.38 bullet diameter

#1 · March 13, 2014, 11:27 pm

1] What is used to measure the diameter of a bullet?

2] .357, .358 diameter..will both seat into a .38 casing?

2a] Why the difference?

#2 · March 14, 2014, 4:04 pm

Use calipers to measure the bullet diameter. .357" is the usual diameter for a jacketed bullet. Lead bullets, which are softer, usually are .001" larger in diameter, in this case .358".

Both seat just fine. SAAMI dimensional tolerances are far larger than that.