When I first started shooting in the 80s revolvers were much more common among my shooting buddies than they are now. And we all shot 38s and 44 specials in our magnum revolvers without worrying about fouling from the shorter cartridges causing a problem. I don't recall anyone have a hard time loading, extracting the empties or excessive pressure because of this. A lot of those specials were loaded with Unique powder which at the time had a well deserved reputation for being filthy. And a least one of my shooting companions believed having a stainless revolver meant cleaning it after shooting was optional.

Fast forward 35 years and the internet keeps telling me we need to be really careful about shooting specials and then magnums. The only gun I have that this applies is my 44 magnum which I shoot with specials and magnums in no particular order and have never had a problem. Although I do clean it after each range session.

Has anyone actually had problems shooting specials and then magnums? Or is this another case of the internet making a mountain out of a molehill?

It can happen, the biggest issue being chambering the longer magnum rounds. I think in most revolvers it takes a lot of shooting with shorter brass without cleaning to really create this issue.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I dedicated 2019 exclusively to my 66-1, shooting many thousands of rounds of 38 Special. I can confirm that’ll foul up a cylinder pretty good.

I think that you,like me, clean after every range trip....that's the key to no issues!

Use a snug-fitting brass brush with solvent when cleaning and you'll have no problems. I no longer shoot any magnum cartridges in my .357 or .44 magnum revolvers, only .38 Specials and .44 Specials.

I shoot tens of thousands of .38 SPL in Model 66s in IDPA/SSR. After hundreds of rounds, a ridge of powder and lead builds up in the chamber, but is easily removed with solvent and a few swipes of a "Tornado" spiral chamber brush. HOPPES TORNADO BRUSHES | Brownells
No big deal.

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Science plus Art

Since 1971 , 38 special out of my 357 magnum ( Ruger Blackhawk)
98% specials and 2 % magnums , lost track of the number ...I reload and cast bullets so it has to be thousands of rounds .
Clean gun , barrel and chambers , rod and brass brush , after every session ...
49 years of shooting...chambers are clean as a whistle , no build up , no corrosion .... absolutely no damage .
I think those who report crud build up in chambers ...DON'T Clean their Guns very well if at all .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I think it's more of a sign of neglect than anything else. Maybe improper cleaning, like with a patch only. I've never personally experienced it.

Over the decades I have fired many tens of thousands of .38 Special rounds in .357 revolvers. I never had a problem but I do generally clean after every session. I use a .375 rifle brush for the chambers. It's sufficiently large and twice as long as pistol brushes, making pretty quick work removing any fouling.

The only round that I've done that with is 44 magnum/special. During longer sessions, I've run a good 25-50 of the specials, then magnums. Sometimes the magnum cases will fit snugly in the cylinder for the first few rounds...then it opens up.

I've since moved on from special as I reload, but it didn't cause me issues in the past. Like everyone is saying, one just needs to keep their gun clean is all.

Shooting shorter cases in a long chamber can discolor the the steel chambers after many boxes shot, but do no damage if properly cleaned as stated above. Actually, you can also shoot 44 Russian at paper targets in either a 44 Special or 44 Magnum guns with hardly any felt recoil.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

No problems here.... 50+ yrs shooting 38's in 357 mag cyls.
Don't own a 44 mag...... but would shoot specials in it if I did.....
I do clean my guns after shooting them.......ALWAYS

J.

I clean my Model 66 after every range trip, have run hundreds of .38 & .357 through it and have never had a problem. My guess is that regular cleaning & maintenance will take care of any problems.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Never a problem here. I clean my guns after every range trip, regardless of the number of rounds fired.

I recall a post here in the past where the OP said he didn't fire .38 in his .357 because he had heard it would create a "crud ring". Seems to me if you don't clean the cylinder, you're going to get a crud ring either way. One will just be 1/8" further down the cylinder than the other.

