Why buy a .38 wheel gun?

[TheWabbit]

My dad carries a .38 snub in his boot as his EDC. Small, light, and inexpensive.

 

[HavokCycle]

.357 hurts. bottom line. shove a magnum load in a light gun, like a polymer frame LCR or bodyguard, or whatever, and it sucks to shoot. 100 rounds and my rubber grip wore a hole in my hand.
that said, i carry it EDC. my theory is, if someone is close enough, and threatening enough, for me to draw my weapon, i'm not going to be terribly worried about which body parts that magnum goes into, its going to solve things. would a .38 +P do the same? maybe. i dunno that answer. i don't have much experience with +P loads.
just theory here, but when things are said and done, is 5 rounds of .38 less effective than 5 rounds of .357? if i fire my weapon i won't stop pulling until its empty.

 

[Drakkule]

Because my Colt Cobra is chambered in .38, as is my old school S&W M&P.

 

[Hookeye]

Smith J frame with mammoth ivory grips is just too freakin' cool.

 

[REWSTER]

Hmm funny stumbling across this thread.. i have been thinking about getting a revolver for my first handgun, and it will be my carry gun when i get the LTCC. i was thinking of getting a 357m because it can shoot both the 357 and the 38's.the 2 choices of ammo interest me for the SHTF situations easier to find ammo if you can use 2 diffrent kinds. the couple i have been looking at are around the same price range. maybe i will just go with what looks cooler

 

[Midskier]

I don't own either .......... yet but my shooting partner has several .357s and generally always shot .38 through them he just purchased an airweight I can't imagine how punishing that would be in 357

 

[TTravis]

I've carried a Taurus 85 Titanium .38 for over 10 years. It is comfortable carried in a pocket holster and the most important thing is that it is always there. It might not be the best against a herd of zombies, but it is a lot better than being unarmed. If I have to point it at a bad guy, I won't bother to explain whether it is a .38 or .357. I changed the grip to a nice rosewood so it slips in and out of my pocket easier and looks respectable. I forget what it cost, but it was not an expensive gun.

 

[davedolli]

Sometime I carry a S&W 642, it's just a very nice lightweight 5 shot revolver. I have tried carrying a .357 snubbie, but have always went back to the 642 mainly because of weight.

Dave

 

[billybob44]

Crust Ring??

If you take a .357 and are always shooting .38's in it, you will develop "crust" in the chambers that will eventually make it difficult to shoot .357 ammo. Since I just wanted to shoot .38's, I purchased a dedicated .38 revolver so as to not mess up a .357

A cordless drill, cleaning brush, solvent. Followed up with some Flitz on a nylon brush will clean this VERY well..

The difficulty only lasts as long as you leave your chambers dirty. I've shot many thousands of 38 wadcutters out of my 357s and have not ever experienced "crust" that couldn't be quickly cleaned out.

IMO, for a snub, stick with a 38, for three inches and longer barrels, go 357.

Good point CH. It pays to stay up on the cleaning..Bill.

 

[jimbob488]

accurate

Try out a model 10
see how it shoots
smooth trigger blue steel
The way a gun should be
But you polymer kids just dont know

 

[Amishman44]

In something like a J-frame, for instance, you get a slightly shorter, slightly lighter gun with really no disadvantages. Modern 38 defensive loadings penetrate adequately and expand as well as a 357 magnum from a short barrel yet have significantly less flash, blast and allow for faster follow-up shots. The shortened ejector rod also extracts the shorter 38 brass more reliably. If you're talking about airweight revolvers, I specifically recommend against buying one in 357 as they are brutal to shoot and fairly pointless if you goal was minimal weight in the first place.

In fact, I frequently recommend to people that already own a 357 snubby and use it in a defensive roll just to load it with something like speer gold dot short barrel 38+p and be done with it.

A .38+P is fairly comparable to a 9mm for defensive purposes...but will probably penetrate a little bit better/deeper, according to ballistic reports I have read.

I prefer wheel-guns...it's just a personal preference! I'm more accurate with them and have been shooting them much longer than semi-auto's!

I have an SP101 in .357 Mag...but lately, I have been carrying Winchester PDX1 .38+P JHP's in it! The lighter recoil makes second/follow-up shots faster, easier, and more accurate!

 

[Amishman44]

.357 hurts. bottom line. shove a magnum load in a light gun, like a polymer frame LCR or bodyguard, or whatever, and it sucks to shoot. 100 rounds and my rubber grip wore a hole in my hand.
that said, i carry it EDC. my theory is, if someone is close enough, and threatening enough, for me to draw my weapon, i'm not going to be terribly worried about which body parts that magnum goes into, its going to solve things. would a .38 +P do the same? maybe. i dunno that answer. i don't have much experience with +P loads. just theory here, but when things are said and done, is 5 rounds of .38 less effective than 5 rounds of .357? if i fire my weapon i won't stop pulling until its empty.

