.38 special or .357 mag?

[Electricmo]

Thought Police got me on this one. Why isn’t the .357 called the .38 magnum? Why is a .38 not called a .357 short? Really no reason it should be called .38 anyway. Just stupid Saturday morning driveway thoughts going on. It’s a mighty fine morning.

 

[Bama59]

Marketing .357 magnum sounds cool ,think .38 special keeps it separate from .38 short and S&W .38. Hickock45 talks about this in one of his videos

 

[tubeshooter]

Well, for one thing - .38 Special is somewhat older than .357 magnum as a cartridge.
So I'm pretty sure that's why no .357 Short...

The short answer is that it's a combination of marketing and history.
It's complicated...


Somebody will probably come by and explain in greater detail after awhile.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Marketing .357 magnum sounds cool ,think .38 special keeps it separate from .38 short and S&W .38. Hickock45 talks about this in one of his videos

.....and .38 Long Colt, .38 Short Colt, .38 New Police, .38-44…......haha.

Yup, its complicated.

 

[Jim Watson]

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/38-long-colt-confusion.721351/#post-9002002

There's a short version.
When the .357 Magnum came out, they decided it would sound better to call it by bullet diameter. There might have been a conscious move to emulate British terminology with three digit nomenclature, the .375 H&H Magnum was already well established.

 

[Pat Riot]

https://saami.org/wp-content/upload...FP-and-R-Approved-2015-12-14-Posting-Copy.pdf

If you go to page 47 of this SAAMI document it shows the dimensions of the .38 Special. If you go to page 161 it shows the recommended chamber dimensions of the .38 Special Test Barrel. The case diameter of the round is 0.379”. The test barrel chamber dimension for the area where the case rests inside the chamber is 0.380”.
I was told years ago that the name for the .38 Special wasn’t derived from the bullet diameter but from the case diameter.
I have never seen confirmation of this anywhere but it does make sense.

 

[Speedo66]

Well, in the old cartridges there was the .44-40, which is really a .42, and the .38-40, which is really a .40. Go figure.

Besides, three numbers sounds more powerful then just two.

 

[Jim Watson]

What do you mean, "how?" You write down another digit or you don't.
If you mean "why?" I don't know. The custom got started in the 1850s when we had the .58 Springfield and the English had the .577 Enfield.

 

[armabill]

Years ago, one of the numbers was how much black powder was used in the case.

 

[Daveboone]

As I remember, a lot of the designation was to separate the modern .357 loads from the many inexpensive and very numerous .38 special revolvers out there that wouldn't handle it. It is generally very possible using many powders to load .357 loads in .38 special cases which would destroy many of the smaller framed revolvers out there. The .38 case was purposely stretched a 1/10 of an inch in the .357 to help prevent that along with the designation. What became the Smith N frame was for many years the only frame strong enough to handle the load (and later the .44 mag).

 

[Speedo66]

As I remember, a lot of the designation was to separate the modern .357 loads from the many inexpensive and very numerous .38 special revolvers out there that wouldn't handle it. It is generally very possible using many powders to load .357 loads in .38 special cases which would destroy many of the smaller framed revolvers out there. The .38 case was purposely stretched a 1/10 of an inch in the .357 to help prevent that along with the designation. What became the Smith N frame was for many years the only frame strong enough to handle the load (and later the .44 mag).

I believe some older .38 revolver's chambers were bored straight through, a .357 would have fit in, with devastating results.

Calling the cartridge by a completely different number might have been done to prevent this.

 

[Kleanbore]

I believe some older .38 revolver's chambers were bored straight through, a .357 would have fit in, with devastating results.

True fact.

Calling the cartridge by a completely different number might have been done to prevent this.

That has occurred to me, also.

 

[mokin]

Thought Police got me on this one. Why isn’t the .357 called the .38 magnum? Why is a .38 not called a .357 short? Really no reason it should be called .38 anyway. Just stupid Saturday morning driveway thoughts going on. It’s a mighty fine morning.

I'm glad you had a nice morning. I hope the rest of your day went well. I don't know if you'll find the exact answer to your question here, but I'd like to thank you for sharing your Saturday morning driveway thoughts. Gives the rest of us something to think about as well.

 

[P5 Guy]

Rounding up to the nearest hundredth why aren't they .36 caliber?

 

[Kleanbore]

Rounding up to the nearest hundredth why aren't they .36 caliber?

The caliber was originally designated when the bullet diameter was .375 inch.