Rick,
The primary reason for the .357 case being .15 longer is to prevent their use in a .38 special. You can cook up some hefty .357 loads in .38 special cases, but just remember what they are. Elmer Keith blew up a few S&W .44 Specials by using extremely heavy loads in them before the factory .44 Magnum was developed.
The old die sets came in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum, and everyone learned that you could load the .357 in .38 Special dies, but not vice-versa. Now the dies are sold as .38 Special/.357 Magnum. The same goes for .44 Special and .44 Magnum.
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