No 38s in 357s!

bore snake

I am new to handguns in general, but won't a Bore Snake through the cylinders take care of this? Some day I plan on getting a .357, but I am sure I would shoot .38's most of the time. Now some will tell me to get a .38 only, but I see more utility and options in the .357. I am no sharpshooter, so a difference in accuracy will be neglegable. Everyone talks about cleaning cleaning cleaning. This is important, I know, i do it, but why won't a bore snake just make this problem a non-issue?
 
This is the reason why I have only used Jacketed ammo for the last 15 years. It is worth the extra price for the ammo, just becouse it makes clean-up so much easier.
I own three .357Mag handguns and no .38spl hanguns becouse you will not get any better accuracy or velocity shooting a .38spl from either gun.
 
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

I fire 357 only in my 357's.

Or, I WOULD fire 38's only in my 357.

Or I fire 38's in my (wife's) 38.

I have had problems chambering 357 cartridges in 38-fired cylinders.
 
Being a handloader, I look at things through the eyes of a handloader. (no kidding ?)
For that reason, I don't see the point in shooting .38 Special cases in a .357 revovler simply because I dont' see the point in buying two different types of brass for the same gun. As was mentioned, you just load .357 cases with .38 Special level loads and be done with it if that is what you are looking for in terms of performance. I honestly don't know why people shoot .38 Specials in their .357, but I would guess that factory .38 Special is significantly cheaper than factory .357 ammo ? I have fired .38 Special cases in my .357s, but I couldn't tell you when.
Today, I own a number of .38 Special handguns and do in fact have plenty of both types of brass. But, I never got out of the habit.
Not that it matters, but I shoot 99.9% cast lead bullets in all my handguns and pretty much always have. Cleanup is a snap.
 
After shooting .38s in a .357, I 'ream' the chambers with expended .357 brass to cut the crud. When cleaning, I use a .40cal brush in the chambers after swabbing them out with Hoppes #9. They come out clean as a whistle! While I have used a cordless drill for cleaning the chambers, using the .40 brush is definately adequate and I have no need to use the cordless.
 
"Pre reloader", I did fire alot of .38 Special in my .357 'cause ammo was so much cheaper. I cleaned like a madman afterwards, so no real ill effects.

However, now that I am a reloader(and married with child to boot), those extended cleaning sessions are a thing of the past. I load some mild .357's for my target sessions..
 
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