Magnum primer in .38S&W ?

hk33ka1 said:
If you're working up from starting loads I see no reason not to.
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"Working up loads," does not really apply to revolvers.
There is no visible difference between a safe load in a 38 S & W Special and one ready to blow it up. Like I have said before on here, one could shoot 116 loads in a revolver, all being fine, no sign of an overload and identical shot number 117 will blow it up.
And don't ask me how I know this!
Go by your book, taking into consideration the make, model and condition of the revolver in question.
 
While there is no safety issue by using a magnum primer with reasonable loads in the .38 S&W, particularly in a solid frame revolver like a S&W Victory which might provide a greater margin of safety than a top break gun like an Enfield, there are a couple issues on the downside side of the ledger with the use of magnum primers. Pressure will be slightly higher with the hotter primer and the least amount of primer violence generally produces the best accuracy. A hot primer is not necessary to ignite small charges of fast burning powder, suggesting that the use of magnum primers in the .38 S&W might be past the point of diminishing returns. The increase in pressure might be enough to cause sticky extraction if a switch is made to a magnum primer without slightly reducing the powder charge, which is one reason why I prefer to work up loads despite some comments to the contrary, particularly when I've made my brass from undersized .38 Special. But lets say a fellow keeps a large stock of small pistol magnum primers on hand for his .357 and only loads a few rounds occasionally for the .38 S&W; there is no reason why a safe load cannot be worked up with the hotter primer.
 
Boomer, we are usually in agreement, and I certainly respect your great knowledge on firearms.
However, you will have to explain to me how you can work up a load for a 38 Special, and stop before you have an over load.
I don't ever recall having a sticking case with a 357, with either S&W or Ruger guns, when full loaded to what is said to be the 35, to 38,000 cup range of pressure.
Pressure for the 38 Special is given as 17,000.
How could a 38 case get sticky with this amount of pressure, or slightly more, when a 357 doesn't, with twice the pressure?
 
I use small rifle primers in light loads for a .38S&W Enfield military revolver, because the stiff hammer spring was causing primer perforations. Problem solved!
 
H4831 said:
Boomer, we are usually in agreement, and I certainly respect your great knowledge on firearms.
However, you will have to explain to me how you can work up a load for a 38 Special, and stop before you have an over load.
I don't ever recall having a sticking case with a 357, with either S&W or Ruger guns, when full loaded to what is said to be the 35, to 38,000 cup range of pressure.
Pressure for the 38 Special is given as 17,000.
How could a 38 case get sticky with this amount of pressure, or slightly more, when a 357 doesn't, with twice the pressure?
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It is tricky with small volume cases, consider there is only a difference of a half grain between the starting and maximum load of Unique, but it you observe sticky extraction as a result of changing primers, it is prudent to drop the charge slightly, say .2 grs which is about the minimum weight that we can expect to get a repeatable accurate reading using a normal powder scale.

I've had sticky extraction often enough in both my .357 and .44 handguns, most often when a cast bullet is significantly heavier than expected, and this occurs often enough to cause me to weigh my cast handgun bullets.

If you use a .357 case with .38 loads you will not observe sticky extraction, but sometimes +P loads in .38 Special cases does get sticky as the web is much thicker in the .357 brass. If you section one of each the difference is startling. At one time I used .38 brass for everything, but the .357 brass is far more forgiving with high pressure loads, so now I use .38 brass in my .38 guns and .357 brass in my M-27. I load the same bullet in all my .36's, so heavy loads in .38 brass resulted in identification problems.
 
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