The 38 spl is not nearly as powerful as the 9mm. Even a +P load out of the 38 falls short of the standard 9mm.

It's quite humorous to listen to people bad mouth the 9mm as being weak and ineffective and find out they carry a 38spl.

There is nothing wrong with either rounds though. Both are plenty effective at any practical distance that you would be engaging an attacker with a hand gun.

People hear all the horror stories from wars at the ineffectiveness of the 9mm. What they don't take into account is that the military is mandated by NATO to use ball ammo. They do not have the luxury to use real defense ammo like we do. This is a major problem of the 5.56x45 as well.