.38's out of a .357?

R

ruger357

New member
I read an article claiming it is not good to feed a .357 a steady diet of .38's. I have never heard of this before, has anyone?
 
Yup. the idea is that the shorter cases erode the chambers and /or build up dreck and then the longer 357 cases will not chamber readily. Owned a passel of 357s, fired a passel of rounds through them, haven't seen it yet.
 
I agree with Dave...heard same thing, had same experience. Been shootin the short cases in em for fifty years with no adverse effects.

Sam...my favorite 9mm is the 9X32
 
With new steels and heat treating, the erosion problem, most commonly seen in .22s of bygone years, is pretty much a thing of the past.

The big concern, as others have noted, is the build-up of debris at the chamber shoulder cut. This can make it hard to either insert a .357 Mag. round, or make it difficult to eject.

Cleaning with a bristle brush (bronze) and solvent will solve this problem nicely.

------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
I suspect the chamber erosion and buildup problem caused by shooting .38s in a .357 probably takes a very long time to be a factor. Personally, I do two things to help alleviate this potential:
1. Clean the chambers very well after I shoot the gun
2. Instead of shooting .38s, I load .357 magnum brass down to .38+P levels. I find that a 158 grain LSWC over 5.0 grains of Winchester 231 to be a light-shooting and accurate load.
 
My two S&W 686's are over 12 years old and have fired countless .38 special rounds without any sign of the erosion problem. Like everyone else has said, a good cleaning usually takes care of any stickyness when chambering .357 rounds.

Good shooting.
 
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