I acquired a couple of guns, a.357 and 38 special. I have a whole bucket of 38 special shells. Does anyone know if they will work on the .357. They fit, but I don't want to shot it without knowing. Please help!

 

Yes .38's will fire from a .357. They are used alot as practice rounds in law enforcement. Same round, just necked down and less powder.

 

38 special in the 357 works but its not "necked down". The case is just a little shorter, thats all.

 

Yeah that's what i meant. It's not necked down. cause that would be what they did to .40 shells to fit the .357 sig rounds in them. Sorry. He's right. But they will still work.

 

Great! Thanks a bunch.

 

when u get 357 shells it wouldnt be safe to try them in a 38 but the 38 will work in a 357

 

357 shells won't fit into a 38 revolver they are too long and prevent the cylinder from closing. A steady diet of 38's in a 357 will erode the cylinder walls, but you will have to shoot thousands of rounds before you'll see degradation in performance.

 

Yeah, I only have maybe 100-150 shells. Just wanted to use them up. Have no other use for them.

 

Confirming

38 or 38 sp can be used in 357 but not the other way around.

38 guns are not made to handle a 357 load.

 

I am 62 years old, have been a pistol shooter for over 50 years, and a certified firearms instructor for over 25 years. I'm a cowboy action shooter, a range safety officer, I moderate weapons forums on two survival boards and have my own private 1000 yard range on my 1881 Ranch.

The 357 magnum case is 1/10 of an inch longer than a 38 Special. All other cartridge dimensions are the same. It is intentionally designed this way to prevent the more powerful 357 magnum cartridge from chambering in a structurally weaker 38 Special revolver.

That said: shooting 38 specials in 357 magnum revolvers or rifles will NOT do anything to the chamber walls but get them dirty. If you do not thouroughy clean the chambers, you run the very real rick of having a fired 357 case get stuck in the dirty chamber. That is the ONLY problem. I've been doing thios longer than a lot of you have been alive.