.38 special brass loaded to .357 mag over all length and pressure

[Ganderite]

I used to do this all the time. I never had a problem.

I did it to make 357 ammo for 357 revolvers.

The danger was Murphy, so I eventually acquired a bucket of 357 brass and have not looked back.

The 38 brass I used was all ex-RCMP +P brass. I do not know if it was any different than unmarked brass.

The danger of this (besides shooting it in a 38) is the sidewall blowing out if the chamber is not fully supporting the case. Take a good look at the two rifles.

 

[ZREXER]

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[Butcherbill]

A bit off topic but I’ve got some .40s&w hand loads that are loaded to near 10mm OAL in .40 brass, these were picked up after an ipsc match that I helped clean up after. Talked to the organizer and he said nobody was shooting a 10mm revolver, I have yet to pull
them appart to weigh powder charges between them and factory 10mm. Pretty common to shoot .40 out of a 10mm but I’ve not heard anyone mention this one yet, 20 thou difference between them. OAL was 1.252" for factory 10mm blazer and 1.232" on the .40 hand load in question.

Hand load on the left, factory 10mm on the right.

.40s&w and the hand load.

 

[B]

^ Not uncommon for people with 10mm revolvers to do that. If not that I would put out a guess that someone cleared their gun and the bullets pulled a bit as it happened. Is the OAL more or less exact with however many you found?

 

[Butcherbill]

^ Not uncommon for people with 10mm revolvers to do that. If not that I would put out a guess that someone cleared their gun and the bullets pulled a bit as it happened. Is the OAL more or less exact with however many you found?

I found 3 of them, they’re either 1.232” or 1.231”. All three have a slight taper crimp, the organizer of the event said nobody was shooting revolvers. I picked up all the brass myself and it was all 9mm, .40s&w and a bit of .38super and a .45auto.

I’ll be interested to see powder charges and bullet weights once I get them pulled apart, I tried the 3 in my 10mm barrel and they pass the plunk test.

 

[B]

Every 10mm gun I have tried worked fine with .40 with no alterations. One thing I had never even thought to try was to load close to 10mm OAL and velocity with .40 brass, for use through an auto. Not a bad idea on a couple fronts!

 

[Butcherbill]

Every 10mm gun I have tried worked fine with .40 with no alterations. One thing I had never even thought to try was to load close to 10mm OAL and velocity with .40 brass, for use through an auto. Not a bad idea on a couple fronts!

That’s what I was thinking as well, it might make things easier on the extractor. I ended up with a whole lot of .40 brass that I don’t have anything to shoot it out of, so it was either sell it all or see if it works with 10mm OAL. Might be a lighter powder load and be good plinking ammo, reloading is new to me so I’m approaching this one cautiously lol. Might be better off selling it and buying more 10mm brass.