Well, I know I'm not totally crazy. The latest issue of American Rifleman (Oct. '11, if you're an NRA member) discusses the problem on page 52 in an article about reloading .38s and .357s. The other thing I've read, and it made sense to me, was that if the crud ring is thick enough to cause .357s to bind, it could adversely affect the crimp on a .357 bullet potentially raising pressures to dangerous levels.

As I mention in my post #16, and others have recommended above, what sounds like the best solution if I really don't want to deal with the additional cleaning hassles, might be to go for another .357 cylinder and dedicate one for .38s and the other for .357s. Towards this end, I gave S&W and quick call and understand that the parts for a spare cylinder/rod and labor to cut the ratchet timed to my gun, would run around $200 or so. That certainly sounds a lot better to me than getting another gun.

I'll still try some of the other recommended cleaning routines, and even maybe just let that damn crud ring go with only normal cleaning. Perhaps it never really gets a chance to accumulate to a dangerous level, consider how many people seem to have no issues with it.

Thanks again for the comments folks... I think I'm done here.