.38 Long Colt
| .38 Long Colt | ||||||||||||
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| Type | Pistol | |||||||||||
| Place of origin |
 United States
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| Service history | ||||||||||||
| In service | 1892–1909 | |||||||||||
| Used by | US Army | |||||||||||
| Production history | ||||||||||||
| Designer | Colt | |||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Colt | |||||||||||
| Produced | 1875 | |||||||||||
| Specifications | ||||||||||||
| Bullet diameter | .361 in (9.2 mm) | |||||||||||
| Neck diameter | .381 in (9.7 mm) | |||||||||||
| Base diameter | .381 in (9.7 mm) | |||||||||||
| Rim diameter | .445 in (11.3 mm) | |||||||||||
| Rim thickness | .060 in (1.5 mm) | |||||||||||
| Case length | 1.031 in (26.2 mm) | |||||||||||
| Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||
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| Source(s): Hodgdon Online reloading data | ||||||||||||
The .38 Long Colt (commonly known as .38 LC) [9.1 x 26mm] is a black powder cartridge introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875, and was adopted as a standard military pistol cartridge by the United States Army in 1892 for the Colt New Army M1892 Revolver. It is slightly more powerful than the .38 Short Colt, or .38 SC. The .38 SC and .38 LC differ in case length, and in bullet diameter, weight, and design.
The .38 Long Colt's predecessor, the .38 Short Colt, used a heeled bullet of 130 grains (8.4 g) at a nominal 770 ft/s (230 m/s), producing 165 ft·lbf (224 J) muzzle energy. The cylindrical "shank" or "bearing surface" of the bullet, just in front of the cartridge case mouth, is .374 or .375 in (9.50 or 9.53 mm) in diameter, the same as the cartridge case (exactly like the .22 rimfire cartridges). A smaller-diameter portion of the bullet, the "heel", is crimped inside the case mouth, and the lubricant is outside the case, and exposed.
In contrast, the .38 Long Colt uses a .357–.358 in (9.07–9.09 mm) bullet, the bearing surface and lubricant of which are entirely contained within the cartridge case. This keeps the waxy lubricant from collecting grit which can damage the revolver's barrel. Colt, however, retained the single-diameter charge hole, so the bullet was grossly undersize as it traveled through the chamber throat. It was supposed to expand in the throat and be "swaged down", or reduced again in diameter, as it entered the barrel, but expanded unevenly producing poor accuracy. Velocity was the same 770 ft/s (230 m/s), but bullets weighed 150 grains (9.7 g), resulting in a muzzle energy of 198 ft·lbf (268 J).
The cartridge's relatively poor ballistics were highlighted during the Philippine–American War of 1899–1902, when reports from U.S. Army officers were received regarding the .38 bullet's inability to stop charges of frenzied Moro juramentados in the Moro Rebellion, even at extremely close ranges. A typical instance occurred in 1905 and was later recounted by Col. Louis A. LaGarde:
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