There a couple of misconceptions here. First, a revolver is just a pistol with a feeding mechanism in the form of the cylinder rather than an magazine. Second is the Knockdown Power Myth. If I am remembering correctly, .38 is only a bit bigger than a 9mm round. It still lacks the mass and/or velocity to start getting into the nastier pressure cavities, both primary and secondary, seen with wounding caused by higher powered/faster traveling rifle rounds (which can be the same size or smaller than pistol loads, such as .223/5.56 rounds used in the AR-15) or the devastation that can be caused by more weighty shotgun loads (massive projectile in the case of a slug, or through quantity of decently massed projectiles as per buckshot) which can cause instant incapacitation. From what I have read (and I am not an expert), handguns are largely similar in terms of terminal ballistics until you are getting into the hand cannon ranges (.454 Casul or .500 Magnum). This is a very extensive topic. A couple of good starting points can be found here though:
Ballistics Data Repository https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase.html?selected=wound%20research
FBI Ballistics Data http://www.gunlink.info/downloads/FBITermBal.pdf
Edit: One more for Jesus... (Concerning the Myth of "Knockdown Power") http://theshastalaker.com/Jefferson_State_TRUTH_ABOUT_HANDGUN_KNOCKDOWN_POWER.htm
There a couple of misconceptions here. First, a revolver is just a pistol with a feeding mechanism in the form of the cylinder rather than an magazine. Second is the Knockdown Power Myth. If I am remembering correctly, .38 is only a bit bigger than a 9mm round. It still lacks the mass and/or velocity to start getting into the nastier pressure cavities, both primary and secondary, seen with wounding caused by higher powered/faster traveling rifle rounds (which can be the same size or smaller than pistol loads, such as .223/5.56 rounds used in the AR-15) or the devastation that can be caused by more weighty shotgun loads (massive projectile in the case of a slug, or through quantity of decently massed projectiles as per buckshot) which can cause instant incapacitation. From what I have read (and I am not an expert), handguns are largely similar in terms of terminal ballistics until you are getting into the hand cannon ranges. This is a very extensive topic. A couple of good starting points can be found here though:
Ballistics Data Repository https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase.html?selected=wound%20research
FBI Ballistics Data http://www.gunlink.info/downloads/FBITermBal.pdf
Edit: One more for Jesus... (Concerning the Myth of "Knockdown Power") http://theshastalaker.com/Jefferson_State_TRUTH_ABOUT_HANDGUN_KNOCKDOWN_POWER.htm
There is a bit of a misconception here. A revolver is just a pistol with a feeding mechanism in the form of the cylinder rather than an magazine. However, a .38 is only a bit bigger than a 9mm round and still lacks the mass and/or velocity to start getting into the nastier pressure cavities (both primary and secondary) seen with higher powered rifle rounds, or the devastation that can be caused by certain shotgun loads (massive projectile in the case of a slug, or through quantity of decently massed projectiles as per buckshot). from what I have read (and I am not an expert), handguns are largely similar in terms of terminal ballistics until you are getting into the hand cannon ranges. This is a very extensive topic. A couple of good starting points can be found here though:
Ballistics Data Repository https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase.html?selected=wound%20research
FBI Ballistics Data http://www.gunlink.info/downloads/FBITermBal.pdf