.38spl vs 357 mag revolvers

[cfullgraf]

If you shoot the same 38 Special ammunition in an 6" S&W Model 19 (357 Magnum chambering) and a 6" S&W Model 14 (38 Special chambering) the felt recoil would probably be the same. The guns are about the same weight shooting the same power ammunition.

Revolver weight would have an effect on felt recoil. An L-frame S&W revolver would have less felt recoil with 38 Special ammunition when compared to a K-frame revolver with the same length barrel. The L-frame gun will be heavier and soak uo the 38 Special recoil better.

Personally, I prefer to load and shoot ammunition for a particular gun with cases designed for the chamber it is machined for. Hence, I save my 38 Special cases for my revolvers chambered in 38 Special and shoot 357 Magnum cases in my guns chambered for 357 Magnum. I have a hot 38 Special load that I load in 357 Magnum cases that shoots great in my 357 Magnum revolvers without excessive recoil of the full power loads.

These days, if I want wrist snappy recoil in my revolvers, I drag out my 460 S&W Magnum XVR revolver. You cannot beat it's ability to breech a big block 427 engine.

 

[mcb]

The real way to test the OP question the best might be to take a modern 38 Special +P revolver, a model 10/64 or a GP100 38 Special or similar, and ream three of the chambers to 357 Magnum. Load the cylinder full of 38 Special ammo and shoot it and see if the shooter can tell which chambers where reamed to 357 mag and which where not. My money is on most shooters couldn't tell.

If your want light recoil pick ammo that has mild recoil, the long chamber is not going to change things enough to notice.

 

[Tallball]

I own a bunch of 38 revolvers and a bunch of 357 revolvers.

The ability to shoot 357 is nice, but I rarely do.

38 special is good enough for social work and target shooting and plinking.

It's fun to light off some 357 every once in a while, for the flash and boom.

The best 38/357 revolver is the one that fits your hand best, points the best for you, and has a nice trigger.

Either caliber revolver is fine.

If you want 38's to feel like weak 32's, shoot one of these.

Smith And Wesson Model 28

• Tallball
• Mar 15, 2019

 

[wcwhitey]

S&W’s Model 66 No Dash .357, Model 15 .38 both 4” Combat grips. 66 heavier by 4 ounces. Barrel taper is the only real noticeable difference. Model 15 has Target Trigger and Hammer. There is a difference but I have never noticed it.

 

[.38 Special]

From experience, if you have two essentially identical revolvers, one chambered for .38 and the other .357, and you fire .38s in both of them, recoil will seem identical.

 

[Jonesy814]

The 357 will have way more recoil than a 38 in any 2 revolvers of the same barrel length. A 357 in a 4 inch N frame still has more felt recoil than a 38 from a 4 inch K frame

 

[mcb]

The 357 will have way more recoil than a 38 in any 2 revolvers of the same barrel length. A 357 in a 4 inch N frame still has more felt recoil than a 38 from a 4 inch K frame

I believe you have failed to comprehend the OP's question.

I believe the question is best stated: If you have two identical revolvers with the only difference being one has 38 Special chambers and the other 357 Magnum chambers. You load both revolvers with the same 38 Special ammunition. Which revolver will have the softer recoil?

 

[Jonesy814]

I believe you have failed to comprehend the OP question..

I believe the question is best stated: If you have two identical revolvers with the only difference being one has 38 Special chambers and the other 357 Magnum chambers. You load both revolvers with the same 38 Special ammunition. Which revolver will have the softer recoil?

Yes, I misunderstood. For that question, I guess the one chambered for 357 will be wee bit lighter since slightly more metal has to be bored from the cylinder making it recoil slightly more, but not enough to feel the difference

 

[Hal]

I highly doubt if I could discern any difference between the two.
Even the weight of the guns may or may not matter.

Even if the guns had the same weight, they would have to shoot the ammunition at the same velocity.
That can be a problem for a lot of revolvers.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Recoil comparison: shooting .38 spl ammo in 2 different revolvers with identical barrel length:
A .38 spl vs a 357 mag revolvers with 4 in barrels.
Which one will have the least recoil?

