.38 or. 357

If you like being able to hear at all, go with the .38 spl.

hermannr said:

If you like being able to hear at all, go with the .38 spl.

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Or see at night for follow up shots! But of course, which caliber you choose is optional if you start with a .357 firearm. Load heavy for a walk in the woods and use your normal self defense loads (of either caliber) at home.

fire suppressor said:

A 357 is a 38 bullet with more powder?

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Yes. Or, more precisely:

The .38Spcl and .357mag projectiles are the same diameter.

The .38spcl came out around 1900. As mentioned above, the cartridge case is long because it, like many other early revolvers, was originally for black powder. Meaning, the reason revolvers have such long cartridge cases today is because they evolved from the black powder era. You don't need that long cartridge case in order to get enough powder into it anymore. Modern smokeless powder doesn't need that much volume. Notice that the 9mm (.355") has more energy than a .38spcl generally speaking, but the 9mm has a much shorter cartridge case.

Around 1935 or so, a few somebodies talked Smith & Wesson into sooping-up the .38spcl and called it the .357mag.

In developing the .357mag in 1935 it was decided to make the .357mag case about 1/8" longer so it would be too long to fit in a .38spcl cylinder. Otherwise, people might accidently load the .357 cartridges in their 38spcl gun, and blow up the gun.

So, the cartridge case was made longer for the .357mag, but the projectile diameter was left the same.

Citizen said:

In developing the .357mag in 1935 it was decided to make the .357mag case about 1/8" longer so it would be too long to fit in a .38spcl cylinder. Otherwise, people might accidently load the .357 cartridges in their 38spcl gun, and blow up the gun.

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I have herd this before but never knew if that was true or not


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Citizen said:

Around 1935 or so, a few somebodies talked Smith & Wesson into sooping-up the .38spcl and called it the .357mag.

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One of those "somebodies" was Elmer Keith. He was loading the .38spl way beyond it's design limits. Kind of like +P+ (and maybe more) before SAAMI came along.

Fire Suppressor-

The .38 case is 1.155" long and the .357 case is 1.290" long. These are the only dimensional differences in the two rounds. Some reloaders merely put a .135" spacer under the lock ring of their sizing and seating dies when changing from .38 loads to .357. The same holds true for the 44 spl/44 Mag rounds although the "spacer" is only .125" thick.

As for shooting "specials" in a Magnum and having a crud buildup in this approximately 1/8" area, I've interchanged these rounds many times over the years. It's not as bad a problem as many would suggest. Most will shoot .38 for practice, clean, and load .357's for carry. The key is regular cleaning and a good brush for the cylinder. Now for those who think cleaning is a "once a year" task, that might be a problem. Cast or swaged lead bullets can put more crud in this "gap" but jacketed bullets don't. Again, cleaning is key but that should be a no-brainer.

SayWhat said:

as others have mentioned, 357 offers flexibility of shooting the cheaper .38 for practice. However, when you carry, load it with 357hp. Almost all ruger and s&w revolvers are awesome. I shoot .38's out of my .357 vaqueros all the time with no problem. Is more cleaning required? Yes but .38's are substantially cheaper than .357, and that's why shoot 'em. The most time I have on a ultra-light .38 is the Taurus model 85. It's so small and so light it's very difficult to shoot accurately past 10 yards. Oh, and a must have on these pocket guns is a crimson trace laser, so add another $150-200 for that. Most of the pocket guns have horrible sights.

As an alternative, you could always get a +p rated 38 and you're in the realm of 357 stopping power.

One of the newer revolvers that has caught my eye (haven't shot it) is the chiappa rhino. It's weird looking but the design leads me to believe that follow up shots would be easier as the muzzle flip would be less.Just my .02.

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+1 I was lucky enough to see a guy at the range with one and he let me fire a cylinder of .357 rounds through it.... OMG I dont care what it looks like It makes my Glock 9mm recoil seem harsh.

My view has been and well still is pick the gun and round you can shoot well with. On the market today there are many lightweight firearms. Since we are discussing the .357 and .38/SP it is more about the recoil and hitting the target of choice.

My nephew bought a 38SP for his wife, which she had never shot and purchased 38SP ammo even though I mentioned to start out with old plain jane .38,
It turned out that it hurts her hand and was unable to hit the target at 25 feet from the lightweight of the gun and recoil of a 38SP, I feel she would have done better with the .38, now it is engrained in her if she shoots that gun, it is going to hurt her.

Lighter weight guns will have greater recoil so the old adage of carry the largest gun you can shoot with reliability.

To large of a caliber that one is not able to hit the target with, what good does it do?