I concur...5 rounds of .38+P is more than enough to be effective at personal defense ranges! The distance for the average 'shootout' is what, 7'? Odds are you're both going to get hurt at that distance!!!

 

[jason867]

Like others have said, the crust from firing 38s in a 357 is rarely a problem, and will never be a problem if you clean your guns every so often.

Additionally, I wanted to add one other point that everyone else neglected to reveal.

357s can be more accurate when shooting 357s through them, as opposed to 38s. This is because the bullet is closer to the forcing cone, which can result in more uniform performance. When a 38 is put in a 357, the bullet is farther away from the forcing cone, and supposedly allows for more variances in firing, which could effect accuracy.

A 38 only revolver, would have the forcing cone closer to the bullet, which might help the accuracy a bit by reducing shot-to-shot variances.

Of course, this is only theory, you'd have to be a really good shot, and be shooting a really good gun with really good ammo before you would have any chance of noticing that sort of accuracy difference.

Also, would a 357 potentially have different rifling twists as opposed to a 38? Perhaps tuned for different velocities or bullet weights? This question I don't have the answer for, but I could see it being plausible.

 

[seeker1321]

i was thinking of getting a 357m because it can shoot both the 357 and the 38's.the 2 choices of ammo interest me for the SHTF situations easier to find ammo if you can use 2 diffrent kinds. the couple i have been looking at are around the same price range.

I have also been debating between buying a .357 revolver or a .38 revolver, for everyday carry. I have mostly narrowed it down to the Ruger LCR just had to decide which caliber I wanted. I was all set to get the .357, until I got the opportunity to shoot one. After putting a few rounds of .357 through it, I've decided to go with a .38 revolver. To my hand the kick out of the 2 inch .357 was compared to the kick of shooting a S&W 500. I found it much easier to shoot follow-up shots with the .38, just my opinion. Now I just have to make my final decision between the LCR and the S&W 442.

 

[Roscoe38]

38

This is something that's been rattling around in my messed up head for awhile now. I haven't seen this asked on here before and didn't find anything in a couple quick searches, either. If it's on here just link and all that stuff.

Here's my question. Why buy a .38 only revolver? If you can buy a gun chambered for .357 that will also shoot .38s then how do you justify buying one that is chambered for .38 only?

I'm just looking for INGO's opinions and reasons why. It's not like I have anything against them, just curious what others thoughts are.

Since the size of the bullet, 38, 357, 9mm is mostly the same its only the powder charge and recoil we are really dealing with (speaking of the bullet). So I would think the ease of carry would be a good answer.

I don't like wheel guns, but they are dependable and very accurate, and would never "dis" anyone's choice of a wheel gun.

 

[Fullmag]

Being a big fan of the 38sp, it can be very accurate.
Reason to shoot if you're a reloader- lead bullets with a few grains powder (cost less)
-Brass is easier to collect than a 357
-uses sm pp not sm mag pp
-sometimes easier to get sm pp than mag pp

 

[Hookeye]

Smith 340 PD is on my wish list.
Corbons were pretty mean in it (bud has one). +P .38's were a lot nicer.
Like the option of using either.

 

[downzero]

How did I justify it? It was about half the price for my 642 as it is for a 340PD, and it offers 90% of the performance. The 340PD is 20% lighter, which is nice when in the pocket, but 15 ounces is pretty light as is.

I see no use for .357 in a snub nose, and I've heard that they can be really painful to shoot. I believe them, too, because even with 650 FPS ammo, my 642 is really no fun to shoot. If they were the same price, I'd have got the 340PD, but the idea of buying a $7-800 gun that I would absolutely hate shooting doesn't fit me very well.

 

[AD Marc]

I have also been debating between buying a .357 revolver or a .38 revolver, for everyday carry. I have mostly narrowed it down to the Ruger LCR just had to decide which caliber I wanted. I was all set to get the .357, until I got the opportunity to shoot one. After putting a few rounds of .357 through it, I've decided to go with a .38 revolver. To my hand the kick out of the 2 inch .357 was compared to the kick of shooting a S&W 500. I found it much easier to shoot follow-up shots with the .38, just my opinion. Now I just have to make my final decision between the LCR and the S&W 442.

I would avoid the LCR. A fellow instructor purchaced one specifically for the purpose of taking 2 days of snub training with Michael DeBethencourt. By the end of day 2 the gun was completely seized and had to go back to Ruger. Seems the pot metal they make the firing pins out of is too soft and will begin to peen and eventually jam up the works.

Go with the smith.

 

[El-Cigarro]

This is something that's been rattling around in my messed up head for awhile now. I haven't seen this asked on here before and didn't find anything in a couple quick searches, either. If it's on here just link and all that stuff.

Here's my question. Why buy a .38 only revolver? If you can buy a gun chambered for .357 that will also shoot .38s then how do you justify buying one that is chambered for .38 only?

I'm just looking for INGO's opinions and reasons why. It's not like I have anything against them, just curious what others thoughts are.

For me, CONCEALMENT! Size & weight are a factor for a CC gun.....