357 vs 38

[Pauliedad]

I started the same way. .45 for a while then branched out.
.38 is just as easy and as others have said, no need to strain you or your gun. Not that you can really strain a GP100. Tanks, they are.
Gotten to the point now where I've started playing with magnum loads and the .357 brass is more difficult to acquire.
I say go .38 and enjoy. Keep the cylinder clean so you can go with the occasional .357

[Fishslayer]

Just curious... if your gun is 357/38, why don't you shoot 38 special loads out of 357 brass? Shouldn't that give you a bit more accuracy and keep your gun a bit cleaner?

That's what I do. I believe the case volume difference is 10-ish % but I'm not totally sure on that. 4gr of Green Dot in a .357 case with a 158gr LSWC is a nice soft shooting load.

Some say the extra length of the case helps accuracy. I wouldn't know. My skillz aren't really at that level but using the magnum cases avoids the dreaded carbon rings in the chambers.

Yes, you can use the same bullets & powder for .38 & .357 but I use fast powder like Bullseye & Green Dot for .38 level target loads with a softer bullet & slower 2400 with hard cast or jacketed bullets for the Big Dog magnums.

[at_liberty]

Hope you'll don't mind a noob question but won't loading a .38 load in a .357 case cause issues with all that unused case volume?

You mean like a bullet that never makes it out of the barrel? Learned that one when lacking advice on seating depth of wadcutters.

It's all about pressure.

[geoint]

Thank you to everyone who shared their experience and insight. I believe I am going to go with 38 spl. Might expand into 357 mag in the future but for right now I dont want to do more than I can handle so one caliber at a time. Thanks again

[CEDaytonaRydr]

Just to be clear, the spacer washer gets you close but you might have to adjust a little bit when transitioning between 38 and 357. It's not always as simple as throwing on the washer, and loading.

[Che762x39]

The 45 ACP is a easy round to reload. Now when you start doing 38 or 357 you are doing a "roll crimp". A friend wanted to take a training class and took his 38 reloads. The recoil of the first round made the other rounds longer and eventually binded up his cylinder. So you need a good crimp.

Now that leads to trying to keep all your 38/357 brass in lots. Remington brass stretches more than Federal and Winchester tends to be more brittle. So you can not just sweep up miscellaneous brass and think you can load 100 rounds and make them perfect. One piece might be 1.155" another 1.135" the suggested trim length is 1.145".

I learned how to reload on 38 Special back in 1982. After that all other handgun calibers were easy. My favorite calibers to reload for 9mm and 45 ACP. Have fun

[Cowboy T]

Geoint, you're making a fine choice with .38 Spl. This family of cartridges (.38/357) has got to be the easiest of the cartridges to reload. For versatility, it's hard to beat this family of cartridges.

I started with a light-ish .357M loading with a 158gr cast bullet. These were kinda like .38 Spl +P+ loads, much like the old FBI loadings. Today, the vast majority of my reloading and marksmanship practice is done with a light .38 Spl loading using a 105gr cast "boolit".

If/when you're ready to try out some .357M loads, yep, same die set. I use a Lee 3-die set and simply readjust them when switching between cases. Takes me maybe 5 minutes, just loafing around, and I can actually do it in 2 min if I use a dummy round.

You'll find that some people like to use one case, usually the .357M headstamps, for both mild and wild loadings. For easier load identification at a glance, I prefer to use .38 Spl headstamps for the .38 Spl-spec loads, and .357M cases for anything heavier.

Finally, if you're getting just one handgun chambered for this family of cartridges, I would suggest the .357M chambering. Any .357M revolver, and virtually any .357M rifle, of any half-decent quality will also happily shoot .38 Special all day and all night, every day of every year, for the next 100 years and not complain one bit. Any "carbon ring in the chambers" concerns are alleviated very nicely by good ol' standard gun cleaning like we're all supposed to be doing anyway, so no worries there.