I love the .38 snub! In a world where autos are getting smaller and better all of the time I still think the little snub is a wonderful choice for the average person who wants to carry a gun in public. I have been carrying .38 snub nose revolvers for a long time; it is the type of gun I get the most use of. I own more powerful guns and certainly there are guns that are easier to shoot but the "snubby" has them all beat by the simple fact that it's easier to have it with you all of the time. Just the pure convenience of the snub revolver insures that you will have it when you need it, and of course having a gun on you is the first rule of a gunfight. The convenience of the snub makes it the most valuable gun you can own if carrying a gun in public is of primary concern to you.

Of course gun makers have been building snubs of various calibers since at least the mid 19th century, like today, people back then could appreciate a small concealable gun but it wasn't until 1927 that the modern snub era began. In 1927 Colt decided to offer their .38 Police Positive Special with a 2-inch barrel. They decided to name the new gun the Detective Special and the new era of small, powerful handguns was off and running. The Colt Detective Special truly was special, for the first time there was a handgun small enough to fit in your pocket, light enough to carry all day and powerful enough to stop an attacker in his tracks. In its time the Detective Special was the king of the hill, it offered the best combination of size and stopping power. Everything else was either too big or heavy or not powerful enough. There were other snub revolvers like S&W's great M&P but for many years the Detective was THE STANDARD of concealed carry.

In 1950 the world of snub nose revolvers really began to change. Smith & Wesson released their Chief's Special in .38 special and the world was set on its ear. In this day and age of modern "micro" 9mm and 40 S&W pistols the old Chief's special doesn't seem that radical but it was. The idea of a gun only slightly larger than S&W's old "I" frame firing the full power .38 special cartridge was radical, in fact the idea would have been inconceivable only a few years earlier.

The Smith & Wesson Chief's Special was truly the major leap in snub handgun design, for the first time you had a handgun only slightly larger than a .25 automatic and actually smaller than many .32 and .380 automatics that it was competing with, yet able to fire a much more powerful cartridge. The Chief's Special design was so good that it is still being used to this day and is the basis for many great carry guns.