Shooting .38 SPL in .357 Revolvers

[Mad Man]

I'm looking at buying a Ruger SP-101.

Even though I have no desire to shoot .357 in something that small, I am thinking about getting it in that caliber, just so I can shoot both .38 and .357 should I desire (or need) to.

Is there any downside to shooting .38 Special rounds in a .357 Magnum revolver?

 

[P95Carry]

Very little prob at all IMO ....... used to use a 686 for competition and mostly .38 target loads. main thing to watch is the formation of a sorta ''burn ring'' in the chambers, where the mouth of 38 case ends ... over time there can be some build up effect.

Solution is to give cylinder chambers a reasonable scrub and keep it controlled.

 

[Mark IV Series 80]

I shoot mostly .38 Specials in my S&W M66, .357 Combat Magnum.

I have heard it said that accuracy can suffer when shooting .38's in a .357 because of the longer freebore before it hits the forcing cone.

I have not noticed any accuracy degradation using .38 Specials in my .357.

As a matter of fact, the M66 with .38 Specials is the most accurate centerfire handgun that I own.

Keeping the chambers clean is no problem.
After shooting many .38 Specials without cleaning, you may have a problem getting the .357 Magnum cartridges to go all the way home in the chambers.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Like the gentlemen said, just keep it clean if you want to drop in some .357 magnums.

I use a pretty clean reload (AA#2 or AA#5 and West Coast Bullets copper plated 158 gr RN) and can go hundreds of rounds before the carbon ring from the short .38 spl rounds becomes a problem.

I haven't been shooting a lot of .357 magnums recently, but last time I did they went the same place as the .38 spl.

 

[Jim March]

There is a theoretical safety issue you need to know about.

If the "crud ring" just past the 38Spl case length is severe enough, it can be unsafe to fire a 357 until it's cleaned. What happens is, the 357 shell cannot properly uncrimp; the "crud ring" keeps the shell closed and pressure spikes, in rare cases all the way to a kaboom.

This is a very unusual situation but it's one to be aware of. Cleaning the gun after shooting a lot of 38s before shooting 357s solves it. The cleaning need not be 100% perfect; it takes a lot of crud to cause this "sealed case" problem on a 357.

 

[Shane]

One questional theory I've read posted on TFL sometimes is that firing a huge amount of .38's in a .357 can cause some erosion.

I've fired at least three times as many .38's than .357's in my .357 magnum revolvers (which accounts for a lot of rounds), and so far I see no visible evidence of erosion. I'm not buying that theory at this point.

Yes, .38's can leave a crud line in the chambers, but if you clean it out before firing .357's your gun is as good as new, IMO.

 

[Quantrill]

Just clean it thoroughly to eliminate the chance for the "crud" line. Quantrill

 

[braindead0]

Even easier, take up realoding and make .38 power loads in .357 cases. I rarely ever use .38 cases for anything these days.

 

[Tony Z]

I also went from shooting the .38 case to .357 cases with a .38 Target load. I have exellent accuracy and can make a variety of differant loads. This eliminates the need to clean out the carbon ring in the cylinder. One other advatage is you only need to keep the .357 cases on hand.


Tony

 

[10-Ring]

I haven't noticed a downside...well maybe you have to be a little more diligent while cleaning, but that's no big deal.

 

[Mal H]

If you shoot a lot of .38's in a .357 you can make a very simple tool to help in cleaning out the chambers. Take a .357 case that has been fired in that gun and not resized. Usually rotating it in the chambers after firing the .38's will loosen and remove most of the build up sufficiently enough to safely fire .357's without any additional cleaning needed. Very handy when changing ammo types at the range, etc.

You can refine the tool by serrating the mouth a little with a file, a few notches is plenty; and you can cut a slot in the head to accept a dime or screwdriver to make rotating it a little easier.

 

[twoblink]

I shoot mostly 38Spls but I bought a 357 for the versatility of it! 38Spls for target, and 357's for homeD was how I went. crud ring, is only a problem if you don't clean your guns... And it takes a lot of rounds and a lot of non-shooting to get a crud-ring of serious concern..

Hmm.. reload 38Spl's in 357cases, genius!!

 

[fallingblock]

Use the .357 case...

for a .38 Special load.

As mentioned above, no need to clean out the crud ring and only one caliber on hand simplifies any case sorting

It seems to me that it would also help to have the case mouth all the way forward in the chamber for maximum accuracy.

 

[Mike Irwin]

It's not unusual at all, Jim, especially if you've been shooting lead through the gun.

The "crud ring" builds up fairly quickly in that instance, often to the point where it's very difficult, if not impossible, to chamber a .357 round.

C.R. Sam had a simple solution -- Keep some fired .357 Mag. cases on hand, ones that were fired in the gun when it was absolutely clean, and use them to cut the crud ring out of each chamber.

I've found that that works very well, especiall if you chamfer the inside of the case mouth to a sharp shoulder.