Diamater of .38 special

[ghh3rd]

I'm about to order a Lee Lube and Size Kit for my .38 Special but am not sure what diamater I should order. What is the actual diamater of the .38 Special?

Thanks,

Randy

[Dave B]

.358 is best 99% or more.

[MtGun44]

+1 on .358"

Best to slug your bbl and measure chamber mouths. Read the sticky on
revolver accy in the pistol section if you want to learn about this. If you just
want to take your chances, get the .358 and go.

Bill

[Larry Gibson]

Strong vote for .358 for a "general size" but I prefer .359 or .360 ifthe bullet casts that large.

Larry Gibson

[mooman76]

At least 358 or maybe even 359 if it will chamber, won't hurt. You have to slug your barrel to know for sure and actually you have to slug the cylinders as well.

[Will]

Most 38spl guns have a bore of .357 and throats of .358 or .359. The .358 boolit has worked for me for 50 years with no leading.

[mooman76]

If you don't want to go to the trouble to slug your pistol, I would go with a 358 and if you need a little larger shoot the bullets as cast. They will probubly drop at 358 or 359 anyway.

[jameslovesjammie]

My .357 has a bore of .356 and has 5 chamber throats .357 and one .3565. It does EXTREMELY well with .358 diameter cast boolits.

[DLCTEX]

I size .359 and have had no problems chambering the loaded rounds in a Charter revolver.

[mtgrs737]

Most .358" cast boolits shoot well in 38's, However you really need to slug the bore and also the chamber/cylinder throats. I have a Smith 686 cylinder at the cylindersmith's right now to have the throats reamed because they slugged .357" and I want them at least .358" for a tighter boolit fit in the bore. My .357" bore guns were bad leaders until I started adhearing to the .001" or more over groove diameter theory.

I don't know how much the chamber pressure increases when you use the cylinder throats as a high speed sizer die, but it can't be a good thing.

[R.C. Hatter]

Were I you, and desired the best performance, I would slug (or use plug gauges if
available) to determine the size of the chamber throats. Then slug and determine the bore size. The bullet diameter you use should be a slight push fit in the throats. When
the big match hits the powder, the bullet WILL fit the bore. (unless the bore is larger than the throats, in which case you will need the throats enlarged to .001" over bore size, or another cylinder installed)