.38 Special

The .38 Smith & Wesson Special cartridge is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson and known for its accuracy and manageable recoil. It is most commonly used in revolvers but also sometimes found utilized by some semi-automatic pistols and carbines. The .38 Special was the standard service cartridge of most police departments in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1990s, and was also a common sidearm cartridge used by soldiers in World War I. The .38 Smith and Wesson Special cartridge is also known referred to as  .38 Special, .38 Spl, or .38 Spc, pronounced “thirty-eight special.”