I am thinking about buying a new rifle that is setup for 357 Mag/38 Special. I have looked through all of my reloading manuals and all that I can come up with are rifle loads designed for the 357 Mag. I can get brass for 357, but I have a lot of 38 Special brass. Any ideas on loads?

Gary

Use any pistol data you care to. You might pick up a couple hundred foot seconds but, operating pressures being lower, I wouldn't look for the big boost a carbine barrel give a 357 magnum.

I load for the 41 rem mag,I use pistol data in my marlin.They work well in my blackhawk and the rifle.Good Luck

The Lyman boolit .358156 is designed to allow the seating way out and crimp in the second groove. I've loaded many of these boolits in the .38 Special case with a pretty stiff load of 2400. Works great. The .38 Special in this combination is a wonderful small game load and would be a nice 100 yard hunting cartridge.
Shotgun

I had a 38 special built for my wife about 25 years ago on a Ruger # 3 action. Even today it'll handle any 357 load. It also opened the door to safely use a number of powders not normally used in a revolver. It lives high on H-110 for instance where in a 38 special revolver that powder can leave bullets stuck in the barrel, and has. roger

6.5 gr unique & a 125 gr JHP, sure blows the chit out of old tabby

In my opinon loading 357 pressure loads in 38 cases is asking for trouble. I did it once for a freind of mine with strict instructions not to use them in a 38 rev. He owned.

Well guess what he loaned the rev. out and they stuff the cly full of the hot loads and proceded to ruin it. It didn't blow up but they bulged the cly and cracked the frame. I just don't do it any more.

Use only 38 loads in my opinion.

Bartsche why didn't you just chamber it in 357.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Sewell:
I can get brass for 357, but I have a lot of 38 Special brass. ...

Hey Gary, I'd encourage you to go on and get the 357Mag Cases. Develop either 38Spl or 357Mag Loads in them and don't look back.

A long time ago a buddy's nephew went to the Range with us. He had a 357Mag S&W(but the brand didn't matter) and shot a cylinder full. I happened to look in his direction as he was "attempting" to Eject the spent cases and he had the Ejection rod on the benchtop so he could get more leverage to push them out.

Could not imagine what was going on as it was a relatively new revolver. Fortunately he had not managed to bend, mangle or mutilate the Ejector Rod. But the Cases sure were tight. I got a cleaning rod and pushed them out individually. You could feel nothing but a stuck case and then they would finally release.

What had happened was he had fired a whole lot of 38SPl cartridges in it and apparently a Carbon Ring had formed imediately in front of the 38Spl Case Mouth. When the 357Mags were shot and Expanded, they were able to get a tenacious grip on the Carbon Ring.

Still wasn't sure what it was, because it was nearly invisible. Broke out the Hoppe's Tornado Brush and whatever Gun Cleaner I was using at the time. Had him scrub the obummer out of it. After that, the 357Mags fired and ejected properly.

But, it could have been avoided "if" he had cleaned it better(it looked pretty good though) or had simply stayed with the 357Mag Cases.

Best of luck to you.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Bartsche why didn't you just chamber it in 357.

Good point , but I didn't. In fact my cousin shot some 1.5" groups with it today at 100 yds. It use to do much better. Maybe if he cleaned it once in a whileroger

This is a good place to ask somthing. I have
a Remington #2 that I had re-rifled and chambered to 38 Special. It has a gain twist
(always wanted to play with that). Anyway
148 gr Wad cutters wont group. 190 gr hard
cast form a group bt not great (2 in @ 50 yds.
I haven't found a fired bullet to see if the
bullet is skipping the rifling.
Any inputs or experience with this?
Thanks!

My model 94 in .45 does well with lead SWC's when they are seated almost to the rifling. Does O.K. with jacketed bullets too, but not so hot with lead round nosed bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by hawkins:
2 in @ 50 yds. Any inputs or experience with this? ...

Hey Hawkins, If it were mine, I believe I'd try "Slugging" the barrel. Can you push a Lead Slug through the Barrel from the rear with it on the rifle?

I'd oil the Barrel and Oil a Round Ball of the appropriate size, or perhaps cut a 148gr Wad Cutter into 1/3s or 1/4s, and try a section of it. A Flat Tip 38Spl Jag on a 30cal cleaning rod should work.

Oh yes, I'd be feeling for a "loose spot(s)" in the Bore. And of course, once it is Slugged then you could tell if your current Lead Bullets are 0.001" larger than the Grooves or not.

A 190gr Lead Bullet seems a bit HEAVY for a 38Spl. If it is Hard Cast, it "might" have difficulty Obturating. But I'd have lost money on those 148gr Lead Bullets not working for you. Shot a whole bunch of them with HP-38 and WW-231 at 38Spl levels in 357Mag cases. But they were always Revolvers - so far. Got a Gun SHop trying to find a Stainless Marlin 357Mag for me right now.

One last thought, you might try making some Milk Carton or Styrofoam Gas Checks and seeing if they would help. If the Base is getting any Flame Cutting, those Gas Checks "might" be just enough to Stop it.

Make a Cutter from a "Fired but not Resized" 38Spl or 357Mag Case. I drill out the Primer Pocket so I can stick a small rod through there to push out the Gas Checks. And Sharpen the Case Mouth with your regular Deburr/Champfer tool. Then cut them out on a piece of wood.

Best of luck to you.

Hot Core; thanks for the ideas (good winter project). the reason for the 190 gr was that the gain twist wound up a bit fast. The hard cast was in case the rifling (shallow) was
skiping. I will make an effort to locate a fired bullet, should tell somthing.
The gas check idea sounds good. I'm not using
jacketed bullets as the barrel steel is soft.
Thanks again!

You are welcome. I'd have responded sooner, but wanted to see if I could think of any more relatively simple things to try.

Lead is amazing stuff for Bullets, but you can get all kinds of Leading Issues(which you are probably already be aware of).

1. Blow-by from the Bullets not Obturating properly and/or slightly undersize.
2. Leading due to "smearing" as the Bullet skids instead of Spinning at the start.
3. Flame Cutting of the Base. I feel sure you know the Base is critical to accuracy. If it somehow gets boogered up, the accuracy is gone.
3a. That Lead goes somewhere, generally in the Grooves at the start of the barrel.
4. Leading from going too Fast.
5. Leading from going too Slow.
6. Lead near the muzzle.
7. Lead all over the place.

And yet, it is easy on a Barrel which can allow you to get 8-10x as many shots through it accurately as can be done with Jacketed. I still like them.

It could also be as simple as switching Powders, but I'll guess you have tried that.

Anyway, best of luck with the project.