Reloading with .357 vs. .38 Special cases

[gressang]

I recently purchased a revolver that can shoot .38 Special and .357 Magnum rounds and have brass for each. I am considering using .357 Magnum cases to reload for this gun vs. .38 Special cases in order to keep the cylinder cleaner. Is there any merit to this approach, or will using .38 Special cases be fine?

[Dragon88]

Shooting .38s in a 357 revolver is no problem, many have been doing it for a long time. Just clean your revolver well after shooting. Since you have 357 brass available though, I would load and shoot those. There's no reason not to. You can do anything from light plinking loads to full bore hunting loads in the 357 case.

Just be careful not to use 38 data in the 357 case, you can get a load that's too light that way and end up with a BIB or other bad stuff. Always consult good data for the proper cartridge.

[snw19_357]

I think that would be the only reason not to use .38Spl brass but, it still going to get dirty, especially if you are shooting lead.

I use to load my target loads in .357Mag brass because they produced tighter groups (less travel before contacting forcing cone??) but stopped doing that.
I use the .38Spl brass for my plinker loads and save the .357Mag brass for my magnum loads

[kennyb]

or simply use a chamber brush to clean the cylinder...it fits tighter then the bore brush and will remove the deposit

[Skip Sackett]

Using 38spl cases isn't a problem. There will be a carbon ring that needs to be removed from the cylinder before 357Mag loads can be run in it though. This can be done with a spent 357Mag case. Simply flare the mouth, just a smidgen, and push it into the chamber with cleaning solvent added.

The will come right out.

Hope this helps.

[epj]

I have used both, and currently only load .38 brass since I have a ton of it. I load on a progressive press and it's too much trouble to me to change the dies. I don't have enough .357 brass to make a 500-1000 round production run. If you load some hot loads in .38, be sure they are adequately marked so they don't find their way into a gun not appropriately rated. I color code primers with a magic marker. When the primer is gone, so is the mark.

[ArchAngelCD]

I was going to suggest carrying a spent .357 Magnum case to remove the carbon ring from the cylinders if you decided you wanted to shoot magnum ammo after .38 Special ammo but Skip already did that. Like the others said, there's no reason not to shoot target ammo in .38 Special brass in your magnum. A bore brush easily removes any leftovers in the cylinder. Finding .38 Special brass is easier and cheaper than magnum brass. I would save the .357 magnum brass for magnum loads.

[Paul5388]

If you have a "short cylinder", like the M28 or M27, using .38 Special brass can gain some space for a longer bullet without having to seat it real deep. I do that with some 358429s and realize that bullet is for .357 use, even though it's in .38 Special brass. It's about 150 fps slower than using .357 brass and seating deep, but 1270 fps MV with a 170 gr bullet is usually sufficient for anything around here that needs shooting.

[Titegroups]

I have plenty of both and just use .357 brass. Only a few dollars difference in price from starline, like $64/500 shipped. My .38 brass just sits. I don't see much reason to use a case shorter than what the gun was designed to accept. I guess you could use a little less powder in the .38 case. Seems a bit more accurate in the longer case, plenty of people will argue the other point, but try it and see for yourself.

[Rancher]

You can't go wrong using .357 cases, unless you use look-alike components for target and magnum loads and then mix them up. No carbon ring worries and no chance that any of your full-house .357 loads could be inadvertently loaded into some poor, innocent .38 Special. Loading full charge .357's into .357 cases and loading target /plinking loads into .38 cases is an excellent idea, so long as you are religious about cleaning up after shooting the .38's. If you are at all lax about cleanup, then why risk the issue?