I shoot 38 specials out of my S&W 357's (a nickel 586 and a stainless 686) for plinking and target shooting. Forgive the dumb question -- does it matter whether you use full metal jacket or lead round nose? If the two were priced the same which would you prefer? Thanks.

If price is the same, jacketed bullets are much cleaner to shoot. Less residue to wipe away and no leading in the barrel to worry about.

Dave

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RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)

Don't think I've ever seen lead round nose bullets commercially loaded in .357. Semi-wadcutter, some with hollow point, yes, but not round nose. As always, selection of bullets depends on intended use. Full metal jacket bullets, probably intended as military rounds as required by certain treaties dealing with ammo, tend to extreme penetration and might be useful in some limited situations. They will zip clean through all but the largest game animals leaving tiny entrance and exit holes. Given only these two choices however the lead semi-wadcutter would be more useful for the average shooter. If, just making holes in paper it doesn't matter much either way.

Did you read the original post? He said that he shoots .38 Special out of his .357 Magnum revolver for plinking and target shooting.

586nickel: I agree with Dave. If price isn't a factor, I'd choose the FMJ every time.

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Steve
NJ State Trooper (rtd)

I'd even pay a small premium to shoot jacketed. Not having to scrub lead from my barrels is easily worth .50-$1.00 more a box.

It's said that jacketed bullets will wear out a barrel faster then lead but I, and I bet a vast majority of people, will never shoot enough to wear out a barrel with either type.

Thanks, guys!

Curious but what maker/loadings are you finding FMJ in .38 spc?

I have several for .357, and am sitting on many boxes of Sellier .357 FMJ but who did you see loading commercially for .38 with this bullet.

And yeah, they are GREAT for cleanup over lead. It's what I like to plink with in .357 for that reason.

Magtech makes both a FMJ ("Cleanrange") and LRN at 158gr. in .38 special. I shot a box of the LRN this morning from my Model 14. I've never experienced leading with this round, it's very low recoil in a K-frame, probably much less in an L- or an N-, and very accurate. It's also not a particularly dirty round, after shooting 50 rounds this morning it took me about 15 minutes to render my bore and chambers spotless. I'd imagine that it would perform equally well in a .357 as it does in a .38 Special revolver.

Sellier & Bellot and Speer Lawman both have a .38 special in 158gr FMJ flatnose. The lawman being a +P CleanFire.

There is also the 130 gr FMJ .38, as loaded by Winchester, Federal and Remington and maybe others.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I will be the opposing view lead vs jacketed.

I have shot more lead bullets out of my revolvers than anything else,why ? accuracy. I have never enjoyed better accuracy than with lead bullets.
Bullseye shooters use lead over jacketed bullets.

I do not understand how so many people complain about lead in their barrels.I have a Ruger Black Hawk and 3 Mdl 57's in 41 Mag that have seen thousands of cast lead bullets.I have never had a streak of lead in my barrel, or any barrel of the 20 revolvers I own.
I suspect their are many folks out there that shoot .38 Specials with lead bullets in their .357's,YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE LEAD IN THE BARREL !.If you shoot lead .38's bullets in your .357 you will have copper with jacketed(much harder remove).The build up of copper is slower than lead,but it's there under the carbon you can't clean with out without scraping the cylinder.
You don't want lead in your barrel with lead bullets.Match the bullets to the cylinder and stop shooting short cartridges in longer chambers.This same logic applies to the .44 Mag and Special. I do not understand why folks just don't get that a short cartridge in long chamber will give more issues than shooting proper length chamber.Because you can is not a good reason.Your accuracy will improve,if you are shooting good groups with .38's in your .357 it will just be better with the .357 brass and no dreaded carbon,copper or lead in the .10" gap.
I don't think the really good shooters are loading up their .357's with match 38's. they have dedicated guns for their chosen cartridges.
Why would'nt anyone want to follow what really works with the least amount of fuss ?
Cast lead bullet operate at much lower velocities therefore are easier to control unless your doing the current fad of big bullets in big bore revolvers
Get yourself some .357 brass load up 158gr SWC's and 4.0 gr. of Bullseye powder,you will never shoot a more accurate load.It is a paper puncher not self defence or hunting load.
Jacketed bullets are for semi auto's,rifles and special applications in a revolver.
Cast lead bullets and Bullseye powder is match made in heaven.
I would never use a jacketed bullet for hunting I strictly use hard cast lead,they out penetrate jacketed with less energy i.e. recoil.Jacketed bullets require more energy to expand and that expansion is predicated on moving it fast enough to expand.In pistol length barrels there is the element that it may not penetrate because those bullets have to open up at handgun velocities.
You are fooling yourself if you think lead is a mess, it's like everything else there is a learning curve.I hate mining copper or lead as much as anyone else,it is so uneccesary.
Should you have a leading problem for various reasons the Lewis Lead removing tool is splendid.I have used mine only on purchased used guns never after that.
Things to consider.

I've learned to stay away from lead (round nose, SWC, doesn't matter) .38 Specials in a .357 Magnum after spending two hours scrubbing the chambers on my 686 when I couldn't get magnum rounds into it because of the lead buildup

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"I'm your huckleberry."

I'll counter that comment about a preference for lead bullets. I shot just one box of Blazer LRN 38 spl. in my model 620 and the leading in the barrel was so bad that 2 stokes with a solvent soaked patch left the patch a mass of torn cotton. It also took a lot of effort to get a patch through the barrel.

Needless to say that left the bore in a mess. Normally I don't like using a brush on my barrels, normally I run a solvent soaked patch down the bore, let it soak a bit, and then use Lead Away patches soaked with M Pro 7 for a quick and easy cleanup. After using that Blazer LRN it took 2 seperate 4 HOUR sessions of using a bore brush and a 50/50 mix of peroxide and white vinegar to get the barrel cleaned out. BTW, while this mix is effective, it does produce toxic by products so latex gloves should be considered a must.

Now, I really don't know why my 620 leaded up so badly with that Blazer LRN, it could be that this particular ammunition doesn't have any lubrication on the bullets. However, because the 620 features the new process EDM rifling it's also possible that this type of rifling is suseptable to leading. What I am certain is that I won't ever use an lead bullets in my 620, cleaning that mess up was way too much work.

As for ammo, in 38 spl. I've found the American Eagle 130 grain FMJ to be clean shooting and fairly accurate. Speer also occasionally has a Lawman 125 grain TMJ available that has stunning accuracy in my 620. Another option is the Speer Lawman 158 grain +P TMJ, which just doesn't seem to be as accurate as the 125 grain TMJ 38 but it's not bad for defense drills. As for 357 Magnum, most of what I've been able to find are all either FMJ or SJSP's, personally I like the American Eagle 158 gr. SJSP which is also marketed under the Federal Champion label at Walmart. All of the above are distinctly clean shooting and cleanup is no problem at all.

Made a large ammo purchase from Cabela's last night.

I decided to buy that very ammo for my 357's -- Federal American Eagle 158 gr SJSP. I think I will try just shooting 357's out of my 357's rather than 38 specials.

I also bought some Magtech 158 gr LRN and will shoot that out of my model 642 and for some occassional shooting out of my 586 and 686.

Fyi, Cabelas has Magtech 158 gr FMJ in 38 special on sale right now as well if you prefer that route.

Also, for any of you rifle hunters out there, they have Remington Premier Core Lokt Ultra in .243 Win for $20 a box. It is on backorder but for that price I can afford to wait. Stuff is usually around $35 a box.

Thanks for the help guys.