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I have a S&W .357 magnum that I have shot for the past 3 yrs. I have shot both .38 special and .357 mag through it with no problem in the past. I have been strictly been using .38 special the past few months due to cost. I found some reasonably price .357 mag that I wanted to put through it, but it will not fit. They don't feed all the way down enough for the cylinder to close all the way. I've cleaned it thoroughly(I think) but still the same issue. Has the cartridge changed?

Does anybody have any ideas how to remedy this?

depending on where you're located i've got three boxes of .357 mag i can sell you for cheap if you want to just replace it, i'm in NW Hou.

What brand and where did you buy it?

From what I hear shooting a lot of .38 out of a .357, depending on the particular firearm, can build up a very tenacious residue inside the distal portion of the cylinder, making it difficult to seat/eject them. You can think of it as a good portion of the buildup that normally covers the forcing cone area is now in that last bit of the cylinder due to the shorter case wall. Ensure both the wall of the cartridge and cylinder are clean. Bore brush the cylinder after soaking in your solvent of choice and try again. Pics would help too. Oh, if you have calipers handy, see if the ammo is to factory external dimensions and measure the cartridge holders in the front of and in the rear of the cylinder.Also not a before/after depth of seating difference. If you clean and they seat further in you're doing something right. Those values should clear things up without photos or you'll find the problem along the way. If none of this works your gun is broken and you can send it to me for indefinite repairs

Is it commercial factory ammo, or reloads? Some cylinders may be the minimum spec for case diameter and if you have reloads sometimes the case can be bulged ever so slightly in certain areas causing it to hang up in the cylinder.

I agree that it is probably a ridge built up at the end of the .38 Specials. I have found that it takes considerable cleaning of the cylinder if you are using mostly .38's.

Keith

Thanks for all the responses so quickly.

To answer a couple of questions

1.They are all factory ammo and no reloads.
2. I've tried several different brands as well, Remington, Blazer, Hornady, etc.

I really believe it has experienced some major buildup after shooting .38 sp so much. I will try to clean the heck out of it and see if that helps. If it doesn't, I'll be reporting ASAP.

thanks again to my fellow gun lovers!

TheCytochromeC wrote:From what I hear shooting a lot of .38 out of a .357, depending on the particular firearm, can build up a very tenacious residue inside the distal portion of the cylinder, making it difficult to seat/eject them. You can think of it as a good portion of the buildup that normally covers the forcing cone area is now in that last bit of the cylinder due to the shorter case wall. Ensure both the wall of the cartridge and cylinder are clean. Bore brush the cylinder after soaking in your solvent of choice and try again. Pics would help too. Oh, if you have calipers handy, see if the ammo is to factory external dimensions and measure the cartridge holders in the front of and in the rear of the cylinder.Also not a before/after depth of seating difference. If you clean and they seat further in you're doing something right. Those values should clear things up without photos or you'll find the problem along the way. If none of this works your gun is broken and you can send it to me for indefinite repairs

Good point. I have seen this happen. Might get the wire brush out with bore cleaned.

If you have any of your previously fired 357 mag empties you can see if they will chamber. I am willing to bet they would not because of the residue build up. It can be especially bad with lead projectiles. Melted lead adhering to the chamber wall before the chamber cutout.

Something I have seen suggested is to flare an empty .357 case until it barely fits into the chambers, then push it in to cut the residue out. I haven't tried it, but have seen it recommended more than once.

I have a .32 h&r mag and once it was hard to extract and fill the cylinder since shooting. 32 s&w longs. Took a bore brush and a little heavier solvent and got rid of the buildup.runs like a champ now! Get those rings out of the cylinder. That's my guess

CC Italian wrote:I have a .32 h&r mag and once it was hard to extract and fill the cylinder since shooting. 32 s&w longs. Took a bore brush and a little heavier solvent and got rid of the buildup.runs like a champ now! Get those rings out of the cylinder. That's my guess

I will definitely try it tonight. Standby for results!

Also double check the box and make sure it does NOT say .357 Maximum

For build up from shooting 38sp I soak a patch w/ slvent & leave one in each cylinder to soak & then use a .45acp brass brush in the cylinders. Works klpretty good.

The ideal way to remedy this situation is with a Lewis Lead Remover. Or, go to the cleaning aisle of your local super market, or Wally world and buy a Chore Boy copper pot and pan scrubber. Make sure it's the copper one and not the copper coated steel. cut off a bit of this scrubber wrap it around a small brush (.22 or .30 caliber) and scrub each chamber till the gun in gone. The copper scrubbing pad won't hurt your cylinder but will cut right through the built up crud. This will also work on leaded barrens as long as it is the copper scrubbing pad.