STOP Shooting 38's in your 357's!!

[bedbugbilly]

I just clean my 357s after I shoot 'em . . . and I always inspect 'em before I shoot 'em . . . even though I know they're clean 'caus I cleaned 'em . .

I guess this means I can't shoot 38 Colt Longs in my 38 spls either . . .

 

[radar1972]

Who whines about a GIFT, anyway?

 

[brucev]

Re: OP. With extreme respect I disagree. I have been shooting S&W revolvers since 1979. I have shot a truck load of .38 Special factory and reloaded ammunition in S&W .357 Magnum revolvers. I have typically cleaned my revolvers after each trip to the range our out in the woods/field. I've not ever had any problems chambering .356 Magnum ammunition after shooting .38 Special ammunition.

I do not deny that in some extreme cases someone has experienced problems chambering magnum ammunition in a revolver fired with .38 Special ammunition. But this is not the general experience of the vast majority of those who shoot .38 Special amo in .357 Magnum revolvers.

If one does even general common cleaning and maintenance to a .357 Magnum revolver, it is just about impossible to conceive of any situation in which there would be problems chambering .38 Special ammunition in common .357 Magnum revolvers.

 

[mikld]

Wow, I thought this thread died weeks ago! Nuttin's gonna change the OP's mind, we've heard every way to clean a cylinder, and opinions on both sides of the fence. So, has anyone learned anything or is anyone better off?

Sorry, rhetorical question. Please don't answer and keep this thread running...

 

[Engineer1911]

Crud

After you get the 38 spl ring out of the cylinder, do you remove the burn ring off the cylinder face and clean the smut off the inside of the top strap?

A simple remedy is a Clymer cylinder reamer and a stainless steel bore brush. The reamer removes the thick stuff, and chucking the bore brush in a drill leaves a nice shine.

Gun cleaning just interferes with trigger time at the range.

 

[growr]

I can't believe this thread is still going........

Randy

 

[rwsmith]

It seems that three pages....

Me thinks the OP just don't wanna be convinced...

It seems that three pages of good reasons would be enough to convince anybody.

I guess I could post a thread called.....

"All Smiths are junk, trade them in for a Glock"


.....and watch the comments pour in and keep saying over and over that no one has me convinced.

If it's 'humor', I call it 'troll humor'.

 

[Engineer1911]

This thread shows personality. Some members are sensitive folks, others are the prickly kind looking for a soft spot.

It's a gun -- just a common tool. If you use it, it will get dirty. Where is the problem?

 

[joeintexas]

This thread brought to mind the thread I read here some time back that said, " I never clean my gun....I heard that cleaning ones gun is the number 1 cause of gunshot death...followed closely by just starting to turn your life around". I got quite a chuckle out of that one. Back to the subject though, I quite often shoot 38s out of my 686 and always clean after each session with a good dose of Hoppes #9 and brass brush. For me the 38s are so much cheaper and the paper I am shooting doesn't know the difference.

 

[S&W HE]

An interesting thread.

To summarize my understanding: many (most) shoot .38 Specials in .357 Magnum cylinders; clean the .38 Special "carbon" residue from the cylinder; and shoot .357s with no ejection problems.

I'd always adhered to "shooting .38s in .357 cylinders will etch (flame cut) the chambers over time and make ejecting .357 cases difficult, if not impossible" consensus from the early 1970s.

So a trip to the range was in order to run an informal test.

After closely inspected the six chambers in a Model 66 (all clean and shiny), for the first time I fired .38 Specials in .357 Magnum chambers (100 rounds).

Returning home, I thoroughly cleaned the 66 and re-inspected the chambers noting a faint ring in each where the .38 residue had been (re-cleaned the chambers noting no change).

A question: Does anyone who shoots lots of .38s in their .357 have trouble with ejecting factory or full load .357 Magnum cases?

A request: Please post pictures of your cylinder's chambers.

 

[johngalt]

The big thing I've always questioned -

Several have advocated using a chamber brush (especially stainless) on a power drill. Do you worry about what you are doing to the chambers? Are they still round? Oversized from excessive polishing?

Regular use, especially with a stainless brush in a power tool seems like abuse to me.

I fail to see how this is better than just using the correct brass. After all, this is the reloading section. There is no more cost or work involved using the correct brass, and it solves a real problem.

