Accuracy - .38 vs .357 Mag, etc.
After reading all the really great advice a few things come to mind:
1) You might want to try some mid-range (lower power) .357 loads. These are sometimes available commercially but I bet there's a friendly reloader who will help you prepare some that are comparable to your .38's for you. These will fill the chamber but duplicate the .38 velocity. You might want to try some +P & +P+ .38 loads too to see (from the other direction) if the over long cylinder (relative to the .38's) is the reason the .38's don't seem as accurate. (Accuracy = group size).
1A) Are you doing the accuracy testing offhand or from the bench (sitting in the booth, forearms on sand bags, shooting s/a)?
Someone encouraged you to shoot d/a and I would like to add my encouragement to that too. You'll learn to shoot if you practice d/a with a revolver. If I were you I'd put the semi-auto aside for a while and focus on sight alignment and trigger control then grip, stance, breathing, and follow-through. Learn to shoot the revolver well before you add complexity.
Getting yourself coached is brilliant. Too many of us 'learned' to shoot by watching westerns and other action movies and had decades of bad habits to unlearn and unlearn again when we got over confidant.
One of my teachers told me that I'd never get better shooting live ammo but I would if I dry practiced. One day on the range I hit a slump. I unloaded and dry practiced for a while. I came right back. No recoil, etc allowed me to focus on the fundamentals.
2) You might be doing better with the .357 because you are focusing better because each shot is apparently more significant than the .38's. Recall your karate training and the sensation of focusing. Transfer that to your shooting - every shot.
3) Someone mentioned grip exercises. This worked for me in general too. If you want to carry the grip exercising a little further there are exercisers that are designed for handgun shooters that exercise the fingers independently - so you can grip with the lower three and press the trigger separately.
4) How much dry practice do you do? Here's what works for me: I lay a coin on the top strap and press the trigger in DA and count the number of times I can do it before the coin falls off.
Dry Practicing: In a room where there is no ammo and you can point your firearm in a safe direction (one that if you had a negligent discharge no major property or persons would be hit such as a stone fireplace or underground basement wall). Say out loud: "I am going to dry practice now". Recheck your gun to make sure it is unloaded. Commence dry practicing: sight alignment, trigger control, grip, follow through, stance, and breathing. Go slowly. Do 10 minutes a day. When you are done say out loud 3 times: "Dry practice is over. My gun is loaded" and then leave that room, load and holster your gun (if you normally carry it on your person) and carry on.
5) When you shoot the .38's & .357's do you shoot in any particular order or doesn't it seem to matter?
6) I recommend everyone who shoots read Louis Awerbuck's I am the Bullet:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11511
Hope this helps.
Negligence is no accident.
