.38 special in .357

[Quiet Burp]

This one has probably been asked too many times already, but I would appreciate your comment. Does the use of .38 special rounds in a .357 cause errosion of the end of the chamber? As a kid I was told not to use shorts in a .22 long rifle for this reason. I have been given a heap of .38 spls. and I'm not too sure about using them. They feed well in my rifle if the projectile is seated out to give an overall cartridge length the same as the .357.

[John Traveler]

Greetings to you in Down Under Land!

I'm about to go to Australia on business myself.  Maybe we can link up sometime and chat about guns, ammo, Aussie culture, etc.

You can RELAX and be assured that extensive firing of .38 special ammo in .357 Magnum chambers won't hurt a thing!

I used to shoot PPC revolver, and consumed well over 100,00 rounds of .38 Spl ammo in my competition guns, all chambered for .357 Magnum.  Ditto for 30 years of firing hot jacketed .38 specials in my Marlin M1894, Rossi M92, and many other S&W revolvers.

You do have to clean your chambers regularly though.  I use a "Tornado" stainless spiral brush to get all the lead and powder fouling out.  If you neglect this part of routine gun cleaning, you can get hard extraction and accuracy will fall off when you shoot .357 magnum ammo.

HTH
John

[Quiet Burp]

Hi john, thanks for your reply. It cleared that subject up. With regards to your Oz trip, you might like to check out the reply to my post " Any one in Oz or R.S.A." in the Cowboy forum. Now about Oz culture, it's most important not to come the raw prawn unless you're lookin for a blue! If you can work that one out you're in, mate! Perhaps you'd like to contact me via a private message.   Regards, Q.B.