Stupid question - Be kind - 38 Special S&W

[indysafe317]

I have a 38 Special S&W and have some 38 SPL +P ammunition.

The bullet head seems to fit in the barrel on the cylinder side but when I put it up against the discharge side of the barrel, the bullet head does not fit in. Does the round itself shrink as it is discharged through the barrel. Again, don't treat me like an idiot, because I am one. Just curious how it works.

 

[Tryin']

It will fit, but tightly. The bullet forms the seal ahead of the gas to gain velocity.

By tightly, I mean tapping with a hammer tight; the bullet "forms" to the rifling as it traverses the bore.

 

[2cool9031]

On the cylinder side the size of the barrel is a little larger to allow the bullet to start into the barrel and into the rifling. It won't fit into the muzzle of the barrel because of the rifling.
It is not wise to shoot too many rounds of +P unless you pistol is rated for +P

 

[XtremeVel]

Perfectly normal !

If I remember right, the bore diameter of the barrel will be around .348-.350.

If you slap calipers on the bullet, you will see it's .357-.358.

If you ever have had a bullet stuck in your barrel, you will see real quick it is a tight fit.

 

[MrSmitty]

The only stupid question is the one unasked!.........


Oh yeah and if Obama is the answer it MUST be a stupid question

 

[nicajack]

There are actually 3 different parts to your revolver that touches your bullet when fired.
First, you have 5 or 6 chambers in your normal cylinder. Each chamber has an area in front of your bullet that is called the throat. It is somewhat funnel shaped and should be about .358 or .359 in diameter to work best. Your bullets should be sized to .359 or .360. You can easily see this by swinging the cylinder out and looking into the chambers from the breech end. You will see what appears to be a ridge in the far end of each chamber. As the bullet enters this area, it is squeezed down a little bit and is also centered in line with the barrel, hopefully. there are several other details here, that I will not go into...
Next, the bullet starts to leave the throat and enters the breech end of the barrel. This area is called the forcing cone. It also acts as a funnel to direct the bullet entering the barrel. It also squeezes the bullet diameter to the actual bore diameter of the barrel grooves. These should be .358 but may be around .357 in some barrels. During this process, as the round is fired, the bullet diameter is squeezed from .360 down to .358 in steps...
I hope this helps to explain the different steps in a bullet being fired in a revolver and the process of the actual diameter being reduced through firing.

 

[Hoosier8]

Here is a good article on revolver accuracy that explains a few of those things.

Revolver Accuracy

 

[indysafe317]

Thank you to all, I am glad I posted. Love this forum. Thanks again

 

[inccwchris]

The bullet is pushed into the chamber of the barrel then as it goes further in it has to form an airtight seal around the barrel to maximize muzzle velocity. Therefore when it comes out of the barrel it is a tiny bit smaller. Hence why a bullet that has been fired has grooves in it.

 

[Koukalaka]

It sounds like your revolver is a .38 Special--but be sure it's not actually a ".38 S&W" without the "Special". Although obsolete, such a cartridge exists, and it's completely different.

I used to have an Iver Johnson revolver chambered in .38 S&W. A .38 S&W Special round wouldn't even fit in the cylinder, so there wasn't really a safety issue. But this was about a decade ago, before I knew anything at all about guns. The guy at Gander Mountain sold me .38 Special ammunition after assuring me that there was no way it wouldn't work in any revolver marked ".38". That was obviously wrong...he probably just didn't know about this older cartridge.