My 6" Model 19 was purchased new in 1976 and used in several seasons of PPC competition. A 2-day match could easily require 500-plus rounds. I have always used cast bullet .38 Special loads in that revolver, easily over 50,000 rounds over the years. Never experienced a problem. Always cleaned after ever use, dry bronze brush to cut the residue in the chambers and bore followed by normal solvent and patch cleaning. Still as tight and accurate today as it was 44 years ago.

I own several other .357 revolvers and three .44 magnum revolvers. Same treatment, same results.

The so-called "crud rings" in the chambers are nothing but built-up residue from expended powder, bullet lubricant, perhaps some light leading. If not removed routinely the residues will continue to accumulate and harden over time, but these deposits are nowhere near the hardness of the steel of the revolver or the bronze of a good bore brush. A bronze bore brush in good condition will quickly cut through the deposits right down to the steel chamber walls. Solvents may lubricate the passage of the brush, actually making the job more difficult, so I always recommend dry brushing as the first step in cleaning. Done over a sheet of paper you can easily see the residue as it is expelled by the brush.

The presence of significant "crud rings" is nothing more than an indication of poor maintenance by the owner.

Sounds like we all agree, not a problem if you clean your guns.

I have a wide variety of 29s, 629s, 28s, 686, 586.

I never shoot magnums out of any of them. I also have never had a crud ring ever.

Yes, I clean my guns after every trip to the range. Takes me 5 minutes.

I run a brush with hoppe's through each chamber. Let it sit, dry patch, soak with Ballistol for 10-20 minutes, run a few wet patches, all back in the safe.

There was one gun that I only shot .38 special in and didn't clean it for quite a while.
(It was a piece of junk Ruger that I didn't care about)
The crud ring was enough to stop a magnum from going in all the way.

Pressed in empty magnum cases to scrape out the bulk of the crud.
Then cleaned it with a brush and solvent.
When I sold the gun you couldn't tell it had been that dirty.

After shooting PPC for years I found that periodic cleaning my cylinder during 150 round matches made extraction easier and loading smoother! I use a stiff fiber brush found at a medical equipment supply store! I keeps the crud ring from building up!

As far a cleaning, basic cleaning after 300-500 rounds, detail cleaning after 3000-5000 rounds.

Smiles,

Keep your gun clean and it’s a non issue, simple.

I always thought that "crud ring" was a myth and you guys just confirmed it. You could have the same problem with a 357 mag load if you don't clean your gun routinely.

Rosewood

"Information found online can be hard to verify." - Pontious Pilate

The " only " time I ever witnessed a real crud ring . I knew a lady that worked at a gun shop I frequented in Az . She had bought a Colt Trooper and it , apparently had only seen 38's and yrs of use w/o being cleaned . The crud ring was so hard and large she had to give it to a gunsmith to get it cleaned . He soaked it in Marvel Mystery Oil for several days and then used a bronze bore brush to get it clean . Regards Paul

Hum ... I remember shooting piles and piles of .38 Specials in K and N frame S&W .357 Magnum revolvers. It just simply was not big deal to clean the cylinder after a shooting session. I have over the last 40 years fired an absolutely untold number of .38 Special rounds ... factory and lot and lots of handholds, using jacketed and cast lead bullets. I cannot think of a time when I have ever had an issue with a pressure spike, much less difficulty chambering or extracting cases. But, I've always routinely cleaned my revolvers after a significant range session. If I only fire maybe 50-100 rounds and anticipate doing some more shooting later in the week, I may skip cleaning. But, if shooting will be delayed until the next week, then I clean the revolver. I do the same thing with my semi-auto pistols. Sincerely. bruce.

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<><

Load 38 special rated loads in 357 mag brass. Also provides less bullet jump to forcing cone.