Baked on Grease said:

Yes and no, mostly gotta make sure to clean the "crud" the 38 leaves behind before using 357's again... Otherwise you run into major problems. But on the face of it the rounds are interchangable in a 357 chambering.

The suggestion is the same as always... Go to a range and shoot them, if the range has some for rent, or bring a friend and try his out. If it's a concealed (2" barrel) gun then the 38 may work better as it's typically a smaller package.

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I think this problem gets overstated a lot. I've gone from shooting a whole box of dirty cast lead .38s to shooting .357s before, and I'll admit that I could tell that the chambers were fouled up, but I was still able to chamber the longer .357s, and the gun most certainly didn't blow up on me. As long as you don't have to manhandle the round into the cylinder, I don't think you're going to have any problems.

onlurker said:

First thing I thought of. A 9mm round out of a 2" barrel isn't going to do more than annoy an already angry quadped.



Sort of. A 357 is essentially more powder than a .38SPL, but not to be confused with a standard .38 bullet. Think of it this way, a .38SPL is a .357 round in a necked down but slightly longer .38 Long Colt case since the Long Colt 38 is the parent case to the .38SPL.

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I'm not sure if this is really all that helpful lol. Especially if he doesn't know the difference between .38 and .357 already.

I do want to add though, if you ever do get a .38 or .357, make sure the first ammo box you buy says .38 special and not .38 S&W. I made that mistake when I got mine, and quickly learned that .38 S&W has a slightly wider diameter at the base, and will not chamber in a .38 Special or .357 Magnum pistol for that reason.

Schlitz said:

yea, it blew my mind when I first learned about .38 vs .357

.38 is really just nomenclature.

The bullet diameter of a .45 is .45 of an inch...the diameter of a .50AE is .5 of an inch. .357mag? .357 of an inch. .38spcl? .357 of an inch. lolwut?

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It gets really fun when you add .357 SIG to the mix, which is not .357, but .355". .380 ACP is also .355" wide. 9mm Luger is .356" or 9.03 mm. 9mm Makarov is actually 9.22 mm (.363")

That's why you should never trust the product name of a round. There are SOOO many 9mm rounds out there, but most of them have slightly difference diameter bullets. The product name is just that-a product name, not necessarily the dimensions of the round.

SovereignAxe said:

It gets really fun when you add .357 SIG to the mix, which is not .357, but .355". .380 ACP is also .355" wide. 9mm Luger is .356"

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No worries mistaking the .357 Sig for anything else. It's a somewhat "bottle necked" cartridge. As for 9mm, one can shoot a .355 bullet, a .356 bullet, or .357 (like lots of competitors do). It depends on whether a jacketed round or just plain lead. The competition shooters will often use the .357 jacketed bullet as they're looking for higher velocities that come from less gas leakage in a slightly worn bore.

One more question just because I can what do you is feel is best getting a revolver with or without a hammer? Oblivious a hammer gives you the benefit of revealing a lot of the trigger pull but a hammer less revolver means it wont get caught on anything

fire suppressor said:

One more question just because I can what do you is feel is best getting a revolver with or without a hammer? Oblivious a hammer gives you the benefit of revealing a lot of the trigger pull but a hammer less revolver means it wont get caught on anything

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Concealed hammer revolvers are great for pocket carry. Can even be fired from the pocket although it does a number on the jacket

There's something to be said for walking through a dangerous area having your revolver in your hand, in your jacket pocket. Can't be much more ready than that.

Unlike a small semi-auto, a concealed hammer revolver can be fired several times while concealed in a pocket without fear of getting fouled by ejected brass.

The concealed hammer also makes it possible to remove from concealment without fear of snagging the hammer spur in your clothing. Only disadvantages are any caliber limitations and number of rounds available.

Yeah, having a hammerless revolver is completely dependent upon what your personal needs are. If you want this revolver as a carry piece that's going to stay in a holster, you may not need a hammerless. If you think you may keep it in a pocket, yes. If you're going to CC with it in an IWB holster and think it may snag on your clothing when you draw, that's up to you. Personally, if I wanted an exposed hammer revolver for CC I would dress accordingly.

Agreed, hammerless is less likely to snag on clothing... if you want the best of both (can be cocked by the hammer), but don't want a hammer that will snag, look at the S&W Bodyguard Model 649. It has a shrouded hammer.

I use to carry a s&w airwieght 38/357 for years. Now I carry a S&W bodyguard 380. Sold the airwieght, love the 380.

Sizewise, there is no appreciable difference.

The revolver on the top is a Taurus model 605 .357 Remington Magnum.

The revolver below is a Charter Arms .38 Special Undercover.

For a personal defense carry gun I prefer the .357 caliber.

Thanks for all of the advise and feedback it may be a few more months before I can go pick something up but once I do I'll let you all know what I went with