When a barrel cracks on a K-frame .357, it's usually at the bottom, where the barrel throat/forcing cone is machined flat, so the cylinder can close.

My only K-frame just now is a M-66-3, which I love. Would one of you guys who has a .38 like a Model 10, 14, 15, etc. please swing out the cylinder and see if the barrel is flat and thinner there on the .38's, too? I see no reason wny it wouldn't be, as the design is the same, save for different steel alloys and heat treatment on the .357's.

Don't know why, but I thought of that last night and the issue has been bugging me.

Thanks.

OH: about those cracking K-frame .357 barrels...I saw yesterday on one of the Ruger forums a photo of a GP-100 that had a cracked barrel throat, just to the right of where the flat is on K-Mags. The entire rear of the barrel was rough and eroded. The owner had been shooting 125 grain bullets with a hefty charge of powder in reloads and I think, a lot of factory 125 grain .357's. It is often said that the GP-100 is built like a tank, but this poor gun looked like it'd been hit with an anti-tank gun! Stay away from light bullets and hot powder charges in your .357!