38 s&w victory

[kimporter]

My brother just got a pretty nice victory originally chambered in38 s&w that has been reamed out for 38 spl.he asked me if it was ok to shoot 38 s&w in it even tho it's been reamed out for the special because he's heard about the accuracy issues I said it's ok but he wants a 2nd opinion HELP

 

[Targets Guy]

Should be okay. He might discover he is shaving lead at the forcing cone as the .38SW is a little bit fatter than the .38 special. I didn't like that on mine so I put a .38SW barrel back on it. So it now has a reamed cylinder and a .38SW barrel and shoots fine.

Those were the first six rounds I shot in it after replacing the barrel. The first round was in the "8" ring as I had my eyes closed and head down. The next five I used both eyes.

 

[gordonrick]

Most of the time the barrel is still the original .38 S&W caliber (often cut down as a snubby) so you wouldn't likely shave lead unless it had a barrel change. Typically only the cylinder is reamed to fit the longer and slightly smaller diameter 38 Special cases. The 38 S&W barrel bore is actually slightly larger (.360") than the 38 special (.357").

However the cases will bulge due to the slightly larger diameter of the 38 S&W part of the chamber hole. In some case they can even split, but that seems to be the exception. Even then it is contained within the cylinder so not really a big safety issue. However, if they were consistently splitting, I would probably not use 38 specials in it and would consider doing a cylinder swap.

The good news is he can still use the original 38 S&W ammo if he wants. I doubt he would notice any real difference in accuracy with the 38 Specials at indoor range distances anyway ( I can't) - especially with lead bullets. Wadcutters should work really well.

Rick

 

[Absalom]

The difference in circumference of the two is minuscule; many older .38 Special M&P's will actually chamber .38 S&W. So the amount of metal taken out in a professional reaming job should be equally minimal, with little or no effect on performance when using the original .38 S&W loads.

Problems with excessive bulging or splitting are the result of imprecise reaming; with poor guidance, the reamer will inevitably take out more metal than necessary and widen the entire chamber. Since all kinds of people performed this surgery, we see all degrees of effects, and your brother won't know what he's got until he shoots it. But he can, safely.

 

[Targets Guy]

I have two BSR's that were modified from a .38SW to a .38 special (by reaming the cylinder). One was done well, the other not so well.

The brass from the one done well (and I use the .38 special with no problem)

2nd photo is the brass from the one done not so well and as I stated above I removed the .38 special barrel and replaced it with a .38SW barrel. Now there is no issue as I use .38sw ammo in it.

Photos 3 and 4 show the two cylinders. Hard to see the difference but there sure was one.