Stupidity and the .38

.357 will fit in a .38 chamber, but you won't be closing the cylinder. The case is just a bit longer, the diameter is the same.
Guess pnac beat me to that. :) Shoulda hit submit instead of wandering off.:o
 
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Well, here is a scary one. .38 Super will chamber and fire in many .38 S&W chambers, including those of old breaktop revolvers!

Jim
 
I just tried to load a 10MM round into a Charter Arms Undercover .38, no way, not even with a hammer.:D Must have been a .44 and I don't have a .44 to try it. The 10MM diameter is 0.406 and a .38 is .358 inches.
 
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You have made a couple of references to your ammo and your reloads. If you don't mind me asking, and it is not overstepping my bounds, why does he have such easy access to your ammo? Even if you live in the same house you might want to treat it like a small child. He is an adult and you probably can't keep him from buying his own, but maybe keep yours locked up before he hurts someone.
 
"Will a 357 fit in a 38 cylinder? I'm assuming they are bored to just fit 38's, but curious."

The answer is a resounding... maybe.

Early Colt .38s often didn't have shouldered chambers.

Few Spanish knockoff copies of Smith & Wesson revolvers had chamber shoulders, either.

I've seen a couple where a .357 mag would fit in a Spanish copy.

Scary as hell.

Smith & Wesson was, from a pretty early date, shouldering their chambers, so it was never an issue for them as it was for other manufacturers.
 
The OP asked when he should be taking away the car keys. Based on everything described here, should this gentleman be out with a firearm, unsupervised? If a vehicle can be a deadly instrument, what about a firearm? I hate to say that but unless we all die suddenly and young, we will all face the day when we shouldn't be doing some things on our own.
 
Kind of reminds me of this one time a range buddy of mine brought a friend of his to a range session we had. After specifically telling him not to touch anything he loaded MY LC9 clip with. 380auto and couldn't understand why I was upset... then proceded to try and shoot my backup clip of Hornady Critical Defense loads, then proceded to try and load reloads (I don't shoot other's reloads unless I'm confident in their ability) in my. 40 and stated they weren't reloads because the 4 rounds he picked up out of the box weren't brass cases (we had a 250 box of Rem UMC specifically to shoot out of my pistol, those reloads were for my friend's glock)... I left pretty frustrated and told my friend never to bring the guy shooting with me again.
 
Can a .357 chamber in a .38 revolver. Maybe. Recently on the SW forum a man had been shooting his Smith 642 .38 , went back to his shop, cleaned it and reloaded. As he was closing the cylinder he just happened to see the case stamp. It was .357 ! He had inadvertently picked up the wrong ammo. It shouldn't have fit. Other posters said it was impossible. Smith and Wesson said it was impossible.............until he sent them pictures. Smith's response was to send the gun in immediately. Someone at Smith had fit the 642 with the wrong cylinder. So, will a .357 fit in a .38...........maybe.
 
I had the same experience recently with my new 638 and reported same in the revolver section of this forum.

Fired off about 50 rounds after picking up the gun NIB. Out to the shop to clean. Just to see what would happen, picked up a 357 snap cap and it fit into the cylinder. Then tested with a live round, yep it fit too and was able to close the cylinder.

Had to send photos to S&W so that they could see that it was indeed possible to load a 357 into a 38 spl clyinder. Sent it in and they replaced the cylinder with the correct one.
 
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