I just picked up a new 357 revolver. I plan on shooting and reloading both. The overall length for the 357 is 1.590 and the 38 Special is 1.540. That puts the 38 another. 030 back from the barrel. Could I just make the 38 the same length as the 357? Thanks for your help and have a happy Thanks giving!
Do not make this more difficult. You can shoot normal 38 special cartridges in a firearm chambered for 357 Magnum. Many times, the difference makes little difference.
Read this thread:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-bad-accuracy
The cylinder length of most post-WW2 revolvers should accept .38 Specials loaded to 1.59" OAL. I load .38 Specials long in my Rugers to increase powder capacity and to provide the same OAL as .357s to feed in my lever-action rifles. A factor might be if your chosen bullet does not have a nose length and a crimp groove in the right place to secure the bullet against inertial dislodgement from recoil in +P loads, when seated out.
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I load the Lee C358-200-RF in 38 cases because it is too long for 357 brass. It will not chamber in a 38. You can probably do this with other boolits, but do not load them above the 38 loads unless they are too long to chamber in a 38 for safety. 38's at regular length shoot fine in all my 357's, but some people will not do it.
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Leave the .38's at .38 length, if for no other reason you may pick up a .38 spl. and why have two different length .38's? Don't worry about the rumours and folk tales about the .38 "ring" in a .357 cyl. if and thats a big IF it happens it's after hundreds of rounds and by that time your heading home to clean it, right?
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The 38 special ring in a 357 mag cylinder is very real, but you are correct that it does take a lot of shooting to do it. If you clean the gun immediately after you get home, you are good to go. If you wait a couple of days, the ring can be much harder to get out.Originally Posted by merlin101
It also depends in part on what you are using for lube on your boolits. Some lubes cause build up much faster than others. And no, I can't tell you which ones cause the problem. The lube I had the most issues with, I bought off eBay many years ago.
Now, I just make sure to clean the cylinder when I get home.
Stainless cylinders seem to build up faster than blued steel for some reason.
I had a similar problem many years ago shooting shorts in a 22lr chamber. After a few boxes of the shorts, a 22lr was difficult to chamber and when fired was extremely difficult to extract.
Cleaned the chamber out really well and no more issues.
I just load everything in a .357 case and load to .357 OAL,
Keeps it simple, and you can load everything from light .38 special loads to .38 +P+ and all the way on up to full house .357 Mag loads just by changing your powders and charge weight,
Plus it'll keep those "hot" 38 +P's from winding up in a .38 not designed to handle them... And it keeps the cylinder a little cleaner, but like Merlin101 said. the .38 ring really isn't a big deal
I don't like cleaning the ring either, so like I said I just use .357 cases now, but I also found that if I just shot the .357's before the .38's it was no problem loading, etc. and I always clean the cylinder the same day.
If you've got a stainless or nickel gun try out this lead cloth from Pro Shot Products, Its amazing at removing lead and carbon, I even cut it into patches and put it on a jag to clean the cylinder and barrel with it, just don't use it on blued or case hardened guns
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