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Tom
SWCA 1856, SWHF 780

Agreed. I had my day shooting plutonium loaded magnum loads in many calibers. I now simply load down mag brass.
.357: 5gr Unique behind Keith style 158gr lead bullet.
.44: 7-8gr Unique behind Keith style 250gr lead bullet.
.454: 10gr Unique behind Keith style 265gr lead bullet. (as a comparison, back in the day, I got a load from Dick Casull that gave me 2000fps with the FA 260gr jacketed bullet).
All are pleasant, accurate and allow me to enjoy these fine pistols at this point in my life.

If I still reloaded that is what I would do.

As is I shoot a quite a bit of cowboy style 44 I get from Georgia Arms which is loaded in 44 magnum brass. Shoots fine and is very mild. But I recently started shooting more of Magtech's 240 FMJ 44 Special that is also mild, shoots well, costs about the same and since it has a jacketed bullet isn't as smoky.

Georgia Arms also has a mild by 44 Magnum (240 grain FMJ @1000 fps) offering that is a great match for my S&W 69 and is of course loaded in magnum cases.

Overall about 75% of the ammo I use is loaded in magnum cases.

I have made sure I don't tell folks "this thing is indestructable" or "this is true stainless steel", or "this is idiot proof", because they go and do their damndest to prove you wrong, and often do.

When people get stainless instead of carbon steel "cuz it doesn't have to be cleaned" you almost want to smack em a little.

No problems here, but I clean my guns after I shoot them. I think the guys who are having problems are those who look down the bore once in awhile to make sure the hole still goes all the way through. Clean your guns, and you won’t have a problem.

Never shot that much 44 Special in 44 Mags.
But have shot a bunch of 38 Special in my 357s.
Don’t recall it being any problem.
But I tend to clean my guns after I shoot.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I ALWAYS brush my cylinders before shooting magnums after specials. If the crud ring keeps rounds from chambering cleanly it spoils the party. In fact I always try to shoot specials first, then magnums,then clean my gun.

I DEFINITELY don't like loading the revolver and find on closing the gun that the cylinder won't rotate smoothly. That puts wear on my precious trigger mechanism that's much higher than it should be.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I've seriously shot revolver (66, 67, 686) in IDPA off and on for many years. Even in the 67 there would be crud buildup in the cylinder. For those SS guns the use of a dry Brownells revolver cleaning specific SS brush does the trick. For a blue gun use bronze brushes only.

If your forcing cone gets nasty, and it will with soft lead, a Lewis Lead Remover kit for the caliber will take care of it.

The amount of crud can be reduced by powder selection. Cooler burning ones work better with backside exposed lead bullets.

My Rossi R92 lever action will not reliably chamber 44 Specials, and it weighs just 5 pounds; so I have worked up a comparable 44 Magnum load - .431" 240 grain Oregon Trail laser cast bullets sitting on 7 grains of Unique. Chronographs out at 1150 fps. Accurate and pleasant to shoot.

Do it all the time with no reliability issues. The only problem I’ve had doing this is I keep running out of ammo ....

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I invest in Lead and Copper!

Gun Broker had a very nice 686 4", beautiful and a very reasonable price. The only problem was the humongous carbon, lead, copper rings in each cylinder. I have never seen that much crud in my 50+ years of shooting however it could be easily cleaned. I was going to buy it and clean it up but someone else sucked it up almost immediately. I will search again when and if the gun drought ends.

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U.S. Coast Guard, retired CPO

The ease of cleaning depends on the ammo. I had some Remington jacketed .38 special ammo that I fired in my 686, then tried to shoot .357. The .357 wouldn't chamber. When I tried to clean the cylinder when I got home, I discovered Hoppes #9 and a brass brush wouldn't touch it. Whatever Remington was using for powder set up like concrete.

After that experience, I use .357 brass for my low power .38 loads.

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Common sense isn't so common.

Me too. I fired 12 rounds the other day and then it started to rain. Cleaned the gun as if I fired hundreds. Never an issue for me shooting .38 in .357 guns. Pretty much all I shoot in them, actually. I chuck a .45 cal brush into a drill and 5 seconds in each cylinder hole and they’re spotless.