Quote:
Originally Posted by Firesticks
Some bad advice here! An overloaded .38 special is NOT a .357 mag! It is an OVERLOADED .38 special! The smaller case will generate much more pressure with those charges. DO NOT fire them! The results may be a damaged gun or MUCH worse. Pull em and start over.
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Sorry, but you are simply wrong. Your statements sound like panic and hyperbole.
As I stated in an earlier post, the 38 special case is 1/8 inch shorter than the 357 magnum case - which is about a 10% reduction in case volume. That is the only practical difference between the two cases. The 38 special is a low pressure cartridge with a SAAMI pressure rating of 17,000 psi. Therefore the effect of that 10% reduction in case volume is going to be negligible. Especially if the cartridge is being fired in a 357 - which per SAAMI specs is rated for 35,000 psi. A slightly over charged 38 special case with far less powder than what would be used in a 357 under the same bullet is not going to DOUBLE the pressure due to a 10% reduction in case volume - so it is still going to be under the pressure that a 357 is designed to handle.
If we were talking about a small case volume, high pressure round, like the 9mm that same 1/8 would reduce the case volume by more like 25%. That would have a HUGE effect on pressure. Assuming the round would already be loaded with enough powder to approach the 9mm SAAMI pressure spec of 35,000 psi, a 25% reduction in case volume would put it WAY over pressure.
Per 3rdgeargrndrr's post #54 above, the Quickload ballistics calculator program has already shown that the pressure for these loads wouldn't even be above 38 special +P SAAMI spec of 18,500 psi. Naturally that is way, WAY below the 35,000 psi that a 357 is rated for.
So your statements just aren't logical if you really look at and understand the physics of the situation. Sorry, but you're getting all lathered up over nothing.
HorizontalMike, glad you feel good about your decision to salvage the components by breaking them down - and about having learned something in the process. I think unloading them with your 686 would have been a lot more fun, but different strokes as they say.
One other little trick I can suggest for you. Get yourself a Lee Hand Press. Works really great with a collet puller - and you can pick one up on eBay for dirt cheap. It will work with your regular shell plate, and being hand-held it makes putting the rounds into it really easy. Also, since it is single-stage, there are no alignment issues, and you won't have to remove one of your dies from your turret to use it. Controlled pulling of bullets is one of the main things I use mine for.