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02-26-2013, 04:03 PM
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.38 S&W and .38 Special
I should know this but I wanted some of the experts to chime in. I have a handful of .38 SW rounds and I'm curious if I can shoot them (safely) in any of my .38 special revolvers? Looks like the .38 SW are a little shorter and I'm curious what effect this would have???
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02-26-2013, 04:49 PM
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Even though it's shorter (and not as powerful), the 38 S&W is larger in diameter (.3855") than the 38 Special/.357 Mag (.379").
If you get one to fit into one of your 38 Specials, you just may have discovered you might own a 38 S&W..... .
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02-26-2013, 05:40 PM
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Due to the slightly fatter case 38S&W normally will not chamber in a 38 Special. Occasionally a chamber will be loose enough to accept it and since it's a lower pressure round it's not likely to hurt anything but it's never really a good idea to use the wrong ammo in a gun. It would be wiser to just try and find someone who needs the 38S&W ammo and buy the correct ammo for your gun
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02-26-2013, 06:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by desi2358
It would be wiser to just try and find someone who needs the 38S&W ammo and buy the correct ammo for your gun
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Ooh. I have a better idea. Why don't you buy a 38 S&W revolver to shoot it in?
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02-26-2013, 06:27 PM
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My Speer #9 manual shows both using a .358 lead bullets and .357 jacketed. The case diameter for the .38 S&W is shown as .380" where the .38 Special is .379".
The .38 S&W "may" fit into a .38 Special chamber that's not tightly sized, and being a lower-powered round would be safe to shoot--similar to shooting the .38 Spec in a .357 Mag firearm.
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02-26-2013, 11:37 PM
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This comes up quite often with the majority absolutely certain that you cannot fire .38 S&W in a .38 Special. It all depends on which side of tolerance the .38 S&W you have is.
The last I tried this I had 12 revolvers in .38 Spl. and .357 Magnum (all S&W!). The .38 S&W ammunition I had on hand would chamber in 7 of the 12 or 58%. Do not say it will not work, it will quite often. If it will chamber in your gun it is absolutely safe, if it won't then the question is moot.
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02-27-2013, 10:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alk8944
The last I tried this I had 12 revolvers in .38 Spl. and .357 Magnum (all S&W!). The .38 S&W ammunition I had on hand would chamber in 7 of the 12 or 58%. Do not say it will not work, it will quite often. If it will chamber in your gun it is absolutely safe, if it won't then the question is moot.
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Much the same experience here. I have 20 revolvers chambered in .38 Special or .357, mostly S&W, with a few Colts, and my Remington factory .38 S&W loads chambered in all of the dozen or so that I tried them in.
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03-01-2013, 08:32 AM
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The chambering question can get even stranger. I have an old Victory that three chambers will chamber and fire 38 S&W and three will not. I'm not sure if this is the resilt of loose wartime tolerances or over agressive cleaning.
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03-01-2013, 02:08 PM
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Thanks to all... time to do a little experimentations (as George Bush would say...)
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03-01-2013, 03:35 PM
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Many years ago, some of the WW2 S&W Victory models chambered for the British .38/200 round (.38S&W essentially) were brought back to our shores. Some importers had the cylinders bored out to accept .38 Spl and marketed them as Spls. Fired .38 Spl rounds would over-expand slightly, but the gun was safe enough with 158 gr service loads. No +Ps back then. This type of gun was used to kill Officer J.D. Tippitt after the JFK assassination.
You probably don't have one of these, but FYI.
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03-01-2013, 03:52 PM
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Just yesterday I found a Victory model at my local pawn shop. I thought it was a nice shooter relic in decent shape so I bought it. I brought it home and started learning about it only to realize the 5' barrel is marked 38 S&W. It will chamber 38 Special rounds but I have decided to only shoot 38 S&W in it. With luck SGAmmo has some in stock for a decent price so I picked up 4 boxes. The gun has no markings on it to show it was converted and has no Commonwealth proof marks that I can see.
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03-02-2013, 06:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alde
It will chamber 38 Special rounds but I have decided to only shoot 38 S&W in it. With luck SGAmmo has some in stock for a decent price so I picked up 4 boxes. The gun has no markings on it to show it was converted and has no Commonwealth proof marks that I can see.
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Do the serial numbers on the cylinder and butt match? Years ago I bought a 38 S&W marked British Victory specifically looking for a 38 S&W for some load testing. When I got it home I discovered someone had swapped out the 38 S&W cylinder with a 38 Special cylinder.
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