Can 38 Special be shot in a T/C 357 Mag barrel?

[rifleman]

Just asking to be sure! I traded my S/W 357 Mag on a Contender and had quite a bit of handloads in 38 Special all done up. I'm sure I could get rid of them, but I'd like to get a 357 Mag barrel and it would be a good use of the ammo. Our indoor range has a velocity limit to save the backstop and 38 Special fits the bill nicely.

Thanks
Dave

[jgalar]

yes

[rifleman]

Thanks, thought so, but wanted to be sure. Would have felt pretty stupid with part of a barrel sticking out of my face.

[MF]

You can do it but some people have found that firing the shorter cased 38 in a 357 mag barrel will leave a ring mark in the chamber. I've shot quite a few 357 mag out of my 357 max barrel and haven't noticed a ring so I quit while I was ahead and only shoot 357 max out of it now. Mike

[Deaf Smith]

Just give the gun a good cleaning when you are done. I shoot 38's and 357's out of my 357 maximum barrel all the time makes it easy to practice with on the indoor range at my gun club. We too have power limits in there and no magnum loads are permitted but I can shoot 38's all day long. I can practice with the 357's on the outdoor range as well and save my maximum loads for serious bisness and hunting practice. I can get 357 loads pretty close to my max hunting loads in recoil. Not exactly but close enough so the recoil of the max does not surprise me when I use it. I just clean the chamber regisiously after every use to prevent problems loading the max rounds. It works fine and I have had no trouble what so ever.
Jim L

[rickyp]

I have a nice S.S. 357 mag that saw a lot of 38 special rounds trough it.
It does have a ring etched in the chamber just at the end of the 38 special case. This is not a curd ring but true etching, It does not affect the accuracy of the 357 magnums just shortened the case life a bit

[Blackhawk44]

While I have NEVER seen 38's etch a 357 chamber(in a cylinder alloyed to withstand 40Kpsi), I guess anything is possible.  I'd pretty much bet that a good shot of Blue Moon and a 35 caliber bronze rifle brush would bring it back to new.  You can use those 38's in your 357 Maxi too.

[Gregory]

I have a nice S.S. 357 mag that saw a lot of 38 special rounds trough it.
It does have a ring etched in the chamber just at the end of the 38 special case. This is not a curd ring but true etching, It does not affect the accuracy of the 357 magnums just shortened the case life a bit

Years ago I contacted TC about shooting 38 specials and 357 mags out of my 357 max barrel and they recommended NOT to.  The explained the barrel "ringing" problem and it could cause the longer case to fail at the "ring".

[wheelgun]

The chamber / throat is so long in my 357 mag barrel that I have been shooting 357 max in it for a year now.I used cerrosafe to check chamber and it is same length as 357 max.Maybe a T/C reject but it shoots good.