Mixing 357 Magnum and 38 SPL?

L

Lee Enfield

New member
Is there a benefit to mixing say a .357 Magnum and .38 Special in a given 357 magnum revolver? I was thinking that you could go all 38 SPL, except the last round in the cylinder is a 357 magnum; and vice versa. That way, it'll keep count for you when you feel the recoil change. Though, I mean, it's "only" 6 or so rounds, but still... And, perhaps you'd want all 357s instead to pack more punch, instead of having a sort of handicap by unnecessarily adding a round that offers less of a punch. Maybe for home defense or concealed carry purposes on say a DA/SA revolver, there could be a scenario to have the first and last rounds be a 357 while the rounds in between are all 38s.

Anyway, that thought got me to thinking if there are real world benefits to mixing different rounds within a given revolver. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!
 
No. There will be a different POI. Anyway, if you can't get out of whatever mess you got into with 4 or 5 rounds of .38 Special, a single .357 isn't going to help.
And if you shoot .38's in a .357, the cylinders require cleaning before shooting a .357. Usually only applies to cast bullets, but you can have a lube gunk ring(isn't lube though) from shooting jacketed too.
 
Sounds like what used to be called "pattern loading" a revolver. In this case, 38 Specials to get on target then .357s. Would work if you practice enough.
 
Pick a load , learn to shoot it accurately & carry this load .
I can tell you from first hand experience , in the middle of a situation involving shooting, you loose count of how many shots you have fired , how many shots he fired , when are the magnums going to go off and what sight adjust ment to make when those magnums come around...only hits count ...misses get you killed .
You just don't have time to think when someone's shooting at you...keep self defense as simple as you can...
one load .
Gary
 
The only times i ever heard of this was in the old days in departments that prohibited the .357 Magnum or hot loaded .38 Special ammo.

It was often the case that street cops and detectives would load the first chamber with a very hot loaded .38 Special someone on the department would do for his buddies, then the rest would be standard .38 Special.

The idea was that if you had to shoot the first one out would be a real man stopper hot load, then the rest would be standard loads so that when the shooting team checked your gun it would have department approved ammo in it.

There were cases where witnesses to a shooting remarked that the first rounds fired by officers had a gigantic muzzle flash and an extremely loud booming crack, and the rest were quieter with no flash.

All this was an artifact of the days when cops were expected to shoot it out with heavily armed, drugged up criminals while the cops were using the old .38 Special 158 grain round nose, lead "widow maker" ammo.
After enough law suits from surviving widows most departments adopted the first +P ammo.
 
Carbon ring build up from the shorter 38 to 357 is an issue?

Oh cuss I assumed for the life of the revolver.

For defense?

Good gosh man, no.
 
The only reason I have ever mixed 38 and 357 was to check for flinching. I just can’t see the advantage to it in a self defense situation.
 
Carbon ring build up from shooting 38 Special in a 357 Magnum chamber can definitely occur, even with FMJ projectiles, and can prevent chambering the longer 357 Magnum cartridges. But I think it would take more than a couple of cylinders of 38 Special to occur.
 
If the gun is a small frame that holds only 5 rounds, I wouldn't want to deal with a serious magnum load on any of the rounds. It is so bad that you would even avoid practicing with it. If the gun is big enough, holding 6, you won't go wrong loading to match what is stamped on the barrel. But then few carry a gun that big effectively concealed.
 
I dont see why you would mix them, whats the point?

I really dont understand why people practice with 38's, and then load 357's in the gun either. I think you should be practicing with what you intend to shoot, or at least similar rounds of the same power.


pblanc said:
Carbon ring build up from shooting 38 Special in a 357 Magnum chamber can definitely occur, even with FMJ projectiles, and can prevent chambering the longer 357 Magnum cartridges. But I think it would take more than a couple of cylinders of 38 Special to occur.
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Ring build-up is a very real, and annoying thing, especially if youre shooting the gun a good bit and/or not cleaning it well after use. The 357s either wont chamber, or chamber "hard", and you also can have extraction issues due to it.

Ive run into quite a few people over the years having troubles because of it, as well as those who insist on dumping the empties "muzzle down" and wondering why the cylinder wont close, or is very stiff closing and cycling.
 
I really dont understand why people practice with 38's, and then load 357's in the gun either.
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I used to do that - - a lot - - it was for costs reasons and to save wear and tear on the gun (S&W M19).
I'm one of those people that recoil doesn't bother so, comfort never entered the picture.

As far as clearing the crud ring goes - belling the mouth of a .357 case slightly, then pushing it into each chamber shaves the ring right out slick as poop through a goose. Never ever had an issue with crud after learning that trick.
 
In years gone by low cost 38 Special reloads were seen as an economical way to practice-sort of like 22 RF. Jeff Cooper emphasized practice with carry ammo.
 
Hal said:
I used to do that - - a lot - - it was for costs reasons and to save wear and tear on the gun (S&W M19).
I'm one of those people that recoil doesn't bother so, comfort never entered the picture.

As far as clearing the crud ring goes - belling the mouth of a .357 case slightly, then pushing it into each chamber shaves the ring right out slick as poop through a goose. Never ever had an issue with crud after learning that trick.
Click to expand...
I recently used the flared case mouth trick on a 3" S&W 65 I bought. It was pretty dirty when I bought it, and while it didnt look to bad after I cleaned it, and the 357 rounds went into the chambers fine, I about had to beat them out with a piece of wood once fired. Hurt to much by hand.

The case trick and a lot of scrubbing did the trick. Works great now.

Im betting thats why I got such a good deal on it too. It had been in the same shop before, and I missed it, and as luck would have it, it was back in the case a little while later.

Whoever had it last probably thought it was screwed up. I wondering the same thing myself at first too. :)

Shoots pretty good too. DAO at 10 yards. 357mag, of course. :).......

enhance
 
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Lee Enfield-LOTS of other folk have suggested "non standard" loading too. If you stick around this site for a while I'll bet you'll see it come up again in some form like .38 special/.357 magnum or solid points/hollow points or shot shells/bullets etc., etc.

Popular opinion is against it (as you've seen).

It just might possibly be we over think this stuff a bit.
 
I'm like most of the others - I see no benefit at all. POA/POI difference comes to mind first, I shoot 38s in 357s often - but - not without cleaning chambers/throats well before switching to 357 length cartridge.

As far as "round count" - I can't believe the number of times I've been at a range and hear someone shooting and then "click" "click". The first thing that was hammered into my head over 50 + years ago - whether semi-auto, revolver or rifle - know how many rounds you load and count when you release 'em. It becomes habit. I no longer carry a revolver for CCW but when I did, IMHO, it's even more important to be aware of your round release count - especially if involved in a SD situation.

Regardless of if it is for SD, plinking, competition, etc. - revolver or whatever - pick a cartridge load and "learn your gun" - i.e. poi versus pot - learn to count your rounds as you dispatch 'em and make each one count as if it's your last - whether you're shooting cans, competitions, hunting or whatever.
 
I have mixed 38's and 357 magnums when shooting at the range just because. In real life I see no upside to doing this. I use the hottest loads I have for both practice and carry. To be honest I like the feel of Recoil.
 
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