.38 Long Colt

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The .38 Long Colt was introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875. It is slightly more potent than the .38 Short Colt. It is also known as simply the .38 LC. The .38 LC and SC differ only in case length. The United States Army adopted the .38 Long Colt in 1892 and it remained in service until 1911, when the military adopted the .45 ACP and the M1911 autoloading pistol. The .38 LC develops an anemic (by modern day standards) 195 ft.lbf (264 J) at the muzzle. These poor ballistics were highlighted during the Phillipine Insurrection of 1899-1902 against Moro tribesman. The dismal performance of the round against the fanatical and narcotized Moro led to the emergency re-adoption of revolvers chambered for the more powerful .45 Long Colt cartridge, whose ballistics were emulated by the later .45 ACP round.

The 38LC is known as having a "heel-base" bullet. This means that the front of the bullet is the same diameter as the brass case. The bottom of the bullet (the heel) is reduced in size to fit inside the case. The lubrication was entirely outside of the case. Although there were many heel-base cartridges at one time, the only one still in regular production today is the .22 Long Rifle.