Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Time for new brass What to buy ?

38 spl. or 357 mag brass for my old python ?

Serious 50 yd sand bagged 50 yard paper punching.

Wadcutter loads only.

Any diff between the two in the accuracy dept ?

You can download 357 mag to 38 special but you can’t upload 38 special to 357 mag. Pass on the special.

Wadcutter loads only

For target shooting I'd go with the mild mannered 38 Special and save the 357's for self defense.

The .38's gonna give you better load density with the wads.

Just trying to start a discussion about brass my friend.

Buy some Starline brass, and you are good!

Thanks for posting but my question remains.

Yeah, only using 3.0 grains of Bullseye.

Thanks.

The 3.0 of bulleye and 148 wadcutter is the load I use. Shoots very well in my gun.. I use all of the brands. Brass last a long time with that load.

For years it's been said that in a magnum, magnum brass may have an edge due to less bullet jump. Mag brass usually requires a bit more powder for same vel.

Ransome resting & comparing the 2 would be the only way for me to tell, as my old Python with just about any brass or wadcutter could shoot them better than I could. I could shoot the classic hollow base Speer with 2.8 BE against a generic double end cast with Unique & not good enough to tell the diff on my own. I later found WW231/HP38 in special brass gave me better results.

Test with a small batch of new brass in each & see what your gun likes.

There's that theory, plus the pretty much accepted fact that using a lot of loads put up in .38 brass can gunk up the chamber, requiring a scrubbing out before mags will chamber easily. Depends on number fired, load, etc, but a real thing.

I've got a bunch of .38 brass from bargain-priced factory ammo, but ain't buying any since my ony .38 now is a .357.

Not a gunwriter, but - I only run .357 in my Python, if for no other reason that I don't have to worry about the crud buildup. YMMV

38 brass for sure

I'd get a bag of each if I had a question, but I don't. Use the right cases.

I went round and round on this very issue, testing this and that and everything in between and my ultimate, final, everlasting conclusion is that it's 6.01 of one, almost half dozen of the other.

The .38 cases do give you better load density for a given charge weight but the drawback is a longer bullet jump across a case diameter chamber to the throat. If you load the bullets perfectly straight that really minimizes the effect but wadcutters and pistol bullets in general are harder to start and seat straight without some kind of chamber type bullet seater. Like rifles, seat'em straight and that's 80% or more of your accuracy right there.

.357 cases let you load the bullet closer to the throats and if you seat them out a bit you can actually load into the throat just like seating rifle bullets into the lands. That overcomes straight seating issues to a degree but then your load density sucks. Some powders seem to be very position sensitive, Win. 231 showed that across several calibers and a larger volume in the case exacerbates that. From what I can tell TiteGroup isn't nearly so sensitive to being back against the primer, up against the bullet or somewhere in between.

I lean toward using .357 cases since you can put the bullet into the throat and eliminate the crud ring inside the chamber. Seating the bullet as straightly as possible and using a less position sensitive powder still seems to work the best whether you use .357 or .38 cases.

And then when all that is said and done, realize that this is splitting hairs. Depending on the firearm the difference in accuracy between .357 and .38 cases can be very small.

The cheapest.

I would go with Starline .357 Magnum brass, I shot a bunch of .44 Special loade in my M/29 and had a crud ring that was very difficult to remove. For that reason I don't shoot Special brass in revolvers chambered for Magnum. I loaded .44 Special loads in .44 Magnum brass for years and could see no detriment for having done so.

I would go 357 as well, I have S&W 52 and I load a ton of 38 Special wadcutters. That being said in my 357 pistols I hate having to get rid of the ring in the cylinder when I shoot my already loaded 38 Specials. Much to clean easier with 357 brass loads.

May I ask what brand of WC's you prefer. Been shooting Dardas bullets for many years but he retired. Thinking of trying out bullets from Zero.

Thanks