I've got a neighbor that drinks too much, talks too much and just doesn't think at all, I'm sure you all know one, hero to zero in one beer or less!
He managed to talk a friend of his into selling him a new .38 special Ruguer SP101, really nice gun!
He kept coming down here trying to talk guns with me and kept brining up the .38 magnum, "I need me some .38 magnums for that bad dude, that gun is just sweet, I need some magnums for it!"
I'd explain there was no such thing but they did make +P and +P+ loads that were hottter and his gun could easily shoot them. I'd explain how it all worked and he'd drop it.
Next day, we'd start all over! I'd send him links that explained the difference between all of them, "Thanks dude, that makes perfect sense now!"
Next day, we'd start all over!
I'd had enough! I took some .357mag brass and cut it down to .38 length and loaded up five rounds with some Barry's plated hp's, I went right in between the top .38 loads and the bottom .357 loads. I knew I wasn't going to blow the gun up, I could ream it and shoot .357's in it fine!
He shot them, didn't save the cases of course, but he's never once brought up .38 magnums again? Guess they were a bit too warm for him?
Another thread right now is discussing the FBI load and what it is vs what it was vs what it could be.
Then I read about how much easier .38 brass extracts from snubbies and found a Buffalo Bore load, 158grn at 1,100fps.
I then had a crazy idea, how hard could I push cut down .357 brass in a .357 gun, thus the .38 magnum?
Now I already know it's not a smart idea and I can hear it now "Your going to end up shooting one in a .38 and blow the gun up!" I don't own a .38, these would only be shot in my personal .357's (I hope to get another soon).
But just how hard could/should a person think about pushing these? I know "start low and gradually work up", but would the end game be worth it? Would I get a significant enough increase in velocity to make it worth the time trimming the brass? (Not aneasy thing mind you!)
In the case of the loads I made for the neighbor, I opted for .357 brass just as a cya move, in theory .38spec brass should have held up with those loads, but I wanted to be certain!
So, tell me how stupid, crazy or genius on this one?