357 brass in a 38 special?

[Trey45]

Suppose one wanted to load some 38 special wadcutters, could one use 357 brass and crimp over the wad cutters top? Using 38 special load data adjusted accordingly for the extra case capacity. I don't have a 38 special to stick a piece of 357 brass in to find out.

[Firebricker]

Does'nt sound like a good idea to me. If you were really hard up for .38 spl brass you could trim them. It would be much much better to just get correct brass. FB

[Leadforbrains]

I wouldn't do it. My conclusion is that it just doesn't seem right or safe. Some things are just not backwards compatable.

[HeavyMetal]

Because the case is about .125 longer than 38 spec case's your issue will be the brass opening in the throat and not the chamber area! Even with light target loads this is gonna raise pressure's but, and this is much more important, the case will not open compeletely which means it will drag on the boolit, which means some lead will be shaved off, which means a .358 slug will now be .355! It won't shoot well.

Trim the case's back if you don't have 38 spec. OR trade them to someone for 38 spec case's.

I'm real sure you'll find a couple guys that will swap 357 for 38 spec. just to help you out!

The down side to shortening 357 case's is some one some day may not realize these have been shortened and load them with a magnum load. If they find there way into a 38 spec. well it won't be good.

I did the same thing with split 44 mag case's many years ago and the short "mags" did get mixed with the regular ones. The wierd crimp problem brought this to my attention but if I had been loading all short ones I may have just adjusted the dies and moved on!

That's a real issue to think about!

[beagle]

Trim 'em back. You'll get pressure with that setup. Not worth messing with to even trim unless you have loads of time on your hands. Just buy 500 .38 Special off somebody and they'll last a lifetime with wads./beagle

[garandsrus]

Trey,

I will trade you 38 special for the 357 brass :)

John

[MtGun44]

HeavyMetal has it exactly right. Likely would not chamber, would not be a good thing if
it does chamber.

Don't do it, but I doubt you could without doing something strange to the first 1/8" of the
brass.

Bill

[Tom Herman]

Think about it for a second: Most revolvers aren't bored straight through.
They have an area the length of the case that is one diameter, then there are the throats, which are smaller in diameter.
So, if you stuffed a .38 into a .357, and tried to push that into a .38 cylinder, it simply shouldn't go. It will go as far as the length of a normal .38 case, then stop.
Just my two cents worth....

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[anachronism]

To make certain I understand your question: You want to know if you can seat a 357 bullet below flush in a .357 mag case, at approximately 38 spl length, then crimp over the nose of the bullet so it won't interfere with chambering the loaded round in a 38 spl revolver?

If so, the answer is no. The end of the case would be the same as a bore obstruction & would cause chamber pressures to skyrocket. It's not inconceivable that this combination could cause a catastrophic failure. The case would need to be trimmed to 38 spl length to function properly.

[Tom W.]

Suppose one wanted to load some 38 special wadcutters, could one use 357 brass and crimp over the wad cutters top? Using 38 special load data adjusted accordingly for the extra case capacity. I don't have a 38 special to stick a piece of 357 brass in to find out.

You're wanting to put 4 grains of Unique into .357 brass and a 148 grain wadcutter and shoot it from a .357 revolver.... My Hornady 6th edition lists things like that as a cowboy loading... sort of. They have a 140 grain Hornady lead bullet listed....

It isn't a good idea to cut down a .357 case to use in a .38 special revolver.

[David R]

IF I understand the question, you want to fire these out of a 357?

Just wadcutter loaded into a 357 case shot out of a 357?

Sure, I do it. They seem to shoot just as well as wadcutters loaded in a 38 case fired out of a 357.

I did try to trim 12 357 cases down to 38 special length. It didn't work, I think it squished the boolit down because the case did not expand when I seated a wadcutter. They shot terrible and fouled the bore. 357 brass and 38 brass are pretty cheap.

If you are trying to put a 357 case in a 38 chamber with out trimming don't do it.

David :)

[Four Fingers of Death]

Once fired 38 brass is as cheap as chips. Go down to the pistol club if you are really short of bucks. You will no doubt find someone who has some old brass to give away or sell cheap. I got started with some donated brass, started with 400+, ended up about 5 years later with a bit short of 300, gave them to a new shooter, he used them every week for years.

You sure get your moneys worth with 38brass.