Well, this is one of those situations where "I know it won't work because" just doesn't pan out. The correct answer is "maybe".

Naturally .357 and .38 Special cannot chamber in .38 S&W guns, but depending on several factors .38 S&W will chamber in .38/.357 revolvers about half the time. This is in spite of it being "theoretically impossible"!

This goes around quite frequently and everyone who "Knows" it won't work always jumps in first, in spite of the fact that both I and others have refuted this "wisdom" several times. It has been a couple of years but I simply had to find out for myself instead of letting everyone get away with this common knowledge information that simply is not always true.

What happened? Well, I had at the time some 12 .38/.357 revolvers, both Colt and S&W. I also had some older .38 S&W factory ammunition on hand, so I took what seems to me the obvious way to find out, I tried it! I know, a strange concept instead of just believing what "everyone knows". Well, guess what???? 6 or 7 of my .38/.357 revolvers would accept new, factory .38 S&W cartridges. Several others posted replies to my post and reported the same experience!!!!! So, about 1/2 the time a .38 S&W CAN be fired in a .38/.357 revolver.

So what can be learned from this? Next time just maybe you should try out the concept before posting what "can't be because" and "everyone knows", because you just might discover it CAN be done and the know-it-alls really don't!

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Gunsmithing since 1961