38 Spl in .357 Maximum barrel....

[alan in ga]

Probably been asked a hundred times but,...any harm in shooting 38s in a Maximum chamber? Now that I HAVE a Maximum 14" barrel I'll listen to and remember the answer : )

[jimann]

Hi
No problem... 38 spec., or 357 mag., Just if you shoot a bunch of 38's, you could get a carbon build up in the chamber. Then if you shoot a Max. you could get a pressure problem because of tighter chamber. Just clean the chamber before you shoot a maximum after the shorter rounds. You can do the same thing with 22 shorts, longs, and long rifles. But not the 22 mag. It has bigger in diameter.
jim

[Lon371]

Hi
No problem... 38 spec., or 357 mag., Just if you shoot a bunch of 38's, you could get a carbon build up in the chamber. Then if you shoot a Max. you could get a pressure problem because of tighter chamber. Just clean the chamber before you shoot a maximum after the shorter rounds. You can do the same thing with 22 shorts, longs, and long rifles. But not the 22 mag. It has bigger in diameter.
jim

^^ What he said. I do it in my Contender .357 max and my H&R .357 max

Lonny

[lynneil]

Also, be aware of the long bullet jump, which won't help in the accuracy dept.

[cwlongshot]

Also, be aware of the long bullet jump, which won't help in the accuracy dept.

Maybe and maybe not. Many find it's plenty accurtate.  My own handi shoots mags nicely and 38 WCs in minute of beer can at 25-30 yards. The kids love shooting it!

Try it and see what yours thinks, as we can all sit here and speculate about what could or should happen. Bottom line is its safe, fun, great low noise and low recoil practice!!

Enjoy,
CW

[Hopalong7]

     I've got to agree with CW, the accuracy you get may be anybody's guess.  I've got two 357 mag revolvers.  One doesn't like my 38SPC WC loads at all, the other shoots them better than any 38SPC I've ever had .  You just don't know until you try.
Walt

[The Famous Grouse]

I have a 357 Rem Max in Super 14 and I do shoot .38 Specials as target rounds.  Just to confirm I don't find any accuracy issues as such, at 50 yards my .38s will form very acceptable groups.  I'm not willing to put the time into experimenting with different bullet types, but as with anything else I would imagine you could fine tune the .38 to be very good.   

I shoot a cheap jacketed bullet so no problems with chamber fouling.   IMHO it's worth paying a few cents extra for jacketed slugs just to keep the cleaning chores to a minimum. 

As a note, because of the lower velocity, my log shows that my Contender with my hand loaded .38 spl practice rounds shoots 4 inches high if the gun has been zeroed with the much hotter Rem Max deer rounds I use.  I have this down now to the point where I can go back and forth between the two just by changing the scope settings, but just wanted to make the point that it's unlikely you can sight in Contender for all rounds.


Grouse