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Are you wanting to know about a 38 or a 380?? They are different.
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+1. Let me try and explain some of the basics.
380 Auto is also known as .380 ACP, 9mm Browning Short, or 9mm Short; when the pistol or ammo is made in a foreign country, the word "short" is sometimes translated into a European language, e.g. 9mm Kurz or 9mm Corto. This is a compact, somewhat low-powered cartridge used in numerous small autoloading pistols. It is a cartridge type known as "rimless"- there actually
is a rim, but it is flush with the outside diameter of the case, so the case is perhaps better characterized as grooved.
This is NOT similar to, or compatible with,
.38 Special, originally known as .38 Smith & Wesson Special. This is a much longer, rimmed cartridge generally used in revolvers, but also offered in a handful of rare high-end target autoloaders.
Similarly, neither of these are similar to, or compatible with,
.38 Super, a.k.a. Super .38 or 38 Super +P (the latter is the nominal modern American standardized name). This is a semi-rimmed (i.e. small rim) cartridge that is longer than 380 Auto but shorter than .38Spl, yet higher-powered than both.
.38 ACP is the lower-powered but externally identical predecessor of .38 Super. It is obsolescent, having been used in a handful of early 20th-century Colts and some European military pistols, but hardly anything made during the last 50-60 years. It is on its way to being a historical footnote.
Similarly,
.38 S&W aka .38/200 is another obsolescent cartridge, albeit one normally used in revolvers; its dimensions are similar to 380 Auto, but it has a full-size rim, and is actually slightly larger-caliber than the others.
.38 ACP will function in
some .38 Super pistols, but other than this,
none of the above cartridges are compatible with one another. You should NOT attempt to fire a gun chambered for one, but loaded with another.