In my experience with nearly identical designs, a 6” Official Police .38Spl and a 6” 3-5-7, both loaded with 160gr LRN and a “spicy” load of Unique, the recoil was the same. Maybe a mechanical device could have discerned a difference but my hands couldn’t.

 

[Smaug]

357 is the answer to your question as typed.

HOWEVER.... What I think you really need is a modern steel 38 Special revolver designed to handle +P ammo, then shoot standard 38 Spl loads through it.

 

[Stevel]

Though a physics problem, it is a theoretical exercise. F=MA force equals mass times acceleration. The .38, needing a smaller chamber, would have more metal in the cylinder. Therefore more mass.

Equal force - similar .38 special rounds - and greater mass would produce less acceleration (recoil). From a physics standpoint.

I used to have identical 2.75" Ruger Speed Sixes, one in .38 and one in .357. As above, the only difference was the chamber reaming. There was no difference in felt recoil.

 

[UncleEd]

The continuation of the .38 only
revolvers is mostly mandated by
law agencies which strictly forbid
use of the .357.

The 1/10th difference in cartridge
brass is but a trifle not to be
considered and it's easier to just
build all revolvers to .357 specs
what with modern technology and
metallurgy.

By most accounts the bullet really
doesn't react differently between
a .38 gun and a .357 with accuracy
not affected.

 

[Rodfac]

Same manuf., same weight of frame and bbl, same stocks = same felt recoil for the same cartridge.

Change the the weight, as in a heavy bbl'd M-66 Smith vs. a pencil bbl'd M-67 Smith and the felt recoil and muzzle uplift will be different. Weight out front has a more pronounced effect on felt recoil, IMHO.

Different manuf.'s will feel different as the frame dimensions are not the same. Colts differ from Smith DA/SA revolvers in that regard...part of the difference is the variance in how they are stocked, and part due to the frames.

Too, a DA/SA revolver of any manuf., feels much heavier in recoil when compared to a SA revolver. The DA comes more or less straight back into the web of the hand and the hump there wacks the heck out of my lower thumb joint. My single actions however roll up nicely in recoil, negating that problem.

Stocking with custom made grips makes a large difference for me...as the Target size grips from S&W have never felt right, nor helped with recoil. I've tried Ropers & they worked well but were a bit too narrow at the top...hate to admit it but fugly Pachmyr rubber grips, especially the Presentation series do work well, as do some of the old Uncle Mikes. Truth be told, I'd make up a pair of the Presentation's of good wood (adding just a hint of palm swell to the right grip panel) if I could ever figure out how to make a jig for my router that would allow me to engineer the two step mortise that's necessary.

The current crop of S&W suppled rubber grips also do well for me...the test was with a new M-69, 5-shot .44 Mag weighing 38 oz. unloaded according to my wife's kitchen scale. :While I'd not care to shoot a two hour range session using heavy handloads, 4-5 cylinder's full is no problem, and Skeeter's .44 Spl classic: a 240 gr LSWC @ 950 fps, is always fun.

YMMv, Rod

 

[Rodfac]

Wcwhitey...I've got pretty much the same pair, a M-66-2 & the .38 Spl version, the M-67-1. The difference is 2-1/2 oz's., attributeable to the magnum's heavier bbl. and slightly longer cylinder. (M-66 = 35.5 oz.; M-67 = 33 oz.; both unloaded). I do feel a difference between the two with identical loads, but it's only when I concentrate and fire them consecutively; cylinder for cylinder.

BTW, both are LEO turn-ins from Louisville Metro Police and exhibit the butter smooth SA & DA trigger pulls that you'd expect from duty horses with decades in the harness. And both will keep a cylinder full of well cast Lyman 358091 wadcutters backed by 3.1 gr of Bullseye in the ten ring slow fire from a rest at 25 yds! With a 45 yr old pilot's vision, my #2 son, a former Marine MP, can keep them inside 2" @ 25 double action.

Best regards, Rod