Why do so many people want to go around for the rest of their life being called "Lefty"?
You speak of loading a case intended for 20,000psi +/- and loading it to 40,000psi +/-.
Even if it dosen't kaboom in the gun you use it in, the future is an unknown. That partial box of Hiroshima loads might be picked up by a friend/relative/shooting buddy or whomever and loaded into a not so robust gun that comes un-glued big time.
If your 38 isn't giving you the horsepower you want in a handgun trade it in for a 357. If you want small, the Smith model 60 should work for you and be far safer than the alternative.
But...it's your hands and eyes, not mine.
Loading .38 SPL near (.38-44 levels) .357 Magnum levels is
NOT going to make a .357 magnum revolver go Kaboom. Take notice I said near and not duplicate. I think that this is where a lot of the confusion begins. Using the same logic is like saying that loading a strong revolver (S&W M24 & 624, ruger Black Hawk) in .44 SPL to 1200fps (.44 mag territory) with a 250gr bullet is also a hand grenade waiting to go off. C' mon folks wake up and use the gray matter betwixt yur ears for crying out loud.
Elmer Keith's famous heavy .44 SPL which consists of his 250gr SWC load which paved the way for the .44 magnum was tested at Whites labratory. Whites Lab found his heavy .44 SPL load to only produce 25,000 PSI. Keith and Phil Sharpe were both reponsible to some degree in helping with the .38-44 loads. .38-44 level loads were tested as generating around 30,000 PSI. So tell me how the above loads are going to blow up a .357, .38-44, or a .44 magnum?
After the development of the .38-44 S&W and the above two men mentioned realized that a bit more could be squeezed from the big S&W N frames. Through more testing 5 years later the .357 was unveiled by S&W. Of course the .357 had a bit more performance than the .38-44 there fore the case was legthened to prevent it from chambering in the older guns, the rest as they say is history. However S&W used specially heat treated .38-44 Heavy Duty and Outdoors mans revolvers for this which later became the famed Model 27. Folks need to do a little more research on this before regurgitating internet hersay and rumours. And of course none of the above ammunition should be fired in a S&W M10, 15, 64, 67 or the charter arms Bull Dog for the .44 SPL
EVER.
Brian Peace did an article a few years back on the .38-44 for the handloader magazine. If you can get a copy of it most here will be very enlightened by the performance of the .38-44. All loads were tested and found to be with in safe (30,000 PSI) operating pressures and under the operating pressure of the .357 magnum. This is one of the main reasons that the Ray Thompson designed 358156 bullet was so popular and still is. It has
two crimp grooves. The first crimp groove is to be used for .38-44 level loads using .38 SPL brass. When so crimped the case capacity is close to that of the .357 magnum. When so crimped you can safely use 13.5gr of 2400 for 1250 fps. One can even use 13gr of 2400 with a Speer Gold Dot 158gr bullet crimped in the cannalure for 1091fps. Notice these loads are closer to medium .357 magnum performance but not an exact duplicate of true .357 performance. Again these loads are for use only in
PROPERLY designed revolvers. The second crimp groove is for using the bullet for .357 magnum loads and regular .38 SPL and .38 +P loads.
One would have to be completely off his rocker though to try and dump 15.5gr of 2400 in a .38 SPl case and cap it off with a 158gr bullet, that is a true .357 magnum load. This is where in fact I believe the misconceptions and rumours begin. Such a load would then most certainly be overpressure and dangerous as it is a whole two grains more powder in the smaller case, you do the math. The .38-44 loads are obviously a hanloaders proposition today. And due to the fact that all guns are not created equally one needs to start low and slowly work their way up if one is so inclined to try out .38-44 level loads.
Again folks do some research and use common sense before jumping in with both feet.
Here is some good reading on the subject. Take note of Skeeter Skelton's medium .357 loads. These are put up in .38 SPL cases for the first two sets of data, take note of the powder charges and what I just wrote about the .38-44 and compare to the real .357 data below that. Again this is where I feel the confusion stems from. be safe and shoot straight.
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=30
http://www.sixguns.com/range/Mademag.htm
