ball, it had a higher velocity.  A few years ago Ed Sanow ran ballistic tests on the percussion revolvers and the .36 was no slouch with a RB....seems it was in the 50-60% in one shot stopping using his formula.

Elmer Kieth spoke highly of the old Navy .36 and stated it was a better stopper than the 38 Spl. (158RNL).  The round ball may be a bit less efficient in punching through the human body and may have been more easily deflected too, which would cause a bad internal wound....don't know, but I don't want to be on the recieving end! I'll trust the old timers word.

Also, shot placement is a better key to 'stopping power', IMO.

[Laredo Crockett]

I dunno, but Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest reportedly personally killed 30 men in battle and the .36 Navy was his favorite sidearm. Undoubetedly some of his victims were killed with a Sabre, but it is likely that a goodly number were taken by his captured .36 Navy.

[Marauder]

I believe that Kieth and tohers pointed out that the softer lead of the cap and ball was a little more effective than the hard lead that would over pentrate.

[Ed Clintwood]

Bill Hickock certainly liked the .36 Navy.  I know that mine has bounced a RB off a 1" oak fence plank, but with the shoulder stock on, it made a number of squirrels wish they had been elsewhere.  I wouldn't want it for personal defense, but it's hard to argue with success.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

The 36navy had a better reputation than did the 38lc.

The 36navy could be charged with 21gr of FFFg and send a 95gr ball down range at over 900fps. (170 ft-lbs)

The 38lc was only loaded with 12 of FFFg (or slightly less) with a 150gr conical. It only did about 650fps. (140 ft-lbs)

The 38lc was notorius for poor killing power, especially in the Philopines where Black Jack Pershing and his men found that it has almost no knock down power with whacked out tribesman and warrirors. Hence, the development of the 38spl.

[Qball]

How does the .38 Lc compares to the .38 S&W?

[Ed Clintwood]

Don't think much of the short .38's for self defense.  The .38 Special is bad enough until you use things like Glasers, or hydro-shocks.  The little .38's didn't have much recoil and they might be fun to plink with but the .38 short & long Colts and the .38 short and long S&Ws are best relagated to history's dust bin.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

What Ed said.

The 38spl+P is about as far as you can take that basic design.

Then, you jump into the 357magnum and 357MAX. (The MAX is like a 44magnum)