The .38 Special and the 9mm are two of the most popular handgun cartridges ever made, and they’re more alike than most people think. Both are over 100 years old. Both fire bullets within 0.002" of the same diameter. And both have spent decades in police holsters.
But when it comes to 38 Special vs. 9mm, the 9mm wins on power, capacity, and cost. It runs at roughly double the chamber pressure, and in Federal’s standard range loads, it carries over 50% more energy at the muzzle. That’s a big reason American police departments spent the last 30-plus years trading their .38 revolvers for 9mm pistols, and why the U.S. military has carried the 9mm since 1985.
I spent years behind the gun counter at Bass Pro Shops, and this was one of the most common debates I heard. A customer, looking for a carry gun, would be holding a compact 9mm and someone would pipe up from somewhere and say, “You should be looking at a .38 Special snub nose,” which certainly isn’t a bad notion. They would often cite the reliability and durability of a revolver. Then the customer would ask me what I carry, and I would hand them a Glock 26. No one ever said a Glock isn’t reliable, and it carries more rounds in its mag.
Below, I’ll break down how the two compare on recoil, trajectory, stopping power, cost, and more, and why the 38 Special still earns its spot in your safe along with your 9mm. (If you’ve ever wondered whether “9mm” and “9mm Luger” are the same round, they are. Our 9mm vs. 9mm Luger guide explains the naming.)
Why Isn’t the 38 Special More Popular?
From the 1920s through the 1990s, the 38 Special revolver was the standard sidearm for most American police departments. Then, over roughly a decade, nearly all of them switched to 9mm. Here’s why.
- Capacity – A duty revolver holds six rounds. A full-size 9mm pistol holds 15 or more.
- Reload speed – Swapping a magazine is faster and simpler under stress than reloading a cylinder.
- More power in the same size gun – The 9mm delivers more energy than the 38 Special in a package that’s just as easy to carry.
The NYPD is the classic example. After a fierce debate, the department made a 9mm semi-auto its standard gun in 1993. Its move away from revolvers traced back to 1986, when rookie officer Scott Gadell was killed while reloading his revolver. Officers already carrying revolvers could keep them. By 2018, only 29 still did. The department ordered them retired that year, saying a six-shot handgun leaves officers outgunned in an era of active shooters (NY1).
The FBI took the long way around. In 1986, a shootout in Miami left two agents dead and five wounded. Agents that day carried a mix of 9mm pistols and .38 Special revolvers, and one 9mm round stopped just short of a suspect’s heart while he kept fighting (FBI). The Bureau responded by building tougher ammo testing standards and moving to the 10mm, then the 40 S&W. But bullet technology caught up. Around 2015, the FBI went back to 9mm after its research found that six out of ten shooters were faster and significantly more accurate with 9mm than with 40 S&W (FBI’s 9mm findings). For the full story, see our 9mm vs. 40 S&W comparison.
The military made the call even earlier. The U.S. adopted the 9mm more than 40 years ago, when the Beretta M9 replaced the 1911 in 1985 (American Rifleman). In 2017, the Army began fielding the SIG Sauer M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System, also chambered in 9mm. That puts the Department of Defense (now also titled the Department of War) on its second generation of 9mm service pistols.
Handgun technology followed. The 9mm runs in full-size duty pistols, micro-compacts that hold 10 to 15 rounds, optics-ready slides, and pistol-caliber carbines, and ammo makers have poured decades of research into 9mm defensive bullets. The .38 Special is a rimmed revolver cartridge, and a revolver will always be a revolver. Manufacturers have refined it with lighter frames and better sights, but it still has a five- or six-shot cylinder and a long double-action trigger.
Recoil
Load for load, the 38 Special makes less energy, so in guns of similar weight, it kicks less. That’s its biggest advantage.
The catch is that most 38 Special carry guns are lightweight snub-nose revolvers. A light gun with a short grip and no slide to soak up recoil can feel snappier than a mid-size 9mm. Felt recoil depends as much on the gun as on the cartridge. If you carry a snubby, our picks for the best 38 Special ammo for snubbies focus on loads that excel from those short barrels.
As I said before, I have mostly carried 9mm for everyday carry, but having toted a Ruger SP101 for a while, I can tell you there is something tactile about carrying a wheel gun that makes you feel Doc Holliday-ish. It was a .357 that I generally carried next to a speedloader full of .38 +P in case things got real Western and I had to reload. It was a bear to handle with full-strength .357s, but pretty pleasurable to shoot with .38s.
The .38 Special takes this one, as long as you’re comparing guns of similar size and weight.
Trajectory
The 9mm shoots flatter. Zeroed at 25 yards, Federal’s 9mm 115 grain FMJ drops 8.7 inches at 100 yards, while their 38 Special 130 grain FMJ drops 15.1 inches under the same conditions.
That said, most self-defense shootings happen at close range, where the difference won’t change much for you. Trajectory matters more at the range and on longer shots. The 9mm wins this category.
Continue reading 38 Special vs 9mm Ballistics: Is .38 Stronger Than 9mm? (2026) on Ammo.com