question about shooting .38sp out of a 357. and shooting 44 specials out of a 44 mag

[dolphin62]

I know this is going to sound like a crazy question but I will ask. I have a .357 ruger I just bought and I shoot .35 sp out of it. The gun shoots very nice and very accurate. with the .38's. The question I have is do you loose any accuracy by shooting .38's out of a .357 or by shooting .44 specials out of a .44mag.

The other question I have is. I seen some loads in handloader magazine showing some .357 loads using what looks like a .38 load it was shooting 158 grain lead bullets at about 800 fps. Will these loads be as pleasant as .38sp to shoot and as accurate. Oh by the way they were shot out of a .357 case. MY pistol club wont let you shoot .357 mag or .44 at there indoor or outdoor range because of the noise. I was woundering if you loaded .38sp. loads in a .357 case if the noise will be the same. Any help would be great.

[Jim Watson]

You may or may not see a difference in accuracy between Special and Magnum cases in a Magnum revolver. Just have to shoot the gun and see.

A Special load in a Magnum case will be as "pleasant to shoot." Maybe more so, the extra airspace in the longer case will reduce the velocity a bit. You can of course adjust the powder charge for equal velocity both ways.

The noise will not be any different.
But I would not want to have to argue it with a range clerk reading the headstamp and pointing at the No Magnum rule.

[JRB]

Through my childhood, Having fired thousands of rounds of .38 from my Father's old 686, and plenty of .357 as well - It's my personal belief that unless you're shooting strictly from a sled-style pistol rest, you likely won't see any practical difference in accuracy on most revolvers, especially with factory ammo.

I would expect a novice/low volume shooter to see .357 groups open up noticeably due to flinching/recoil anticipation, but nothing else.

Given your situation I'd stick to .38 marked cases to avoid issues with your pistol club.
If you had a mountain of .357 brass I could see the cylinder cleaning/cost benefit of reloading mouse-fart loads in a .357 case instead of .38 cases, but otherwise I'd expect the cylinder gap, forcing cone condition, and cylinder indexing to make a much more significant difference than the casing choice in regards to accuracy.