I really don't understand the dismissive comments thrown at those of us who choose to customize our ammo to meet our desires and solve the problem.

 

[alwslate]

I think the "carbon ring" problem is grossly exaggerated. I can't even
imagine having to actually use a brush in a power tool to clean 357
chambers after firing 38 spls. I think some people are confusing simple
darkening with hard build up of residue. After shooting 38s in one of
my 357s I just run a snug patch wet with Breakfree through each
chamber and another one down the bore and I have never had a
problem chambering 357s later.

 

[mikld]

An interesting thread.

To summarize my understanding: many (most) shoot .38 Specials in .357 Magnum cylinders; clean the .38 Special "carbon" residue from the cylinder; and shoot .357s with no ejection problems.

I'd always adhered to "shooting .38s in .357 cylinders will etch (flame cut) the chambers over time and make ejecting .357 cases difficult, if not impossible" consensus from the early 1970s.

So a trip to the range was in order to run an informal test.

After closely inspected the six chambers in a Model 66 (all clean and shiny), for the first time I fired .38 Specials in .357 Magnum chambers (100 rounds).

Returning home, I thoroughly cleaned the 66 and re-inspected the chambers noting a faint ring in each where the .38 residue had been (re-cleaned the chambers noting no change).

A question: Does anyone who shoots lots of .38s in their .357 have trouble with ejecting factory or full load .357 Magnum cases?

A request: Please post pictures of your cylinder's chambers.

It just keeps going, and going, and going...

 

[riverrat38]

"why in the sam hill would someone buy a 357 so they can shoot 38s' out of it?"

According to S&W, they don't make .357 Magnum guns, they make .38 Special/.357 Magnum guns.
And, they currently don't make many .38 Special guns. Just Airweights like my M442 and M64/M67 SS guns. And, a few blue Classics.
I just bought a M640 Pro. It is listed as .38 Special/.357 Magnum and those are what I will shoot. I did not have the option of buying that model in .38 Special only. I think it is the same with Ruger. Time was, things were different.


Best,
Rick

 

[AZretired]

Back when I started in LE carrying a M19, we qualified quarterly on the PPC 50 rd course minimum of 100 each time plus practice. I put a minimum of 700 to 1000 rounds of .38 Wadcutter ammo through that gun each year. Officially we shot the qual course only once per year with our duty ammo. Duty ammo was Federal 125 grain JHP and a probably put another hundred. Or so rounds of magnum ammo through it per year. Point is, I cleaned my gun regularly and never noticed a build up, ejection problems, scoring, permanent burns marks or any other issues. Shooting 38s in a 357 is normal and too big a deal is made over it. People just need to learn to properly clean a cylinder.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[rwsmith]

I took me a while to realize....

This thread brought to mind the thread I read here some time back that said, " I never clean my gun....I heard that cleaning ones gun is the number 1 cause of gunshot death...followed closely by just starting to turn your life around".

All of those stories I heard when I was a kid about somebody shooting themselves when "They were cleaning their gun and it went off". It didn't dawn on me until I was grown and into guns that most, if not all, of those people died from eating their guns. My Mom actually discovered someone who had died "cleaning their gun".

 

[Model19man]

Been shooting .38 Special and .357 Mag from my nickel M19-5 for many years. Clean it real good after each session with Hoppes #9. No issues with anything sticking ever.

 

[mkk41]

The big thing I've always questioned -

Several have advocated using a chamber brush (especially stainless) on a power drill. Do you worry about what you are doing to the chambers? Are they still round? Oversized from excessive polishing?

Regular use, especially with a stainless brush in a power tool seems like abuse to me.

Many years I took a 6in piece of 1/4" aluminum hex stock , drilled and tapped one end 8/32 and grooved the other end so I can use it in my power screwdriver to clean my cylinder chambers. You would have to spin it 24-7-365 for a few years and wear out a dozen power tools before ya cause any wear to the heat treated steel of a cylinder/chamber with a bronze brush.

 

[nocheese4u]

Inspecting the gun and cylinders before heading to the range might have alleviated most of your frustrations.

Exactly what I thought. Especially in a "new to me" gun. With ammo the way it is now, I shoot what ever I can find and afford.

 

[Jlduke]

Really, this is one of the dumber threads on here. Surely the OP is only pretending know so little.......