A couple of questions....

[RightWinger]

I was talking to my gunsmith today who is working on my 629 and I asked him if he used wolf springs when he did an action job and he just laughed and said, "most people probably think I do". He later told me that in his honest opinion he felt reduced power springs were a rip off because the OEM springs on Smiths are very high quality and you can achieve a lighter trigger pull by simply putting an ever so slight bend in the main spring.....I went home and tried this on a few and was amazed, the strain screw was fully screwed in and the trigger felt significantly better. My 2nd question is if you lose accuracy by firing .38's in a .357 due to the bullet having to jump a small gap that the .357 would not have to?? I'm sure i'm about to get schooled here....but hey, thats why I love this place!!!

Eric

 

[john traveler]

In order to "prove" that a revolver shoots more accurately firing .38 Specials vs .357 Magnums you would need to fire many hundreds of rounds of match quality ammunition from a Ransom rest bolted to a concrete bench. Plus, you would need to have many statistical samples of that revolver and the match quality ammunition to generate an acceptable statistical trend.

Let's just say that for the vast majority of shooters, there is no detectable difference in accuracy between firing .38 Specials and .357 Magnums in a revolver that will chamber both.

 

[socal s&w]

john t is correct, but I might add that you can load a 357 case down to 38 target fodder and everything functions just fine. Although you may need to bump that listed load by a grain to compensate for the added room in the case.
That is if you feel the need to test this theory.

 

[shovelwrench]

I only played with one gun where I tried matching the velocity between .38 and .357. It was DEWC from a 686. The .357 brass, same velocity, same bullet, shot groups signifigantly smaller then the .38 brass.

YES, from a ransom, over a chrony.

 

[tomcatt51]

The bullet to throat jump does make a difference. Less is better. I'm shooting a great example right now, a 627 (38/357) with shotened 38 special brass and a loaded oal of 1.210". Why? Because the shorter cases eject better and reload faster for shooting USPSA etc. This is a more extreme case of a long jump to the cylinder throat and the difference becomes more apparent. As the cases/oal gets shorter and the bullet jump gets longer the accuracy definitely deteriorates. That said, for most shooting is 38 spl vs 357 mag a big deal? No.

 

[OKFC05]

My 2nd question is if you lose accuracy by firing .38's in a .357 due to the bullet having to jump a small gap that the .357 would not have to??

Max accuracy often comes by loading the bullet long so that the bullet sits just into the throat. This centers the bullet and eliminates the jump that even .357 loads normally have.

You have to be shooting some special revolver and be exceptionally good to ever notice the difference.

For practical pistol shooting at normal targets up to 35yd, a .38 Special shoots just fine in a .357.