"J Herring" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:50:42 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:



wrote in message news

Speaking of interchangeability - I came across a box of .38 S&W
rounds, which appear almost
identical to the .380 round. They chamber in the .357 revolver just
a little more snug than the .38
Specials and the .357 rounds do. When looking for information, I
find
some who say they cannot be
interchanged with the .38 Special, and some who say they can - if
fired in a gun designed for .38
Special - not vice-versa.

The 38 S&W is slightly larger than the .38 spec and they usually will
not chamber. The loading is a lot lower pressure so if you did get
one
in the gun it would be safe to fire but extraction could be hard to
do.
The real problem is going the other way. Usually the .38 S&W chamber
is shorter so you can't get a .38 special in there and revolve the
cylinder but if you can, you have a very good chance of splitting the
case when it fires and the pressures in a .38 special are higher than
most of those old .38 S&W guns were designed for.

All of that said. I knew a guy with a .38 S&W who shot regular .38s
out of it and he still had all of his fingers. The cartridge cases
were trashed tho. They all had a fire formed shoulder on them about
1/4" above the rim and sometimes the case mouth split..

----------------------------------------

I have a S&W 337 .38 "Chief's Special" with the shorter barrel (2")
and titanium cylinder. The barrel is stamped, " .38 S&W SPL. +P
Jacketed" on one side.

I understand that the reason for using jacketed +P ammo only is
because non-jacketed rounds in the adjacent cylinders can actually
have "lead creep", meaning the recoil is sufficient to move the lead
forward at the crimp. If this happens, the cylinder could jam.

But what is not clear to me .... and so far I haven't found any info
... is if the requirement to use jacketed ammo applies only to the +P
type.
My understanding is the +P is a "hotter" round ... with more recoil.
So, I am not clear if using regular 38 Special ammo that is not
jacketed is ok.
Not that it really matters because it's not exactly a "range" gun.
But, I'd like to bring it once in a while just to get some more
experience with it and the indoor range at the club I belong to only
allows unjacketed ammo. At the outdoor ranges, we can use anything.

I'll fire off an email to S&W and see what they say.


What does the manual say?

----------------------------------------

The manual warns about using jacketed +P rounds only. It doesn't say
anything about non +P rounds. That's what is a little confusing to
me.