.38 Special velocities in 357 magnum cases?

[Waldo]

Carbon rings in a 357 revolver shooting 38 special loads are a less likely problem than spontaneous human combustion....

Many years ago, I bought my first .357 Mag, a S&W Model 28. At the time I knew a guy that had a business reloading and selling practice ammo to several local police departments. I could buy either .38 Special 148gr. wadcutters or 158gr. SWCs for less than I could reload them, if I traded in my brass.

I do not know how many 1,000s of rounds of .38 Specials I shot in that gun.
I never shot any .357s until one day I got a deal on some Factory .357s as part of a trade.

They were a little stiff to load, but I had a heck of a time ejecting them. After a couple of cylinders I stopped shooting them. I took the gun and ammo to a gunsmith. The first thing he did was ask me if I had been shooting a lot of .38s. He told me about the fouling build up from shooting .38s. I took the gun home and spent a good amount of time wire brushing the cylinder. Since the I only use .38 cases in .38 revolvers and .357 cases in .357 revolvers.

 

[38SPL HV]

Never had a problem cleaning out the rings in my cylinders after firing 38 Specials...rather easy proposition when you're in the habit of cleaning after every shooting session. 6.0 grs Unique and 158 gr swc in 357 Magnum cases would be my recommendation to anyone want to throttle down their magnum to a 38 Spl +P+.

 

[Bugkiller99]

I guess I'm odd. (Don't ask my wife, she will just shake her head up and down.). As I have 38 spl revolvers, I have 38 spl loads. If I want to shoot 38 spl in my .357, that's what I do.
If I want a little more umph, I'll shoot .357 loads. Never had a problem with carbon rings in the cylinders. They clean up.
Guess I could download 357. I just don't.

 

[jc2721]

I've easily got 15-20X the 38 brass as opposed to the 357, so I mostly load and shoot 38s. I've also got zero .44 special brass, so all my .44 loads are in magnum brass. Works for me.

Some chore boy wrapped around a bronze brush cleans out any carbon/lead rings so no problems.

 

[WR Moore]

Carbon rings in a 357 revolver shooting 38 special loads are a less likely problem than spontaneous human combustion....

Don't know about carbon rings, but boy can you get a lead ring there! Once I finally got all that goop out, I never again fired .38s in that gun. Possibly not if you're using hard cast bullets as I never saw an issue with .44 Spl loads in a magnum.

My records show a charge of 5.4 gr Unique behind a Remington 158 gr LRN loaded to 1.62" OAL gives 850 f/s in .357 cases.

If JSWC means jacketed, i'd be reluctant to try to go 700 f/s with a jacketed bullet.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Just a note on the jacket bullets;

Don't use the starting loads.

Use a loading that should get that bullet in the 900 fps range for your first test.
Then if no "Squibs" you can adjust your loads.

Stay safe.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

A quick answer to the carbon ring if that is a problem for you.

I have a short piece of cleaning rod that I keep for use in a variable speed drill. I chuck it up with the proper size bronze brush (38 or 44) and with a bit of solvent and a few seconds of slow speed spinning; it removes any trace of a carbon ring. No real effort involved it and leaves the charge hole ready for a cloth patch for final cleaning.

I have never personally found the carbon ring to be an issue. Back when we used 38 Special ammo for training on the PD and then used magnum ammo for duty, I kept a close eye on the issue as one of the department FTOs. After training and qualifying with lead SWC 38s, we then ran through the officers' old 18 rounds of 357 Magnum ammo before issuing new ammo for the next quarter and I don't remember a single problem from that practice.

Still, I like to keep my revolvers as clean as possible so I use the above method when cleaning my revolvers' charge holes.

 

[sniper]

Agree completely!

My records show a charge of 5.4 gr Unique behind a Remington 158 gr LRN loaded to 1.62" OAL gives 850 f/s in .357 cases.

My ancient go-to IPSC load was 5.5 gr.Unique/150-158 gr. SWC, 357 brass, standard primer. Chrono'ed 860 fps. Plenty good for what ails you, pleasant to shoot! Still what I load most.