I'm not really sure what possessed me to make such stupid decisions but now I need some advise to prevent any more....
The story:
I bought a 686+ for my ol' lady to shoot who is very sensitive to recoil with the idea that 38 special wadcutters would be a decent round to practice with. Unfortunately I can't get my hands on any at the moment so after what I thought was fairly conclusive research was under the impression I could shoot 38 short colt from this gun...
Well I went to the range today to shoot the gun for the very first time... with 38 short colt. Brace yourself for the stupidity. I fired the first round and I could hear the primer go off but there was zero recoil, and in the moment I just really didn't believe that any of the actual charge lit off. I held the gun in place for a few second and then tried to open the cylinder but it was stuck closed... I really shouldn't have gotten this far but without a doubt I should have at least stopped here.
As I was messing with trying to open the cylinder it rotated and "click" into place. I thought maybe I just had an issue with it not being indexed correctly the first time and decided to try firing again. Same exact behavior, sounded as if only the primer went off with zero recoil. Luckily it didn't explode and I had half a brain to call is quits at this point. The range office took the gun back to the smith who was able to back the rounds out of the barrel and unload the gun.
I was told not to ever shoot 38 short in the gun again but to take it home, clean it and come back to shoot with 38 special/357 next time... well I'm so embarrassed I don't think I'll be able to show my face in there again but I'm now curious if the gun is safe to shoot again?
The only rounds fired through the gun were from the factory and the 2 discussed above. The barrel is not bulged or appears damaged in any other way but I did fire a 2nd round into the first squib. What would you do in this situation? Fire the gun again or send it to S&W?
Also... I've read tons of posts about shooting 38 short in 357/38special and aparently it is common practice in ICORE. What the real story on this?
The story:
I bought a 686+ for my ol' lady to shoot who is very sensitive to recoil with the idea that 38 special wadcutters would be a decent round to practice with. Unfortunately I can't get my hands on any at the moment so after what I thought was fairly conclusive research was under the impression I could shoot 38 short colt from this gun...
Well I went to the range today to shoot the gun for the very first time... with 38 short colt. Brace yourself for the stupidity. I fired the first round and I could hear the primer go off but there was zero recoil, and in the moment I just really didn't believe that any of the actual charge lit off. I held the gun in place for a few second and then tried to open the cylinder but it was stuck closed... I really shouldn't have gotten this far but without a doubt I should have at least stopped here.
As I was messing with trying to open the cylinder it rotated and "click" into place. I thought maybe I just had an issue with it not being indexed correctly the first time and decided to try firing again. Same exact behavior, sounded as if only the primer went off with zero recoil. Luckily it didn't explode and I had half a brain to call is quits at this point. The range office took the gun back to the smith who was able to back the rounds out of the barrel and unload the gun.
I was told not to ever shoot 38 short in the gun again but to take it home, clean it and come back to shoot with 38 special/357 next time... well I'm so embarrassed I don't think I'll be able to show my face in there again but I'm now curious if the gun is safe to shoot again?
The only rounds fired through the gun were from the factory and the 2 discussed above. The barrel is not bulged or appears damaged in any other way but I did fire a 2nd round into the first squib. What would you do in this situation? Fire the gun again or send it to S&W?
Also... I've read tons of posts about shooting 38 short in 357/38special and aparently it is common practice in ICORE. What the real story on this?