[PONTIACDM]

Would there be any advantage or be better on the gun to reload a watered down .357 over a regular .38 special? After buying all .38 brass for a .357 magnum. I was just wondering if I would have been better off buying .357 brass and making them really mild. Thanks Pontiacdm

[DWFan]

If it had been me, I would have gotten .357 Magnum brass and then had the option of whatever power I wanted. You can load a .38 Special with .38-44 loads to mimic a .357 Magnum, but case life is reduced. Constant use of .38 Special loads in a .357 Magnum revolver can erode the gap between the case mouth and the chamber throat and cause problems when you do use the Magnum case. The shorter .38 Special also increases the amount of bullet "jump" to the forcing cone, theoretically reducing accuracy.
Just my opinion. I know several handgunners who shoot nothing but .38 Specials in their .357's and swear by them.

[billy]

There is no discernible loss in accuracy. If you fire .38 and then .357 just run a brush through the cylinder a few times before switching over to the longer round. Folks have been doing this for 7 decades with no problems.

[nathangdad]

Also, I once had a Ruger single action .44 mag. I loaded the .44 mag cases down until I found my "sweet" spot between the .44 mag loading and the .44 special loading.

Each gun is a little bit different so experimenting in downloading either a .357 case or a .44 mag case can produce excellent results.

[roverboy]

Yeah I load .38 and .357 brass down
for target loads. No problems.

[gandog56]

Why bother? .38 special brass is way cheaper than .357 brass.

My Taurus 66 eats either no problems.