Well, two things of note. One, as was mentioned, a .38 caliber blackpowder or primitive smokeless cartridge like .38 Long Colt is far and away from a certain killer. It barely delivers 270J of energy at the muzzle. The idea of a sidearm is generally to be a backup for a primary weapon like a rifle, and a bolt-action rifle with a high-velocity jacketed bullet is much more likely to punch clean through than cause tremendous harm. This was a huge reason for the reissue of the Single Action Army in .45 Colt, which created about 650J of muzzle energy, and troops favoring the single shot Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70 over the .30-40 Krag magazine-fed smokeless rifle.
So you've got psychologically hyped up, adrenalized, possibly drugged opponents swarming people with bolt-action rifles and backup revolvers in relatively mixed cover. Chances of clean misses increase, fleshwounds are not severe because of slow velocity ball projectiles, nothing but a CNS hit really can be relied upon to put an opponent down regardless...
I suppose it all devolves into Tueller Drill (the theory that within forty feet a knife beats a gun for first-critical-wound-delivered) versus fire discipline.
It's also why the Thompson-LaGarde Tests were demanded in 1904, and subsequently the adoption of the .45 ACP.
The British, however, ended up with the Mark III cartridge after facing definitely drugged Zulus with Martinis, Beaumont-Adams, Webley-Green, and Webley-Pryse revolvers, and the 220-grain .455 hollowpoint derived from their experiences definitely earned the title of The Manstopper largely because of use on chemically enhanced opponents.
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