Let's talk about shooting .38 Specials in a .357 Magnum.
(I'm not sure where this belongs, but when I was coming up I was a Bullseye shooter with both revolvers and autoloaders----mostly revolvers.) Bullseye competition is about making the best score shooting at paper targets 25 and 50 yards away---standing on your hind legs, and holding your gun in one hand. (Seems sort'a like a lost art, doesn't it?)
So---.38's in a 357:
Will it work? Certainly, depending on what you mean by "work"----shooting for high scores or hitting the side of a barn-----barns are no problem. High scores are something else. The first thing that happens when you load .38's into a 357 Magnum chamber is you've just added 1/8" to the throat length----maybe 1/10"----I forget. That's going to instantly adversely effect group size. If you're having any difficulty grasping that, get a hold of a machine rest and try it out. The next problem is that shoulder sitting ahead of the case mouth instead of at it. What does that do to the bullet? I don't know for sure either. I know it does something it wouldn't do if it wasn't there. What I do know is ultimate accuracy is totally (TOTALLY) dependent on how a bullet comes out of a bore. It goes exactly where it's pointed if it comes out pristine, and it goes somewhere else if it comes out with ANY sort of deformation---ANYWHERE. And once again, if you're having any difficulty grasping that, get a hold of a machine rest and try it out.
As an aside, machine rests are a wondrous thing. They'll teach you things you were too dumb to ask about. I know this because I used one pretty much non-stop when I was a lunatic fringe reloader searching for ultimate accuracy. I got all sorts of answers to questions I didn't ask, and then had to figure out what the questions were----a sometimes daunting task.
At any rate, if you want to shoot .38's in a 357, knock yourself out. If you want to hit what you're shooting at-----little bitty targets, far, far away, then shoot .38's in .38's.
Ralph Tremaine
(I'm not sure where this belongs, but when I was coming up I was a Bullseye shooter with both revolvers and autoloaders----mostly revolvers.) Bullseye competition is about making the best score shooting at paper targets 25 and 50 yards away---standing on your hind legs, and holding your gun in one hand. (Seems sort'a like a lost art, doesn't it?)
So---.38's in a 357:
Will it work? Certainly, depending on what you mean by "work"----shooting for high scores or hitting the side of a barn-----barns are no problem. High scores are something else. The first thing that happens when you load .38's into a 357 Magnum chamber is you've just added 1/8" to the throat length----maybe 1/10"----I forget. That's going to instantly adversely effect group size. If you're having any difficulty grasping that, get a hold of a machine rest and try it out. The next problem is that shoulder sitting ahead of the case mouth instead of at it. What does that do to the bullet? I don't know for sure either. I know it does something it wouldn't do if it wasn't there. What I do know is ultimate accuracy is totally (TOTALLY) dependent on how a bullet comes out of a bore. It goes exactly where it's pointed if it comes out pristine, and it goes somewhere else if it comes out with ANY sort of deformation---ANYWHERE. And once again, if you're having any difficulty grasping that, get a hold of a machine rest and try it out.
As an aside, machine rests are a wondrous thing. They'll teach you things you were too dumb to ask about. I know this because I used one pretty much non-stop when I was a lunatic fringe reloader searching for ultimate accuracy. I got all sorts of answers to questions I didn't ask, and then had to figure out what the questions were----a sometimes daunting task.
At any rate, if you want to shoot .38's in a 357, knock yourself out. If you want to hit what you're shooting at-----little bitty targets, far, far away, then shoot .38's in .38's.
Ralph Tremaine
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