I don't suggest trying this, but..... A few years ago I was asked to clear an ASM 72 which the owner had fired a sqib in, and the cylinder was frozen to the barrel by a bullet. When I removed the barrel and cylinder, I found THREE bullets in the bore!
I had to drill and tap and pull the bullets out with a screw. They were too tight to drive out with a rod and mallet. The bore was not damaged, the cylinder was fine, the wedge was not damaged, the arbor was still tight. It went back together and worked fine.
So don't worry about 38 Specials. You may need to use full wadcutters if the cylinder isn't long enough, and don't use +P, but I'd say the revolver was pretty strong.