The 38 Super Comp story started in 1900 when John M. Browning developed the semi-rimmed .38 Auto or 38 ACP for his original design Colt pistol, that would become the prototype for the M1911 adopted by the US Ordnance Department for the 45 ACP. After Browning’s death in 1926 Colt began refining the 38 Auto with an improved case for enhanced ballistics which became the .38 Super Auto launched in November 1928. This was followed in December 1928 with an ad in the American Rifleman about “The ideal ‘One-hand gun’ for big game. Will stop any animal on the American continent. The .38 Automatic Colt Cartridge has high velocity with flat trajectory, great shocking power and deep penetration.” The 38 Super Auto was an immediate success, however the onset of the Great Depression put a handbrake on the wider acceptance of what was clearly a superior design. The 38 Super Auto did however develop a loyal following in Central and South America with companies like Star, Llama and Astra manufacturing it in large numbers. It was also adopted to a limited extent by some US Law Enforcement agencies although production was reduced to a large extent during WW2 when all resources were put into manufacturing the M1911.

During the 1950’s a new sport called practical shooting was born in California that evolved into the IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) in 1976 which breathed new life into the 38 Super that enable shooters to compete in the major power factor division with a 38 caliber cartridge. The power factor is calculated by the weight of the bullet in grains multiplied by the velocity in feet per second, divided by 1,000. One big problem that the 38 suffered from was accuracy and the solution was put forward by Irv Stone Jnr, the owner of Bar-Sto Precision Machine who found that the biggest difference between the 38 Super and the 45 ACP wat the 45 ACP headspaced on the case mouth and the 38 Super on the small semi-rim. As soon as they fixed that, the accuracy problem was sorted. The second problem was the (albeit small) semi-rim on the 38 Super and the 38 Super Competition is basically the 38 Super with a rimless case.

                 MCM was by McLearn’s Custom Machines, Payson, AZ