.38spl ammo in a .357?

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imperative

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Hi there, sorry if I'm bringing up something that's been covered a million times, but it's got me curious ...
I know you can use .38spl in a .357 gun, but I heard if you primarily shoot 38's all the time, then it makes it worse when you go to use .357 ammo. Like because the shorter bullet shoots out before the opening of the cylinder, it can wear out that front section. Does this make sense? Is it even an issue? Thanks for the help!
 
38'S IN 357'S, HEY

My M19 4" has near 49,000 rounds through it. If memory serves it's something like 25,000 rounds of 38's and 24,000 rounds of 357's.
The 38's won't hurt a dang thing. Brush out the chambers when you switch to 357's and bang away.
DAMN!!!!!! I hope I live long enough to wear out one gun...been tryin' for 50 years. TM
 
What "WESHOOT" said...LMAO!...Terry, has your "19" ever had/needed any 'smithing? Mine had to go back to S&W for headspace/timing after "only" around 14,000-15,000 rounds...about 2,500-3,000 were mid-70's "Super-Vel"...guess it got "shook loose"....mikey357
 
What the other guys said...it's just a cleaning issue...

The only "problems" happen when somebody shoots a bunch of .38 practice fodder at the range, doesn't clean it properly (if at all) and their .357 carry ammo doesn't quite fit in there right because there's a bit of crud in the cylinder bore that the longer .357 shell wants to scrunch into.

If you must treat your piece as your defense gun on the way home from the range and don't feel like cleaning it there, get some good .38+P defense fodder to carry during the trip home. No biggie.

Jim
 
M19 PROBLEMS...HMMM...LET ME THINK...

If memory serves it was at round 39,110 when the gas ring in the cylinder shot loose and tied up that M19 like it had been welded shut. Had been shooting 158gr gc swc bullets at 1275fps double action and the gun was hotter'n a ten dollar firecracker. At the time I hadn't a clue what happened. Had to bang the cylinder open with a BIG mallet and nasty words. Sent it back to S&W on a monday and on tuesday 8 days later it was back in my hands, no charge. I really lucked out on this sixgun. Bought it at Jaqua's in Findlay, OH back in '71. It is 100fps faster than any 4" 357 I've ever clocked. It was 100fps faster than the COLT 357 TROOPER I had at the time, it was faster by the same than all 3 COLT PYTHONS I've ever owned [ don't get me goin' on PYTHONS ], and all in all this 4" M19 is still my favorite 357 DA sixgun though I've not shot in ages now. Most all of my sixgun shootin' anymore is all in single actions; 5-600 rounds every Saturday I can wade through the snow up in the Black Hills and burn powder.
 
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