Introduced by Colt in its Government Model pistol in 1929, the .38 Super is nothing more than a souped up version of the vintage 1900 .38 Colt Automatic Cartridge. Although the Super .38 languished in the shadows of other cartridges for many years, it has now become to top ranking competitors in the rapidly growing sport of action shooting what the 6mm PPC is to benchrest shooters. The top guns in USPSA/IPSC competition prefer the .38 Super simply because of its relatively light recoil and its two round advantage over the .45 ACP when both are fired form Colt's Government Model pistol. Due to its slightly greater powder capacity, the .38 Super has a slight performance edge over the 9mm Parabellum. As cartridges designed by autoloading handguns go, it is also loaded to relatively high chamber pressures. Most USPSA/IPSC handgunners who compete with the .38 Super prefer the relatively new and extremely strong Remington +P case. For an extra margin of safety, they also use custom barrels with fully supported chambers made by Bar-Sto, Wilson, and Clark. 

This text is based on information from “Cartridges of the World”, Hodgdon reloading manual, the cartridge designer and/or own resources.

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