The38 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as38 S&W Special,38 Special,38 Spl,38 Spc,, or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semiautomatic pistols and carbines also use this round The38 Special was the standard service cartridge for the vast majority of United StatesOct 14, · The 38 Special is, almost universally, a revolver cartridge (though it can be used successfully in some lever action rifles) The 9x19mm, on the other hand, is primarily found in semiautomatics A clear exception to this are guns like the Ruger LCR in 9mm, which is the same size as Ruger's 38 Special version of the same gunDec 21, 19 · Standard pressure38 Special only produces 264 footpounds of force (147grain bullet at 900 feet per second out of a 4inch barrel), while standard pressure 9mm can produce 365 footpounds of A History Of The Iconic 38 Special The Shooter S Log Is 38 ammo the same as 38 special ...