38 Special in a Rifle

[Kmrere42]

Hi,


Does the 38 gain any velocity with the longer barrels. Not +P loads, but standard loads with powders in the unique to blue dot burn range.


Thank you,



Paul B.

[NickSS]

Yes, I shoot a lot of 38 spl rounds through my Marlin 357 mag and on average I get between 200 and 300 fps more velocity than through my 4 inch GP100 revolver.

[Halwg]

Yes, I shoot a lot of 38 spl rounds through my Marlin 357 mag and on average I get between 200 and 300 fps more velocity than through my 4 inch GP100 revolver.

I agree with that.  I get about 300 fps more in my Marlin 1894C.

[mannyrock]

  Yea but, . . .if you are not a reloader, then shooting the .38 P+ is too expensive to shoot.  The factory .357 Mags are often much cheaper!

Regards,

Mannyrock

[Swamp Rat]

A good rule of thumb is 25fps per inch of barrel length. I don't personaly shoot .38's in my .357 because of gas cutting and carbon fouling that my interfear with .357's

[Dee]

I have shot thousand of 38 specials thru 357 mag pistols in a 20 year career, and NEVER experienced any gas cutting of the chambers or fouling that EVER caused any problems. I have used every kind of powder imaginable for the reload of these rounds, and have shot thousands of rounds furnished by different depts. both reloaded, and factory. This cutting and fouling of the chambers remains an elusive ghost in my 50 years of shooting.
I have also owned 3 rifles in 357 magnum (one Marlin lever, and two Rossis) over the last 25 years, and have like wise fired thousands of rounds or DUPLICATE 38 specials thru them with same results. The one I have had for the last 5 or 6 years now is rotated back and forth with light to moderate 38 specials for small game to full house 357 magnums for the 350 to 400 lb weight class feral hogs that live in the area. I have never had a hitch in the feeding, firing and ejection, or accuracy of this rifle, and occasionally inspect the chamber when cleaning. Again this problematic cutting and fouling beyond cleaning remains a ghost that I cannot find.
So for you that have purchased these very versatile rifles and revolvers, but are worry warts by nature. Enjoy your firearm. You will not shoot out your chambers in YOUR lifetime. Let your grandsons worry about them.

[Kmrere42]

Hi Dee,


Some time back I read an article about this happening and an experiment was conducted to find out just how quickly this could happen.  I seem to recall that with particular powders and very light bullets in max loads this would happen in less than 25 bullets down the same chamber.  These loads were not typical of most people but were unique to a very small segment of users.  This is different than ringed chambers further back which are almost always caused by a powder wad not being in contact with the base for the bullet, and causes the air between them to act in a manner like a fluid and deform the chamber radially at that point with a ring.



Hope this helps.




Paul

[Bigeasy]

I have shot thousand of 38 specials thru 357 mag pistols in a 20 year career, and NEVER experienced any gas cutting of the chambers or fouling that EVER caused any problems. I have used every kind of powder imaginable for the reload of these rounds, and have shot thousands of rounds furnished by different depts. both reloaded, and factory. This cutting and fouling of the chambers remains an elusive ghost in my 50 years of shooting.
I have also owned 3 rifles in 357 magnum (one Marlin lever, and two Rossis) over the last 25 years, and have like wise fired thousands of rounds or DUPLICATE 38 specials thru them with same results. The one I have had for the last 5 or 6 years now is rotated back and forth with light to moderate 38 specials for small game to full house 357 magnums for the 350 to 400 lb weight class feral hogs that live in the area. I have never had a hitch in the feeding, firing and ejection, or accuracy of this rifle, and occasionally inspect the chamber when cleaning. Again this problematic cutting and fouling beyond cleaning remains a ghost that I cannot find.
So for you that have purchased these very versatile rifles and revolvers, but are worry warts by nature. Enjoy your firearm. You will not shoot out your chambers in YOUR lifetime. Let your grandsons worry about them.

Dee is correct.  Back in the 80's, I was a cop for a dept. that issued 4' .357 mag as our duty gun.  We could use as much .38spl reloads available from the dept. range, free of charge for practice as we wanted.  Usually 500 rounds a week.   Over a period of about 4 years, I actually wore out the lock work of a S&W 586 twice, shooting these reloads double action.  NEVER had a problem with gas cutting or carbon fouling to the chambers.  Clean a gun now and then, and the .357's would chamber without issue.  Same thing with my .44 mag / .44 spec. guns.  The bit about shorter cased rounds badly fouling / damaging the chamber so longer magnum rounds will not function is basicly untrue, though anything, I guess, is possible when carried to the extreme.

Larry

[Swamp Rat]

I have never had a problem either and never will because my equipment is set for 1.59" and I only load into .357 brass. Like I said before "I personaly don't" just like I don't shoot jacketed bullets(cast my own) and I don't scrub the crap out of my rifling with a bore brush. If you want to, knock your self out. I also did not say it would screw up/foul chambers, I said it may.

If life as we know it changed and all I could get was .38's then I would shoot .38's, it hasn't .357 brass is everywhere and I see no need to adjust my dies just to load .38's.