.38 VS .357, somebody please clear this up for me?!?!?!?

B

BoneDigger

New member
I have a Colt Trooper MK III in .357. For home and auto defense is it better to use .357 rounds or is it best to use a .38 Special ammo? I hear that 357 will deafen you and maybe temporarily blind you. Is a .38 Special in any way shape or form a reliable man-stopper? I want to be able to stop a person, but I want to also be able to see and heart afterwards. Would .38 +P be best? Or maybe a lower grain .357? Which is the most effective but manageable round for home and auto defense?

I am absolutely new to handgun defense so please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

Todd
 
I have fired a full-house .357 indoors in low-light conditions and yes it is too loud and the flash is too bright. For me. Many others have posted the same observation.

Indoors, .38 Special +P will be sufficiently deadly but also much more controllable/less blinding and loud than a .357. Many people have been killed by plain, ordinary non+P .38s out of short barrels. .38 +P is nothing to feel insecure about.
 
.357's are loud and the big loads have a bit of flash to them. In 38 Special I like the FBI load they call it. A swagged lead SWCHP. It works fairly well.

I use a medium load in my 4" M-19 that's a lot easier on ones ears and has very little flash. The Lyman 358429 in magnum cases with 5.5 grs. of Unique or 231. Very accurate and plenty for defense. Does about 1050 fps.
 
The short answer is the .357 is likely the better home defense round for its pure stopping power compared with the .38 +p (let the arguments begin).

But there are many variables to consider, hence the longer answer.....
Both rounds will have a loud report and there will be flash when used at night, and yes, the .357 will be at a disadvantage here. But will it be enough to not consider it for use? I doubt it. You will be so jacked up on adrenaline in a firefight you won't notice.
Do you live in an apartment or mobile, where only a few layers of metal/stucco/chickenwire separate you from your family or the neighbors? You may want to consider regular .38 rounds as opposed to the more powerful +p or .357. There are rounds designed in all three calibers for this situation, but you are just as likely to have the box of whatever Wal-Mart had on sale around if this is what you take to the range.
As you are new to handgun defense (we all are, actually. I figure you mean new to handgun use or to tactical training), the thought of using .357 if you are not comfortable doing so will affect your performance with the weapon. Only practice, practice, practice will alleviate that concern.

I would recommend practicing with each round to determine what you are comfortable with, consider the sage advice that is due to follow in this thread, take comfort in knowing that each round is a proven stopper (arguments will ensue, but fact is fact: .38, .38 +p, and .357 have all made people equally dead), and the decision will likely shake out to be much easier than it appears now.
 
I don't think there is a "right" answer to this. My own personal taste would be use a premium .38+P round like the Speer Gold Dot, or a premium lite .357 round, like the new Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel .357 round. The .38+P is a little below 9mm in ballistics, while the new .357 Short Barrel is just about equal to 9mm ballistics - I haven't tried the latter yet, but it sounds pretty ideal.
 
"...a reliable man-stopper..." No handgun round is 100% reliable. Even a .45ACP. Any shot fired in the dark will temporarily blind and deafen you. Mind you, one well placed shot should end the problem, so being deaf and blind won't be much of a problem. So use whatever ammo you can shoot most accurately.
Just remember that no matter what ammo you use, you are responsible for any shot you fire. If you ever have to shoot(hopefully never) and you miss, that round can go several miles and still be lethal. If it hits somebody a mile away, it's your fault. Even a jacketed factory .38 Special can and will penetrate dry wall, wood doors and glass.
Shooting a handgun from a vehicle isn't something you can readily practice. It's not easy getting a handgun into 'action' with a seatbelt and steering wheel in the way either. Try it with an empty gun and you'll see what I mean. The muzzle and cylinder gap will be closer to your ear than you'd like too. The type of holster you use in a vehicle needs to be different too. If you're using an inside the pants or on your right hip, it's a lot of fumbling to get it out. A crossdraw works a bit better and the muzzle generally doesn't point at anything you don't want shot.
If you run into trouble while driving, your best defence is closed windows, locked doors and the gas pedal. Forget about red lights, etc. Attracting the local constabulary wouldn't be a bad thing.
 
.38 Sp. +P for me

BoneDigger,

I keep a Ruger GP 100 as my "home defense" gun. It's got +P Winchester 125 grain HP .38 Sp. rounds in it. The .357 magnum has proven more effective against bad guys over the decades-arguably the best of any caliber for LE!
I'm just not willing to take the risk of over-penetration, they're the LOUDEST cartridge ever used for LE and the recoil is considerable! It all depends on your percieved threat-level. With a 65 lb. Airedale Terrier, I feel pretty safe in my suburban home, hence I don't gear up for war. You have to make that call. Your Colt will accept .38 +P ammo, though.

Larry C.
 
For years I have kept .38 +P Federal rounds in the 1st 3 chambers of the cylinder and .357 JHP in the 2nd 3 chambers.They told us that if the 1st 3 rounds didn't stop someone ,the final 3 would.They also said that in California a simple .38 round would go over better in court than a .357 round if you had to justify in court what you did.As I get a little older I depend on my 500 Moss at night.Thanks
 
got a trooper too..

All previous answers are pretty good and very technical. What i think you need to do is go to a range and see the difference. For in home you are probably going to be better off with regular 38ps, when traveling out in the world in your auto or on your person, I think I would go with good 357 magnums, both in gold dot....(defensive ammo)
I have a MKIII trooper too and it was my first 357 after growing up with a 38... nice thing about a 357 is it can shoot both and all kinds....

I switched the 6" barrel to 8" and it shoots nice but the cylinder to barrel gap is too big and it tends to spray lead and powder onto bystanders... I think I'll switch back to the six.
 
While a .357 indoors may blind and deafen you, it will also most likely do the same to your assailant (and much worse if you hit him). So if you're both blind and deaf, I don't see how you're worse off than you were before. 38 +p's will likely penetrate the walls of most modern (read thin walled) homes so I would go with a light .357 which has less of a chance of overpenetrating your target than heavier Magnum loads. I tend to shy away from .38's in .357 guns because a .38 fired in a .357 chamber will actually have less velocity than one fired in a .38 chamber. In a fight, I want all the velocity I can get. I'm not bashing .38's here, I'm just saying that if thats what you're gonna use you should get a .38 revolver.
 
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