Military Issue .38 Special

[swpa19]

Came across a box of .38 special ammo. Is the M41 .38 Special still being issued by the military?

[LarryW]

Based on some brief research, the M41 was the ball ammo (158gr pre-1950s and 130gr after) issued with the M10, .38 Special (S&W Victory Model). The M10 was a personal defense DA/SA six shot revolver issued to aviators, MPs, CID, and counterintelligence persons (2" to 4" depending on who it was issued to). The M10 was replaced by the 9mm. FYI, the .38 Special revolver in the pre-war (WW2) years was also issued to defense contracdtor guards and prison guards. Most were S&W but some were with a parkerized finish and manuafactured by Colt as the "Colt Commando". Post-war many of these ended up being acquired by police departments. Website with more info re: ammo is:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/ammo/75401-quick-what-spec-wwii-38-special.html

Hope this helps.

[swpa19]

LARRY:

Thanks for the site.

My problem is identifying the year of mfg. I know its from the 60s but with the headstamp, I cant tell if its 60, 65, or 68.

I tried cross referencing Western Cartridge Co. but couldnt come up with anything. And, like all research youve either got to stay focused or leave bread crumbs. There are so many other interesting distractions when researching.

Thanks again.

[The Reaper]

LARRY:

Thanks for the site.

My problem is identifying the year of mfg. I know its from the 60s but with the headstamp, I cant tell if its 60, 65, or 68.

I tried cross referencing Western Cartridge Co. but couldnt come up with anything. And, like all research youve either got to stay focused or leave bread crumbs. There are so many other interesting distractions when researching.

Thanks again.

Looks like Winchester-Western 68 to me.

TR

[swpa19]

T.R.

I'll trust your young eyes vs my ole ones. The W.C.C. stands for Western Cartridge Co. It was I believe the pre-cursor to WW.

Thats what I mean by getting lost doing research. The whole Winchester family of headstamps flipped and flopped so many times, its hard to try to place a date on them.

Thanks again. Even with my glasses I couldnt make out the H.S.

[The Reaper]

Well, you have more than one in the box.

Any of the other ones have clearer headstamps?

TR

[swpa19]

T.R.

Ive gone through about 10 or 11 of them. Theyre all from the same lot, and all headstamps are similar.

As a side note re: Winchester/Western/W.R.A./W.W. a good example can be found here:

http://www.ammo-one.com/TwentyTwoBoxesFull.html

You guys that have been cacheing ammo for awhile, especially you F.O.G. you might want to take a look at the value of some of these. They've got a better return than most stocks.

[Hartley]

Last year about this time, M41 .38 Special was fairly common at surplus ammo dealers and at gun shows, at least here in AZ. I bought a number of boxes of it, and it's all headstamped "WCC 91". The white box is marked
"50 Cartridges
Ball
Caliber .38 M41"

a lot number and "Olin Corporation"

By eyeball, it's a 130-grain FMJ bullet and it seems to have plenty of pep, especially compared to the wadcutter reloads I usually shoot for fun.

So the M41 was still going in '91..:)