Magnum vs Special

Hickok 45 here going to give you some basic information on the difference between special cartridges and Magnum cartridges I will try to keep it simple this might give a lot of people information but if you're new to guns and you keep hearing 38 special and 44 special and they'll shooting a 44 Magnum and you're not sure why why is there a difference and all those those questions may be still roaming around your mind take a look because I'm going to try to explain that all right well first came the 38 special which is this cartridge and then first came the 44 special which is this cartridge then later came the 44 Magnum and the 357 Magnum you know they're their partners so these two guns fire 38 special this is an older one from the 60s and of course the 38 special is a very old cartridge goes back to the turn of the century around 1900 or so 1898 1899 long in there 38 special okay then and I guess it was 1935 alone came then 357 Magnum Wow Magnum sounds powerful doesn't it I believe that was based on a large container of wine bottle of wine is called a magnum and this is bigger this is bigger than the 38 special case so that's really the only difference in terms of looking at it okay so it's more powerful and it's longer we're going to kind of give you a look at the difference so here let's just do that okay all right here I got my handy arrow pointer here I have some cases lined up we'll start with a 357 and 38 here you have just the empty cases in 38 this is I'm pointing out a 357 and that's a 38 special then you have the loaded cartridges that's a 357 then that's a 38 special so the 357 magnum loaded and unloaded are there together then on either side you have the smaller counterpart the 38 special okay 38 special 38 special if you can tell they're they're really the same diameter the same case the only difference is the 357 Magnum case is a little longer oftentimes you'll have the same bullet even loaded in the case it's just the case is longer it will hold it a little more powder for that reason right okay same case just a little longer stepping over to the 44s same same thing these two in the middle you have an empty 44 Magnum case and you have a loaded 44 Magnum case okay and on either side you've got over here a 44 special loaded Brown and then over here you have a case that's not loaded in 44 special C you can see for yourself the difference in length of all these so the longer cases are the magnums the shorter cases are the specials they're not a lot shorter just a little bit okay and we'll talk about why they're shorter here but that's the difference so they're the same cases basically just an in a bit longer both in 44 and in the 38 size rounds now people loaded up the 38 special that were hand loaders took some pretty hot rounds same with the 44 the 44 special rather Elmer Keith was famous for that he would load some really hot 44 special rounds and in fact he was very instrumental in bringing about the 44 Magnum for that reason we needed a more powerful gun to handle what he was loading so Smith came out with that but a couple things there you can load up a 44 special tool it's as hot as you really want to shoot probably and hot enough for what you're doing number keep just about did that blew up some guns experimenting you just need a more well-built firearm to handle it for one thing and then what do you end up with okay let's say you I don't have a 44 special let's say this is a 44 special handgun not built as heavily and strongly as a 44 Magnum and I put in some really hot some of those Elmer Keith loads well and taxing the gun it might blow up so what they did when they made the 44 Magnum was they lengthen the case let's grab one it's a longer case and so if this were 44 special it would stop right about there you know it would be wooden fire you couldn't close it up and fire it see so that's one advantage of making it longer and it makes it safer let me show you exactly what I'm talking about with the 38 now this is a 38 special and here's a newer 38 special let's try to put a 357 magnum in and see it's exactly the same principle when we made the case longer so we can make it more powerful we don't want to be putting it back in these 38 specials because it's a 357 magnum let's see it won't fit that's as far as it'll go cylinder we're not close see I can load it up all day doesn't matter with 357 magnum rounds it's not going to close it's not going to shoot okay so the chamber is not long enough for a 357 magnum so you you achieve that that purpose there you you have a longer case it can't be chambered in the old 38 special even though you could take this shorter case the 38 special case and really achieve the same power factor probably in most cases now there is an issue of with less case space you get more pressure and depending on the size of the bullet and all those sorts of things so you can't necessarily create every load in 357 magnum in a 38 special case but you could duplicate most of them probably with you know the right powder it's just that that protects us right there it takes care of the situation we're not going to put a 357 magnum round in a 38 special revolver especially these older 38 special revolvers this one is not even rated for plus P because it goes back into the 60s so we can't get a 357 Magnum in there okay well chamber alright so that's the the main difference length and power generally speaking if