.380 Mk2z

[Mortblanc]

Grab a handful Mo, there's plenty lying about. .38spl s one of my "stand by rounds" and always will be and for the same reason you state. Easy to cast from scrap lead, easy to reload and the cases last for a long time. I once reloaded a group of six cartridges to failure and I got 35 uses of the case on average before burn out and split cases were declared useless.

That would indicate that 100 cases and the proper components reloaded 30 times would equal having 3,000 rounds on hand in a SHTF situation.



We should also remember that the 38/200/MK2z was a military adaptation and military organizations, especially the British ones, are extremely conservative in thought.

The British establishment between the Wars was "experimenting" with a round that had been developed in 1877 for use in hide out belly guns, loaded with black powder and eclipsed by the .38 special as soon as the latter was invented in the late 1890s. While the police and military agencies of the U.S. were considering the .38 special as a secondary issue arm (the 45 acp was primary) the British military was looking at the less powerful round it replaced as a new and modern design.

The U.S. had tried a 38 of the same performance level, the .38 Long Colt, and found it inadequate. The .38 spl had been developed to replace that weak round and it was also rejected in favor of the .45acp in the 1911 automatic pistol.

Add to that the fact that most of the modern European agencies were rushing to embrace the 9mm Luger and and a host of modern pistol designs holding 8-15 rounds in their magazines and the adaptation of the 38/200 could be considered a double setback.