I have a lot of revolvers that will shoot 38 special. Many are Colt or Smith 357s but quite a few are pure 38s. I was wondering if anyone else felt that a pure 38 special simply shoots better and is more accurate than shooting 38s out of a 357? I've heard the reasoning that the extra chamber length of a 357 lets too much gass escape but in cronoing several pure 38s against 38 out of 357s, I've never seen enough difference to buy that arguement.

But a Dick Special, Model 10, M&P or Army Special just plain feels better than one of my 19s, 27s, 28s, Rugers or Colts.

Sig230, forgive me but an unlikely handle for a wheel gunner-

You mention some feel better in your hand and that allways helps. The fact that bullet jump is longer may be a factor in a mag. shooting specials.

S&W has built some 625's with a shorter cylinder for acp ammo and this is an attractive feature [for me]. I'm looking to buy one.

 btw, in 38/357, I have shot a gp100 with trigger recontured and sweetened and that is a sweet shooting revolver. I wonder how that would handle with moon clips?

It will depend on the gun.  You aren't going to ever loose much in the way of velocity.  The question is in accuracy.  Longer free-bore (the distance from the bullet to the rifling) is a huge factor in accuracy.  Generally speaking, the less the "jump" to the rifling is, the more accurate the gun.  This goes for pistols, or rifles as well.

Guns built for the .38 will tend to have a shorter free-bore than one built for the .357.  The Model 10 has a shorter cylinder than it's .357 counterpart, the M19.  The barrel itself in the M10 is set farther in the frame.  The free-bore is shorter than the M19 and you can experience better accuracy in a M10 than a M19 (with .38s).  

The difference you notice won't be much.  Often if you're comparing two different guns (rather than 38's and 357's out of the same gun) you may not see anything.  

Ross

Quoted: Sig230, forgive me but an unlikely handle for a wheel gunner-

Really? I can't imagine why. But I must admit that my 230 shoots almost as accurately as a wheelgun.

One of the problems associated with shooting .38s out of a .357 is that fouling from the .38 will cause the longer .357s to stick in the cylinder.  
I discovered this after shooting a box of .38 special wadcutters out of a .357 revolver, thn ran some full house 158Gr through it.
It took more than a simple push on the ejector rod to clear it.  No rubber mallet was required, but it would slow down a tactical reload.
As far as accuracy goes, .38 special target wadcutters will shoot just fine out of my 6" Security Six, and are more accurate than factory .357 loads for me.
I keep it loaded with 125G JHPs though, but I make damned sure those cylinder bores are scrubbed slick after shooting .38 specials.

Fuego

A trick for that is to keep a bunch of 357 casings handy. After shooting 38s, run the empty 357 cases in ASAP. This will clear out most of the build up immediately so that it doesn't harden up and become a problem. Makes cleaning much easier.

The .38 in a .357 topic already being well covered, I was given a few boxes of .38 Super to dispose of.
As you know, these are semi-rimmed and made for automatics.
They fired well from a .357 revolver with no problem at all, even ejection.
While I can't suggest to try it, it did work.

Going back in time, one of the finest handguns I have owned was a S&W M-10 4" heavy barrel in Nickel Plate finish. Iron sights and all this was/is one finest firearm I have ever used.

I want one...no matter the finish!