.357 questions

D

delvallef

Inactive
Folks,

I have been given my father in law's duty revolver and have some questions. The revolver is a S&W K frame model 19 from the '70's.

Can I shoot .38 rounds thru it or must I only shoot .357 ammo? Someone told me .38 ammo can be shot thru it which saves money on ammo and doesn't hurt the gun.

How does a .357 magnum compare to a .40 or 9mm ballistically?

I'll be bowhunting hogs in Dec, which is the pistol to take as a backup: the .357 or say, my Glock 22 in .40?

Thanks.
 
Old M19's are nice, congrats on the gun!

.38's are no problem and will definitely be cheaper to shoot than .357.

I haven't looked too hard at .40 cal ballistics, but I think .357 trumps .40, and definitely leaves 9mm in the dust.

I'd take the revolver on the hunt. ;)
 
"Can I shoot .38 rounds thru it or must I only shoot .357 ammo? Someone told me .38 ammo can be shot thru it which saves money on ammo and doesn't hurt the gun."

Sure! I do it all the time in my 686. Only 1 minor issue: .38 brass is a little bit shorter, and that means that in the forward part of the cylinders it will build up a "carbon ring" which you have to clean out every now and then -- use a bronze .40 brush with some solvent like CLP.

"How does a .357 magnum compare to a .40 or 9mm ballistically?"

Well, "average" .357 Mag loads are fairly well matched by the very hottest 9mm loads, and you have much more leeway on bullet weights and designs than with any autoloaders. Heavy .357 loads blow both 9mm and .40 away, performance wise. A closer match for .357 Mag in the autoloader world would be the 10mm Auto, and even then I'd give the nod to the .357 Magnum.

"I'll be bowhunting hogs in Dec, which is the pistol to take as a backup: the .357 or say, my Glock 22 in .40?"

I'm assuming that the .357 is a 4" barrel model. If that is so, I'd go with the .357 Mag. Yes, a good case can be made for the .40, what with higher capacity and all, but the .357 hits harder shot for shot, has a better selection of hunting ammo/bullets (remember, .40 is mainly intended for 2 legged varmits, .357 is more general purpose), and you aren't going to be needing any more than the 6 shots in the wheelgun anyway -- you won't have that much time.

Oh -- WARNING: Don't try to shoot very many of the really heavy loads, especially those with light bullets, through your K Frame revolver. There are substantiated reports of forcing cone failures when doing that. That issue is, for the most part, the reason why S&W came up with the beefier L Frames, like my 686.
 
I shoot 158 gr lead CAS ammunition, 158 gr 38 Special and 357 Magnum and 180 gr Winchester Supreme 357 Magnum in my M19. The pinned and recessed M19s are excellent revolvers.
 
Thanks all. Wow, great info and so quickly. I appreciate everyone taking their time to respond.

It is a 4" barrel and I had suspected that this was the backup gun I should take.

Does anyone have a link to a ballistics chart that shows the differences between the calibers I mentioned?

Thanks again guys.

Frank
 
I shoot 158 gr lead CAS ammunition, 158 gr 38 Special and 357 Magnum and 180 gr Winchester Supreme 357 Magnum in my M19. The pinned and recessed M19s are excellent revolvers.
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I agree with Sir Will! To do otherwise would be ridiculous! A little O' Rielly jargon there. ;) And, I get to show off my 19 again...:eek:
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That issue is, for the most part, the reason why S&W came up with the beefier L Frames, like my 686.
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That is also one of the reasons that manufacturers haven't been manufacturing really hot 357Mag ammo for quite some time. Most of the 357Mag revolvers sold in the last part of the 20th century were light-medium frame revolvers. Now we have the excellent and heavy duty L-frames from S&W and the Ruger GP series that handle full-power 357Mag loads. A lot of the lighter guns would fail with the use of heavy loads. The 357Mag is an excellent cartridge that can be used for everything short of big-game hunting. I would rather use a rifle for big-game hunting anyway.
 
"Does anyone have a link to a ballistics chart that shows the differences between the calibers I mentioned?"

This should give you a start:

http://web4.integraonline.com/~bbroadside/General_Info.html

This chart, like most, is just going to give you a survey of basic MV and ME data for common loads, and as such doesn't even mention what the Momentum figures are (which is a more relevant data point for hunting handguns, IMHO), or what the performance is with heavier hunting loads for the .357 Mag. And they don't tell you what the test barrel lengths are. Not only that, the info is metric. Even then, you can get some idea of the relative performance of the rounds.

Also keep in mind that those typical loadings that they show here are more intended for SD purposes, and most autoloader rounds (including 9mm Para and .40 S&W) are optimized for that purpose. And their ammo is also optimized for that purpose. That's all fine and dandy, but it won't help you much in a hog hunt. For backup against hogs, you'll really need to be shooting a big, heavy bullet with high sectional density that will penetrate well -- like a heavy hard lead Keith style semi-wadcutter, a good heavy JSP, or a heavy hunting optimized JHP. You just aren't going to find much along those lines available in 9mm or .40. But there's a whole bunch of options available along those lines when you start talking about .357 Magnum. With that in mind, even if the "on paper" ballistics of the 9mm or .40 S&W were superior to the .357 Magnum (which they aren't), you would still be much better off with the revolver round. That's why, for instance, I'd advise going with a .357 Magnum over a 10mm Auto in a hunting scenario -- BULLET DESIGN!!!
 
The S&W 19 is a great gun. I would conteszt though the statements made about 10mm vs. 357. Take a look at www.doubltapammo.com They make ammo for both that is, in my opinion, the best on the market and all at approved pressures. You will see that in every weight the 10mm trumps the 357 magnum. This doesn't mean the 357 is any slouch though! There is even a 10mm 220 grain hard cast Bear Tooth round at over 1200 fps that DT sells from time to time. After that the 200grain XTP is an outstanding hunting hollowpoint and is also cruising at over 1200 fps.
 
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