why are guns in .38 Special still being made & offered as much as they are?

so, seeing as how you can shoot .38 out of a .357, im curious as to why there are still plenty of offerings for new manufacture of handguns in .38 still being made & bought? is it sort of like a revolver in .22LR with a .22WMR cylinder, that one caliber shoots better out of of the gun than the other?

not sure why someone would choose to be locked into one caliber rather than buying one gun that can fire 2 different loads? it would also make sense that the "resalability" of a .357 would be much greater?

im not hacking on the .38 or the choice, im just curious as to how the gun market works with a quirk like that purely for discussion. Thank you!

 

I assume it's some combination of two primary reasons: one, a lot of people have no desire to ever shoot the Magnum, and two, .38s are quite often smaller and lighter than .357s, making for better carry.

There are exceptions to the latter rule, of course, but by the time a .357 is as small and light as possible, only a lunatic still wants to shoot Magnums through it!

 

Not everyone wants a 357. That in itself is enough reason.

38 guns cost less than 357 guns.

A 38 Special is not limited to one caliber. They will also shoot 38 Long Colt and 38 Short Colt.

 

To add to the above, competition shooters with a revolver want a 38 if that is what they are shooting. No need for that cylinder jump and additional weight that the .357 would give them.

 

I shoot 357s in my guns that are chambered for it. Same with my 38s.
A jack of all trades is rarely a master of any.
I prefer the size of a K frame for the range and a J frame for carry.
I have L frame 357 if I feel the urge for more horsepower.

 

I don't know if any security agencies still use revolvers, but some limited carry to .38Spl., not .357.

Before we went to semi's, my LE agency limited us to .38Spl. revolvers, only.

I handload for my .357 K frame Model 65 using only .357 cases, but that's only because I'm too lazy to adjust the dies. lol

 

Most of the revolvers I've seen out there are 38/357, outside of snubs.

 

My favorite revolver is an old Model 10 S&W in .38. Over the years I've built a number of competition guns on the Model 10 frame and never needed a .357.

Bullet jump was one of the reasons. .38s were and are more accurate out of my guns. YMMV.

.357 ammo is also a lot more expensive than .38s. It is hard finding carry ammo in non-magnum loadings but there is a bunch out there.

 

Smaller, lighter guns, lower cost factory ammo. If you take a petite, non-gun enthusiast to the range and they touch off a full power .357 in a medium or light frame gun, they are generally not going to want one to carry and choose the Special instead (was the case with my wife at least )

 

A S&W 340 in 357 Magnum is $936 (MSRP)
A S&W 442 in 38 Special is $532 (MSRP)

That's alot of practice ammo if you're only going to shoot 38 Special.

 

Besides all these… many folks just like shooting .38 Special out of guns chambered in .38 Special.

I have several .38 Special revolvers, barrels run from 1 7/8” up to 8 3/8”. Each one is fun in its own way.

Stay safe.

 

.357 costs more, so - if you're not really going to be shooting .357 ... you're spending $$ on something you're not going to use, and for a lot of people, that is wasting money, and I like to play a dollar saved is a dollar earned.

 

Because we want them and reengineering some models just wouldn't be cost effective.

 

I believe statement was referring to the unsupported jump from the case mouth into the cylinder throat, which is significantly greater when firing a .38 Special in a .357 Mag chamber. This allows blow-by and typically reduces performance over a .38 only gun.

 

A lot of "new" shooters / buyers KNOW ..38 Spl and .357 MAGNUM. They care scared of the MAGNUM. They don't know they could shoot .38s in the .357.

My brother, not a gun guy, was asking me about a getting a .38.
I found a S&W 686 4" on Armslist. Send him the link. He calls, he wanted a .38, .357 cost too much and his wife probably shoot it. Told him to shoot .38s in it. He bought it, they both like how it shoots.
I have him 6 rounds of .357. Told him to carry loaded with them. If needed, he won't notice the difference.

 

This.
My S&W 442 is already hateful to shoot with +p 125gr, I can only imagine how much worse hot loaded .357 would be out of something that size and weight.

 

The ~.135" length of .380" diameter unused .357 Mag chamber is the concern. A .357" bullet will have blow-by and instability in that situation. A 125 gr XTP is the same whether loaded in a .38 Special case or a .357 Mag case, and it will have to navigate the .357 Mag chamber if fired from a .38.

 

Several of my 38 snubs and service revolvers aren't sturdy enough for shooting much 357 ammo. That's totally okay. They're sturdy enough to shoot plenty of 38 special. I don't want them to be thicker and sturdier. I like them the way they are, lighter and better balanced than most 357's. The fact that they're also cheaper is icing on the cake.

I'm not recoil sensitive, but even if this thing could somehow shoot 357 ammo, I wouldn't want to do it. It's cheaper and easier just to smack my hand with a piece of wood.

Smith And Wesson Model 642-2 by Tallball posted Jul 12, 2020 at 4:16 PM

 

Howdy

I have not counted recently, but I own far more 38s than I do 357s. Besides that, I really don't like the report of a 357, so most of the time I shoot 38s in my 357s anyway. Other than a K frame 357 Mag like the S&W Model 19, most 357 revolvers are bigger and heavier than a 38. I don't much like the extra weight if I don't need it.

I also own far more 44 Specials than 44 Magnums.

Same reason. A 44 Special revolver is usually lighter in weight than a 44 Mag.

 

I've shot the 340PD with full house Magnum rounds and want nothing further to do with the damn thing. I regularly shoot a 4" 500 S&W and find that recoil more controllable and less physically damaging. As Mike Venturino put it, "The 340PD is a fine .38 Special".