.38 Special unknown load wadcutters in .357 Magnum revolver

If its a double charge , Ka-Boom !!!
But if it a safe +38spl load .. it should be fine

Years ago ,.. I bought 1200 rds of 38 wadcutters.. from a fellow that reloaded them himself .. ratty looking rounds ... all shot like a dream ... soft shooting
Very accurate

I would not risk a Registered Magnum for a handful of 38's.

Wife of an old cop years ago gave me a bag of 38's and I thought, "they are from a cop, should be good". Got one of my first/few squibs from that bag of ammo. Worse, I had a novice shooter I was working with that day and THANKFULLY, they were paying attention and didn't pull the trigger again.

As for things that could ka-boom, you can get many, many charges of Bullseye in a .38 case if you weren't paying attention and that could be bad.

If you were near me I would gladly give you a box of factory 38's if you let me shoot a cylinder out of that Registered Magnum. Plus, would help keep it (and you) safe.

Yes, .38 Special cases are capable of holding enough powder loaded inappropriately to ruin a large frame S&W.

My take.
There is an inherent danger for serious injury that we accept when shooting firearms.
Ruptured cases emitting gas to the face, guns firing out of battery and/or catastrophic failure,
and even improperly loaded factory ammo ( re-calls happen all the time).

Choosing to shoot unknown re-loaded ammunition just adds to that risk IMO.
While I do shoot friend's guns with their re-loaded ammo and have tried it in my guns on occasion,
I routinely pull down any re-loaded ammunition that I come across.

JT

Chances are, given your description (meticulous reloader, .38 Spl. and wadcutters), that they should be safe. Wadcutters are a target round and generally loaded in the 700-800 fps range. They lead up the barrel if loaded much higher than that, as they are soft lead. That said, if, like Buckeye63 mentioned, a double charge would not go well. If you have the separate components, weigh each one separately (brass, powder load for that MV range, wadcutter bullet weight, primer) get an aggregate weight, then weigh the finished rounds you have and compare. There might be normal variations of a tenth of a grain or so, but excursions of several grains should be suspect. You could take a few of the finished rounds apart and weigh the powder charge and bullet weight to get a baseline. Unless you have the reloader's load data, to include what powder is used, it's still something of a risk.

Safest bet, though, is not fire them, since they are, in the end, an unknown.

I would not fire them in any gun, especially not a Registered Magnum.

Do you have a reloading press?
Could you disassemble them to check the powder loads?
Do you know someone that reloads that can help you?
Problem is, you could check that there are no double charges or anything odd about the powder but without knowing what powder is in them it would be a guessing game as to whether or not they are over pressure loads.

I would not shoot them.

I wouldn't.

Give 'em to someone with a Ruger!

Todd.

I knew a guy new to reloading that loaded 8 grains of Bullseye under a 158 grain .357 bullet, He shot one cylinder of them and had to drive the empty's out with a punch and hammer in a Ruger Blackhawk. never hurt the gun ....hdbiker

hdbiker said:

I knew a guy new to reloading that loaded 8 grains of Bullseye under a 158 grain .357 bullet, He shot one cylinder of them and had to drive the empty's out with a punch and hammer in a Ruger Blackhawk. never hurt the gun ....hdbiker

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Sounds like you know my uncle; Compressed-load Clint!

Never met a Ruger that he didn't try to 'splode!

Todd.

orpington said:

And here’s the Registered Magnum that I didn’t wish to ruin. I’ve never fired it before and it shall remain that way.

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Now wait a minute. Just because we tell you not to shoot Mystery Ammo is no excuse to neglect a perfectly good Magnum. It has obviously already been shot a good deal, not like smoking up a NIB collectable. You can have a lot of fun and it will still be worth just as much to your heirs.

I never shoot anybody else's reloads.

orpington said:

Yes, it’s got a significant turn line and can be fired with no harm. But not being readily accessible and not having any .38 Special or .357 Magnum ammunition, nor the components to reload the aforementioned, means that it will stay this way for a bit more. I’ll not pay inflated prices for ammunition nor components, especially since there’s many other rounds I have readily accessible that I can shoot, such as .44 Special and .44-40.

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Where are you at? Pretty sure we can get you set up with what you need. It would be a shame not shoot that gun! PM me if you like.

orpington said:

And here’s the Registered Magnum that I didn’t wish to ruin. I’ve never fired it before and it shall remain that way.View attachment 998805View attachment 998807 View attachment 998806

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I heard harps playing and Angels singing when I opened those pictures! Beautiful!

You made the right call pulling the bullets and starting over with loading them. Always better to be safe than (really!) sorry, you just never know what could happen.

Stay safe.

I know these rounds were given to you from an estate of someone trusted but I believe we should never ever fire someone else's reloads. As a matter of fact if he could whisper in your ear being a gunsmith he would probably tell you look take these rounds apart and reuse the components.

I'm with Jim Watson about not neglecting shooting that magnum. It will make you appreciate a fine revolver. I just wouldn't use those gift reloads in it. I won't shoot anyone's reloads but mine. I have big box of 38 special reloads that a friend gave me early last year. They look very good on the outside but I have no idea what is inside and he didn't either. Mystery reloads and I'm not taking a chance. Being somewhat more concerned with doing other things and not liking doing the work to break them down they are still sitting on the shelf. I'll get around to to the chore one of these days. There is a pretty good number of HP jacketed bullets and primed brass to be had if I weren't so lazy.

orpington said:

Okay, the bullets will be pulled and the powder dumped. Not going to risk it.

The answer is then that a .38 Special inappropriately loaded CAN damage a .357 Magnum.

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Yes, most definitely.

In my first year of reloading, I put together a box of .38s for a friend who lived in an area where there was a riot going on. He had no ammunition and the gun stores were forbidden from selling any during the riot. I had no bullets on hand other than wadcutters, so I loaded them up with max charges plus "a little extra" - I was very young, very inexperienced, and not nearly as smart as I thought I was.

I told the friend not to use them unless he absolutely had to, and I hope the whole box ended up in the trash. It's been decades, but I still worry about them floating around out there.

Which is a long way of saying "Don't shoot unknown handloads. And especially don't shoot unknown .38 wadcutters!"

Noteworthy experience of mine, I bought a complete reloading outfit back 2 years ago.
In the HUGE outfit were countless notes on loads & results plus even several 357 loads
in 50 round boxes, ready to shoot, and get this,= from 1984.
Over 1,000 cases & about 200 loaded rounds. I thought it over, looked at the notes, probably
have them somewhere, about the powder, It seemed worth a try to shoot one & see if his loads
held up.
Loaded 6 in a S&W 19-4, shot it & if the barrel had been 2 inches longer, they would have stopped
before getting out of the barrel. They were weak, which isn't as bad as overloaded but imagine
one stuck in the barrel.
Knocked the rest out.
My suggestion is knock one out & have a look.