.357 shooting .38

[Nessy1022]

Hello all, I was curious about something: Is it okay to shoot .38 bullets from a revolver chambered in .357? I know people who do it, but I was curious if it has any negative side effects on the gun itself?

 

[Trinimon]

Shoot away. No ill effects shooting .38 in a .357. Same diameter bullet. Cheaper on your wallet too.

You just can't do it the other way around...

 

[Grove]

Another bit of information. depending on the firearm you can shoot .38 and .357, swap the revolvers cylinder and you can shoot 9mm out of the same barrel.

Ruger Blackhawk Convertible is the gun I'm talking about.

Great way to shoot all 3 calibers in one gun, swapping cylinder is as easy as pulling ONE pin out and swapping.

 

[Nessy1022]

Good to know. Thanks for the quick reply guys

 

[Mickeyfinn]

The only thing worth adding is that since the .38 shell casing in shorter than that of a .357 mag, if you shoot alot of .38 spec the far end of the cylinder bore will eventually get dirty, in which case it might become hard to extract the longer .357 brass that you fire after. Simply make sure that you keep your gun clean and never force a shell in a dirty cylinder.

 

[fenceline]

Another bit of information. depending on the firearm you can shoot .38 and .357, swap the revolvers cylinder and you can shoot 9mm out of the same barrel.

Just got a 357 revolver. That an interesting tidbit. Time to seach out a 9mm cylinder.

 

[Nessy1022]

The only thing worth adding is that since the .38 shell casing in shorter than that of a .357 mag, if you shoot alot of .38 spec the far end of the cylinder bore will eventually get dirty, in which case it might become hard to extract the longer .357 brass that you fire after. Simply make sure that you keep your gun clean and never force a shell in a dirty cylinder.

good to know, thanks

 

[mwjones]

The only thing worth adding is that since the .38 shell casing in shorter than that of a .357 mag, if you shoot alot of .38 spec the far end of the cylinder bore will eventually get dirty, in which case it might become hard to extract the longer .357 brass that you fire after. Simply make sure that you keep your gun clean and never force a shell in a dirty cylinder.

This is 100% true. I've seen .357 revolvers that would not CHAMBER .357's after shooting a box of .38's without a good scrubbing.

 

[BCRider]

Just got a 357 revolver. That an interesting tidbit. Time to seach out a 9mm cylinder.

The only guns that can switch like that are the Ruger Convertable single action only models. And they come with the other cylinder. If you have a revolver that is something else then you're stuck with what it is.

 

[easyrider604]

To eliminate the problem of .357 brass binding on .38 spl-fouled cylinders, I just load my .38 spl brass to near .357 presssure/velocity.

In fact, some of my +P+ 38 spl loads recoil just as hard as near-max .357.

.38 spl brass doesn't seem to mind the high pressures as extraction is easy and no flattened primers are evident.

 

[Mickeyfinn]

I've seen .357 revolvers that would not CHAMBER .357's after shooting a box of .38's without a good scrubbing.

You weren't pushing hard enough!