In actual fact many of the early .38 Long Colt revolvers WILL accept a .357 magnum round! But they were mostly made in the late 1880s and 1890s in a quick succession of models. Many being US Army issue. The very revolvers whose impotency led to the .45 ACP and the M1911.
S&W Sheriffs 357 Special Exploded Today.
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In actual fact many of the early .38 Long Colt revolvers WILL accept a .357 magnum round! But they were mostly made in the late 1880s and 1890s in a quick succession of models. Many being US Army issue. The very revolvers whose impotency led to the .45 ACP and the M1911.
Davinman
Member
ok, thanks for the info, you learn something new every day.
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cadmike
Member
Hey guys I just had the same problem as OP with my S&W .38 Assault Magnum. Whole barrel flew down range and now there's a live round stuck in chamber. I'm sending it to smith in hopes they can unstuck the chambered round and fix the gun. While it's there I'm thinking a refinish and trigger job is in order.
Pisgah
Member
I love it -- there's an account that is clearly either wrong in its details or an outright fabrication, and everyone's got an opinion of what happened.
Is it any wonder I consider 50% of everything I read on gun forums to be pure bunk?
Is it any wonder I consider 50% of everything I read on gun forums to be pure bunk?
The most common cause that I have seen in revolvers was
from firing 1/2jacket bullets at low velocity. The core separates
and leaves jacket in barrel ( obstruction) core exits and shooter
fires again bulging barrel. I saw one 1911 suffer same fate.
There was a outbreak of this in 80s. The only one I remember
that did more than bulge barrel was a HI Standard stub nose
357. It bulged right in front of cone and cracked the frame
enough barrel fell out.
from firing 1/2jacket bullets at low velocity. The core separates
and leaves jacket in barrel ( obstruction) core exits and shooter
fires again bulging barrel. I saw one 1911 suffer same fate.
There was a outbreak of this in 80s. The only one I remember
that did more than bulge barrel was a HI Standard stub nose
357. It bulged right in front of cone and cracked the frame
enough barrel fell out.
Just like any rumor; believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.
hkcavalier
US Veteran
Two posts in 2 years, hasn't logged back on since the comment...sounds pretty shaky.
Pisgah
Member
Just as an aside -- I still think the original post was very fishy -- there was a problem when S&W first started using two-piece barrels on some models with barrels being launched downrange. Nothing to do with the ammo, just a manufacturing problem.
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Looks like a "post and run" incident 
.
.Looks like a "post and run" incident
Could be, but he brought out a lot of armchair experts.
scooter123
Member
Spend enough time around steel barstock and you will see all kinds of defects. All it takes to cause a failure such as this is a defect in "just the wrong spot". What happens is simple. The flaw causes what is described in Engineering as a Stress Riser. Depending on the magnitude it can create a "weak spot" that has anyhing between 1 and 99 % of the strength of an adjacent area. The only way to prevent these flaws from reaching the end user is to X Ray every single inch of the basic stock. Something that NASA can do when sending someone to the moon but it's a process that is just too expensive for normal production products. BTW, there is also the matter of the person "reading" the X ray and getting it wrong, something that is disturbingly common.
Good news is that these types of failures happen often enough that S&W will simply tell the customer to chose a new model that is in stock and similar to the damaged revolver. Bad news is that if the revolver was made before 1989 it was made under different ownership and S&W will not warranty product produced by the previous owners of the company.
Good news is that these types of failures happen often enough that S&W will simply tell the customer to chose a new model that is in stock and similar to the damaged revolver. Bad news is that if the revolver was made before 1989 it was made under different ownership and S&W will not warranty product produced by the previous owners of the company.
Did you get the rabbit?
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Was it a hotter round? A squid load?
You can feel a squid load, it's that different. Stop do not fire the next round. One must be very alert when shooting.
I had a squid load about 42 years ago. Never reload with distractions. I caught it in my ruger SBH 7 1/2" barrel. I pushed the bullet out. No powder. Never made that mistake again. I do not talk to anyone when reloading. I check, each round after charging in the bullet tray. I check it again just before the bullet is seated.
You can feel a squid load, it's that different. Stop do not fire the next round. One must be very alert when shooting.
I had a squid load about 42 years ago. Never reload with distractions. I caught it in my ruger SBH 7 1/2" barrel. I pushed the bullet out. No powder. Never made that mistake again. I do not talk to anyone when reloading. I check, each round after charging in the bullet tray. I check it again just before the bullet is seated.
Gunsnwater
Member
Squib not squid
Black Knight
Member
Dainman: It may have been certain models as I know his particular one had been bored straight through. I also talked to a local gunshop owner at the time who confirmed that Colt did that with some revolvers. It was cheaper than boring and leaving the throat area in the cylinder. Also it is possible that someone may have had the cylinder bored to except 357 Magnum ammo. He bought the gun used so he had no idea what its true history was.
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The original Colt .38 and .41 D.A. revolvers (ca. 1889) used a heel-type bullet, like a .22 rimfire. Since the bullets were full case diameter there was no need for chamber throats, so as a result any round of similar diameter not longer than the cylinder (including .357 Magnum) can fully seat. At some point the .38 Long Colt converted to a standard bullet and Colt machined the charge holes accordingly.
Arik
Member
I'm thinking it's either BS or the gun in question was a J frame 357, this the "sheriff special"
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iPac
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It's just hard to believe a barrel breaking off and going flying while leaving the section with threads still in the frame.
Not impossible I suppose, but very unlikely.
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