Judging by the number of once fired 38 special wadcutter brass that USED to be avail I would guess it was once the most fired round in competition, maybe only second to 22lr in that respect. I never heard of blowing guns up with 38 hollow based wadcutters.
IMHO any time anybody blows up a pistol it was a reloading error of some kind, bullet pushed deeper into the case, or a double charge or over charge (powder bridging maybe?).
I DO believe SEE will happen with the powders they say not to use in 1/2 charges (like 4831 for example) but I do not believe SEE happens in pistols.
Bill