by Pat Cannon on Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:38 am
Cool. $319 sounds like a heck of a deal to me if the thing holds up. I see it weighs about 23 oz. That makes it heavy as snubbies go, which is good if you're going to shoot any .357. I've fired .357 out of one those 12-oz. alloy guns and it's like a cherry bomb detonating in your hand. My Ruger SP101 weighs about the same as the CIA, and the weight makes shooting Magnums... tolerable, with the stock grips, which were a medium-hard rubber. I did go right out and buy a cushy Hogue Monogrip, after the first time I shot any .357, and now it's slightly less concealable but super comfy to shoot.
I've only once had a problem shooting .38s in a .357, and it's the usual one that 1911fan mentioned. I shot up about a box of .38 special and got that front 1/8" of the chambers good & dirty, then shot a cylinder-full of aluminum cased Blazer .357 Magnum. When I swung out the cylinder and pushed on the ejector rod, it didn't budge. When I gave it a good smack I just hurt my hand. Finally I found something to pad the end of the ejector and was able to smack it hard enough to get them out. The Blazer cases are not as smooth as brass, and I suspect that the aluminum might not spring back to size like brass, but the Blazer ammo is (relatively) cheap and has worked fine for me otherwise.
So, yeah, go ahead and shoot both but just shoot the .357 first, or clean the gun in between.
One of the nice things about wheelguns is, you can try whatever power level ammo you want and the gun will always "cycle". You'll like it!