.357 mag and .38 special?

Question

ON the S&W website it says .357 magnum revolvers can take .38 special +p bullets also. Can they also take regular .38 special? I dont understand that.

Answer 1

A .357 Magnum revolver can take ANY 38 Special ammunition. All dimensions are the same except length, to prevent .357 ammo being chambered in .38 Special guns, as .357 ammo is loaded to much higher chamber pressure than .38 Special.

Answer 2

The .357 Magnum is a extreme pressure .38 Special, so they extended the case so that in won't fit into a .38 caliber revolver. The .38 Special + p is a high pressure .38 Special to be use only in modern revolvers rated for + p ammo. the .357 Magnum can handle all these rounds because it is built for the higher pressure rounds. Older .38 caliber revolvers will go KABOOM with a steady diet of + p ammo and will not chamber .357 Magnums.

Answer 3

Of course. You won't get a squib from any commercial 38 Spl cartridge. The difference between a 357 Magnum revolver and a 38 Spl revolver is that the former is much stronger and the cylinder is a smidgen longer. Otherwise, it's a big, fat 38 Spl if that's what you want to do. The original 357 loads were just hot-loaded 38 Spl cartridges in pre-production development, and pistol cartridges don't exhibit that explosive phenomenon that's been described with very underloaded magnum rifle cartridges.

Answer 4

Standard 38 special ammo is just labeled ".38 Special". The +P designation means that it is loaded to higher pressures to increase the velocity, and it sould be used in .38 Spl. guns marked as safe to use this ammo. When police were still using revolvers, there was a .38 Spl +P+, which is loaded to the low end of ,357 mag pressure. A .357 Mag. revolver can take all .357 loads and all .38 special loads.

Answer 5

Yes, with no problem at all. The .38 +p operates at less pressure than the .357 magnum. Any .38 special round can be used in a .357.

Answer 6

The 38 special is the same diameter as the 357 mag the bullets are .357" in diameter. The 38 special is a shorter version of the 357mag. So in a revolver it is safe to shoot the 38 spc +p and 38spc in the 357 mag.

Some historcal info on the 38 special and 357 mag.
http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/p38spec.html
http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/p357m.html

Take a look at the cartridge drawings and you can see that the only differance in these two cartridges is the case length.

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd38special.jpg
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd357remingtonmagnum.jpg

Answer 7

I have a 357 mag. and all I shoot are regular .38 specials out of my 357 because they aren't as lowd. But If you don't want to shoot 38 specials I would shoot the 38 special p. But the only difference is that the regular 38 specials are loaded with a little less powder.

Answer 8

Unless you are worried alot about weapon weight, buy the .357. A 38 just does not have enough power to hunt with. Also don't buy a light weight .357. Full round 357's in a light weight will punish you. You can shot 38's out of it and the variety of ammo is huge. A 9mm is also under powered for hunting. The 9 and 38+P are about equal in power. FYI- the .357 has the best one shot kill stats of all pistol calibers.

Answer 9

Sure can. Both are the same diameter, but the .357 contains more powder. so, the .38 special cartridge will work in the .357 since it is the same, just less powerful. Just like a .44 magnum revolver can also fire the less powerful .44 special round.

Answer 10

Yep, a .357 mag can shoot .38's and .38 specials. They are the same diameter just shorter.