.38 Super on a .357 Mag revolver?

[Riomouse911]

Blasphemy! But hey, someone already ruined it.

I have it somewhere in my garage. It looks like the “gunsmith” used a carrot scraper to hog out the chambers to fit the .38 Spl. cartridges.

This was my first bum purchase off GB. (Ive had a couple of disappointments since.) At least the replacement cylinder fit in with zero timing or headspace issues, so whoever bought it from the store I sold it to could shoot it.

Stay safe.

 

[Riomouse911]

Here it is. I forgot to mention it was totally ruined as a collector piece as the gun was “polished” and reblued, with the barrel cut down to 2” and a half moon front sight added. The ejector rod spun in space like a Colt revolver rod does because the barrel was cut at the point where the barrel lug supported the ejector rod.

The angle that I had to use to get the light into the chamber doesn’t do the crummy job justice.



I bought it cheap, and sold it cheap.

Stay safe.

 

[TTv2]

So long as it can fit into the chamber and headspace off the semi rimmed rim, I've no issue shooting .38 Super in a .357 Magnum, but never put .38 Super in a .38 Special.

Not all revolvers are the same, so the firing pin may not hit the primer of the .38 Super to get it to fire. Then, if you do get it to fire if there's enough gap between the base of the case and the recoil shield, you may wind up with a situation where the pressure impales the primer onto the firing pin and causes the cylinder to lock up. This is not a guarantee, but it could happen when doing this sort of thing. If you're using a revolver with recessed chambers, I wouldn't do it, that would be a real pain to fix that issue.

 

[bangswitch]

I think they ought to start designing guns with barrels and chambers like a drill chuck. Just twist it until it's the size you want, and then load it with whatever ammo you happen to have. I'm just not a fan of shooting ammo out of a gun not specifically designed for it. The longest argument seems to be about shooting .40S&W out of a 10mm, or .45Auto out of a .45 Colt, or .380 out of a 9mm, and on, and on. I don't disagree with .44 Special from a .44M, or .38 Spl. from a .357M, as those are well established and factory designed.

I have at least one gun chambered for each of the major popular handgun cartridges, so I don't have to worry about having a handful of.38 Super with nothing to shoot it with, or a box of .40 S&W with only a 10mm in the safe.

 

[Jim Watson]

They did, sort of. Consider the Medusa Model 47. It has compromise chamber dimensions and a trick extractor so it will shoot almost anything of 9mm - .38 caliber from 9mm P to .357 Magnum. The .380 rim is too small for the trick extractor and the gun was designed before the 9x23 Win and its very high pressure so I wouldn't push it that far.

 

[Rock185]

Within my humble experience, some .38 Super will fit in some .38 Spcl. and .357 chambers. But the Super rim is thinner, so headspace is excessive. This may result in flattened or even pierced primers if fired in .357 chambers. I have a 686 cylinder converted to 9MM. I have tried factory .38 Spcl. and .38 Super in it, but no more. The .38 Spcl. and .38 Super cases sometimes split. I won't be trying .357 in the converted cylinder.

I did get to shoot a Medusa revolver years ago. Interesting gun that worked mostly as advertised. Glad there was no 9X23 Winchester at the time. We would probably have tried to shoot it the Medusa. I suspect the experience might have ended poorly....

 

[TTv2]

I think they ought to start designing guns with barrels and chambers like a drill chuck. Just twist it until it's the size you want, and then load it with whatever ammo you happen to have. I'm just not a fan of shooting ammo out of a gun not specifically designed for it. The longest argument seems to be about shooting .40S&W out of a 10mm, or .45Auto out of a .45 Colt, or .380 out of a 9mm, and on, and on. I don't disagree with .44 Special from a .44M, or .38 Spl. from a .357M, as those are well established and factory designed.

I have at least one gun chambered for each of the major popular handgun cartridges, so I don't have to worry about having a handful of.38 Super with nothing to shoot it with, or a box of .40 S&W with only a 10mm in the safe.

Years ago when I was Mr. Prepper I wanted as few guns to shoot as many calibers as possible. I'm not as big on that now because then the POI shifts enough to cause misses, but if the non chamber specific ammo is cheaper, more common, and shoots well enough I have no issue shooting it and no issue with others shooting it.

.40 able to be shot in most 10mm's is a godsend for the 10mm and probably a major reason that it is resurging in popularity as it's very close to an auto-loading .38/.357 equivalent. .32 ACP in a .32/.327 Magnum revolver is nice in the abstract, but in reality it's less effective and less accurate than .32 S&W Long is, so outside of testing to see what works in which revolvers I have just in case it is needed as a last resort, I don't do it and assume the main reason some go bonkers over it is because they remember seeing overpriced Winchester .32 Auto in the case and think it's super available.

.38 Super is past its prime and has been relegated to competition use for decades. Maybe down in the Southwest there's some appeal because it was one of the few calibers Mexicans could own, but to choose .38 Super over .357 Mag at normal prices is silly.

 

[hdbiker]

>357, ammo is much easyer to find

 

[docbrown]

There should be no problem with shooting it in your revolver, but I would suggest selling (or trading) it and using the money to buy more 38 special ammo to shoot in it. 38 Super tends to be more expensive than 38 special. To me, it's not about whether it will hurt your gun, but getting more bang for your buck!

 

[Rodfac]

The .38 Super has a thinner rim than that found on a .357 round & may result in an excessive headspace condition with all the associated perils. Pierced primers as the case sets back against the recoil shield with resultant firing pin damage...and 30,000 psi pressure of hot powder gases directed back into the pin recess...there are others, all offering some scary scenarios...be safe...Rod

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I think of .38 Super as a relatively high pressure round, and a thin rimmed round giving excessive head space in a .357 chamber made for the thicker rim of .38Spl/.357Mag.