Let me add that in addition to being cheap, I am lazy, and that adds to my dilemma.
I have about 5000 .38 cases. maybe 1000 or less are nickel. I have 300 new .357 Mag cases.
My rifles and pistols are chambered for .357 expect a Marlin 1894 Cowboy in .38 but it will take .357 pressure. My goal is to have one load that will work for plinking, paper punching and critters up to coyotes. 99% being plinking and punching paper. I am too lazy to sort .38 and .357 cases, or to keep them separate when picking up up brass. I load on a 1050 and prefer having one set up. My fiancé cannot handle a steady diet of .357 loads but is fine with 9mm recoil. So something a bit more than .38+P looks like a good place to be. The cheap option is to load the .38's to 9mm pressure and sell the.357 cases.
The other option is to sell the .38 cases, sell/trade the Marlin or have the chamber lengthened, and buy .357 cases. Cost for this...value of .38 cases $200, ream chamber $100?, 2000 new .357 cases $300...so about $200.
My preference is to "do it right" and convert to .357 brass. The Marlin is a beautiful gun and worth more than I paid for it to a CAS shooter. I can buy a new 1894C or Henry for about $750 to replace it and be about even. How difficult would it be to ream out the Marlin .38 chamber to .357? Can I do it myself or does the barrel need to be removed?
If I use .38 cases, I have 12k+ Magma 130 RNFP commercial hard cast bullet I need to use up. The load for these would be about 5.6 gr of Universal. Once those are used up, I would convert to a softer 158 RNFP loaded over 5.0 gr of Universal. Any thoughts/opinions of those loads in .38 cases fired in .357 guns?
Thanks,