Henry Rifle Forums

Hi all. First post here. Just wondering if anyone else with a 357 big boy enjoys firing 38spc. The magnum round is fun no doubt, but for pure plinking enjoyment I've been piling 38spc through mine. Adictive rifle to shoot!

Welcome to the Forums from the Show-Me-State!

I did enjoy shooting .38 specials in my BBB (H006M). That's what I first started shooting when I got it. It was the very first rifle I'd ever bought.
But when I tried the .357 Magnums, I was hooked. In my thinking, this rifle was made primarily for .357 Magnums with the .38 specials kind of a fall-back practice ammo. Both ammo shot well.

Yes, easy to like the smooth Henry Big Boys no matter what round you send down range!

In a 357/38, the only one I have at the present time is a Ruger Vaquero. I only shoot 38's in it. Haven't even tried a 357 Mag yet.

If you shoot the target loads in .38, something like a 158 grain lead bullet with a mid load of HP38, then you will think you are shooting a .22lr. Use a slower powder like Universal, and they start to feel like you are actually shooting something.

I shoot predominantly .357 in mine to keep from getting a crud ring that can cause problems with .357 if it gets bad enough. Since I reload, there is very little difference in price between loading a .38 and a .357.

The .357 is low recoil in a rifle, so the magnums make it feel more like I am shooting a real rifle. I like that.

Don't own a Henry 357, but do have a Ruger convertible, a Colt, and Rossi m92 all in 357.
And like a lot here load my own ammo, so loading 38's or 357's is pretty much the same. Couple grains of powder is the only difference, so I just stick with the 357.

Love shooting the .38 in .357 platforms. Really a pleasant experience whether it be in revolvers or rifles. Oh, welcome to the site. Enjoy!

JWC wrote:Love shooting the .38 in .357 platforms. Really a pleasant experience whether it be in revolvers or rifles. Oh, welcome to the site. Enjoy!

Very well said about the 38/257.

Welcome to the forum.

Mulby wrote:Hi all. First post here. Just wondering if anyone else with a 357 big boy enjoys firing 38spc. The magnum round is fun no doubt, but for pure plinking enjoyment I've been piling 38spc through mine. Adictive rifle to shoot!

I do enjoy both through my Rossi 92 and my Ruger GP100.

I usually do some .357 and then switch to .38. Just make sure if you are shooting .38 and then want to shoot .357 that you give the barrel a good cleaning to get out the crud ring that may build up from the .38s. I did not clean my Rossi 92 well enough after shooting some .38 and the next time I tried to shoot .357, they would not chamber all the way.

If you are only ever going to shoot .38 through it, that may not be a problems for you.

And welcome from Indiana and congrats on the Big Boy.

I shoot primarily .357 in mine. At a local indoor range I go to, there is an area with metal targets and no magnum rounds are allowed in that area. I have never really noticed much difference in recoil between the two rounds. I guess that is because there not much recoil with the .357 and the .38 special has even less.

It is fun to shoot with either caliber.

Thanks for the welcome and opinions.

I know I like shooting 38 special out of my .357 revolver. It doesn't beat me up like the .357 magnum does.

They don't fit so well in my 44 Mag. But 44 specials work just fine. As do light cowboy loads in both.

I've always enjoyed shooting .38 specials out of my wheel guns. If I had a .357 Big Boy, I'd enjoy shooting them out of it as well. I'm with Squatch. I have the .44 mag Big Boy and I shoot 2/3 of the time with .44 specials.

I like the "middle ammo."

I wrote earlier in the thread about shooting my .357 Big Boy, and how well it shoots .357 magnum rounds. Thought I'd mention in this post what I enjoy shooting in my Ruger SP101 .357 revolver.

I like the .38 Special + "P" ammo (the "middle ammo"), and have several different brands still in stock:
BHA 125gr JHP
Cor-Bon 110gr DPX
Cor-Bon 110gr JHP
Fiocchi 125gr XTPHP
and a few others.

The Black Hills is my favorite round to shoot, and is very accurate out of my 4.2" revolver. Somewhat harder to find +P ammo on the LGS shelves, but find it now and then at the internet shops. Of course, you folk who reload can easily make this middle ammo.

What do you all think of the .38 Special + "P" ammo?
Do many use it?

Have a great day, Everyone.

Mulby wrote:Hi all. First post here. Just wondering if anyone else with a 357 big boy enjoys firing 38spc. The magnum round is fun no doubt, but for pure plinking enjoyment I've been piling 38spc through mine. Adictive rifle to shoot!

Normally I never shoot 38 in my 357 . I just load my 357 to level #1 which is 750 FPS , that way there is no need to worry about carbon built up in the chamber in front of the 38 brass which could cause a serous problem in shoot max 357 load in a improper cleaned chamber after shooting a ton of 38 in a 357 gun . I have 1 piece of 357 brass flared out at the mouth that barely slides in a clean 357 chamber to use as a gauge to check the carbon build up in a 357 chamber after cleaning the chamber . My 1873 Beretta is a 357 but only shoot 38 spec in it . . My Cimarron's are chambered 38 spec and 357 will not won't chamber in them . So I can't shoot level#1 357 in them . So after a match and I clean my Beretta I check the chamber with gauge I made so it is ready to shoot 357 if I ever decide to shoot them in it . I hope this makes sense .