Increasing chamber length

[PacMan]

My brother droped off a SP101 yesterday chambered for 38spcl for me to work up some loads.He does not reload.
Any way the conservation shifted to possible lengthening the chambers to .357 mag.

My question is to do so if i buy a reamer what are the chances that the reamer will match the existing chamber diminsions.
Next would i use just a finish reamer or would i need a rougher and finisher.

Last of all is who could i send it to to have the work done if i do not want to do it myself.

As always any advice is appericated.
Thanks

[Bret4207]

A finish reamer would work fine for one gun. The chances of getting one of matching dimensions? Chancy. But, if you do it carefully and get things concentric it should go fine. Any gunsmith with some time under his belt could do the same.

Something to think about is "why?". Why do it? What will actually be gained in a strong gun like that over the 38 Spec? You can load the 38 up into 357 levels. You'll get all the extra muzzle blast, recoil, energy and that lovely fireball we all admire so, along with the increased recovery time. It's not hard at all using 2400 to take the 38 way past the +P+ level. A 158 gr boolit at 1200+ fps doesn't care what the head stamp on the brass is.

[PacMan]

Yea Bret i have one myself in .357 and i shoot 38 mostly and the 357 just enough to know it ant fun.Recoil does not bother me much but the muzzel blast is terrible. The only real reason is the ability to shoot the mag if nesseary or the only thing handy.

Thanks for the reply and help.
Dwight

[largom]

A finish reamer would work fine for one gun. The chances of getting one of matching dimensions? Chancy. But, if you do it carefully and get things concentric it should go fine. Any gunsmith with some time under his belt could do the same.

Something to think about is "why?". Why do it? What will actually be gained in a strong gun like that over the 38 Spec? You can load the 38 up into 357 levels. You'll get all the extra muzzle blast, recoil, energy and that lovely fireball we all admire so, along with the increased recovery time. It's not hard at all using 2400 to take the 38 way past the +P+ level. A 158 gr boolit at 1200+ fps doesn't care what the head stamp on the brass is.


I agree with Bret 100% however, Pacific Tool and Gauge will grind a reamer to any dimension that you want.

Larry

[subsonic]

One thing you might look at is cylinder length. You may be very limited in what .357 ammo will fit in the cylinder, depending on when the SP101 was made. The early ones had shorter cylinders.

[Piedmont]

They didn't make that gun very long in .38 Special. If I had a choice I would prefer owning it in .38 to avoid chamber cleaning problems when shooting .38s in the longer chambers. You also get a bit more velocity shooting .38s in .38 chambers than shooting .38s in .357 chambers.

If he must have it in .357, why not sell the gun to someone else and buy one stamped .357 that has the longer cylinder?

[PacMan]

Not sure haow long it was made but he bought it new last month.

[subsonic]

Its easy enough to measure the cylinder length with a caliper, add rim thickness, and compare that to max oal for .357 in a load book.

[PacMan]

I was refering to piedmont repl about not making the 101 in 38spl. any more.
I was with my brother when he bought his last month and the dealer had 3 of them along with a couple of 327s.
I had my head in my rear when he bought the 38spl.I should have had him wait and get the .357.

Personally i see no real reason for the 38 as the .357 leaves more options open with the biggest its abilty to digest both rounds. I guess that if the little guy staning on my shoulder promised me I would never need to fire .357 in the gun i would argee with others.
He has been wrong before but not often.
Thanks
Dwight