you load your own stuff see you can't control the power whether it's a 38 or 357 but off the shelf you're 38 specials not going to be as powerful and although you can get some pretty good rounds put in plus P especially but 357 is generally going to be more powerful they will fire so first question on the quiz would be which of these four guns these are 357 s these are 38 specials which of these guns would be able to fire these 38 specials in answer all of them of course the 38 or the 357 Magnum chamber is longer so obviously the 38 special is going to chamber yeah it closed up I can fire it right see so in the 357 I can fire either one that's why people will tell you a 357 is a really handy revolver you know back in the 60s 70s 80s before the semi automatics took over the recommendation generally was if you wanted a handgun get a 357 Magnum it's great you can shoot some pretty hot rounds in it or you can shoot some like 38 specials in it it's a very versatile these are cheaper as well anybody can shoot them they don't kick at all especially in a gun with any size and heft to it so it's a really versatile gun so a four inch or six-inch 357 Magnum was a really common recommendation back in the day and it still is you want two revolvers you can't go wrong that way you can fire ammo there's hardly a gun shop in the country right now you couldn't find some 38 special or 357 ammunition guarantee and these least uh 357 magnum revolver will fire either one alright really nice now what I do with my hand loading and I have for 30 years I guess I just load 357 cases that's all I use I don't complicate matters I don't really reload 38 at all never have if I want to reduce power I'll just reduce my load my 357 I shoot a moderate Magnum load I can shoot it comfortably in about any the 357 magnum revolver I have it will chamber in a 38 but I don't shoot that much 38 it's like why I shoot just enough to stay practice with like this little thing I bought something factory ammo every now and then okay a couple boxes a year that's all I need so I just keep it simple and I load everything in 357 and if I want to shoot a 38 caliber bullet I journeyed it in a 357 it's the kind of why not so that's kind of way that works alright let me go let me show you real quick let me 357 s in here up a 3n and then I'll put 338 now this is not necessarily by Zabaleen to shoot I'll start with the 357 magnums oh we have some targets here oh we had some targets you know you can probably tell whoops even in video land that's pretty pretty powerful pretty stout now that was three now this one is not going to be quite as stout see it barely knocked that around oh it didn't knocking around see that so those are really like 38 those last three but that's what gives you the versatility and that's why 357 Magnum is one of the most popular revolvers around okay you have the same principle with the 44 I will put in and see how I'm over here I will put in let's see three 357 or 44 magnum rounds remember they're a little longer and I grabbed three of these 44 special these are actually faculty loads I don't have forever so I just bring them out 44 special factory ammo is usually pretty expensive you don't see it everywhere all right now I believe magnets are going first again I hit but he hit hard Wow okay now these three are gonna be like it hits a turkey it didn't knock it over so like one over you tell the difference now finally got there being knocked it over okay that was also a lesson in how a really hot round shoots a little bit lower those were some hot factory rounds and I was hitting those misses I was hitting low on the turkey I'm not sure what I was hitting sound like I was hitting to stand the steel stand and then the special is repenting a little bit higher but you could tell a difference probably that's the versatility and of the 44 Magnum accident now again I don't have a 44 special partly for the same reason I discussed earlier I don't I don't need one I if I want to shoot lighter loads 44 specials I shoot them in my 44 magnums you know there's no three-inch 44 magnums I have I see probably about half and half I'll shoot specials about half the time so that's just kind of the quick and dirty of it I this is a little different but the 40 caliber and the 10 millimeter are kind of the same way we don't have the same nomenclature terminology but you know 40 is this a short 10 millimeter shorter 10 millimeter that's the only difference and you actually can fire a 40 any 10 millimeter at least a Glock 20 I've experimented it's not advised that you do that but but it'll actually work in a pinch so that's kind of the same exact situation you have the exact same case just a little bit longer in the 10 millimeter because more powerful hold more powder and all that kind of thing so if you wonder why people are always talking about how a special fire and a magnum or magnum and a special and you're you're a little bit confused about that hopefully that clears that up for you a little bit just a little bit longer case and a little more power Jenner speaking special verses Magnum so hopefully that was of some help to you life is good

Channel: hickok45

Views: 2,590,875

Rating: 4.9024534 out of 5

Keywords: .44, Magnum, 44, Special, .38, 38, .357, case, length, Smith, Wesson, S&W, Model, 629, 36, 65, 686

Id: VKodDZpk-14

Length: 12min 51sec (771 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 26 2011