I think the .357 Mag is brutal - am I alone?

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You guys are kidding, right? I've taught 110 lb. thirteen year old girls to shoot with a S&W 629 w/ 5" barrel, and they wanted to shoot the Magnum ammo, not the .44 Special.
Col. Cooper says that if the power and recoil are to much for you, you ain't shoot'n' it enough!!!
Carried M29's & M629's for twenty years, concealed. Carried a 2 1/2" M19 > every gun I have carried has been loaded with the most powerful round I could find. FACE IT - handguns are patheticly under powered - if you want to put it down w/ one shot, use a rifle. Hand guns are by definition an underpowered compromise.
Truth is, I carry a ParaOrdnance P14 now, loaded w/ 185grn Corbons, mostly because it conceals under a T-shirt, and the cylinder on a revolver is much harder to conceal under really light clothing - BUT - if you want to hit it HARD, you use a Magnum ( .357 or .44, not some mouse .32); if you want to hit it quick and repeatedly, you use a .45, and if you want to piss it off and then kill you, you use a 9mm.
 
You might try a .357 SIG. Very similiar ballistics in 125 gr factory loads. I am not a real "I'd shoot a .50 AE if only I could conceal it" type. I shoot mainly for enjoyment, and I found the .357 SIG surprisingly easy to shoot. It should really be called a "9mm Magnum", but you might want to try it.

Munir


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ahlan wa sahlan
PCV Yemen 1984-86
 
A PAST shooting glove and a set of WOOD Hogue grips can make a 4 inch .357 much more enjoyable to shoot. The wooden Hogues are wider across the backstrap than the synthetics and I think they distribute recoil better. Plus they just look great in cocobolo hardwood.

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"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Walt Kelly
 
To each their own. Personally, I believe in the bigger hole theory, and in the one which says you should practice w/ what you carry. I shoot for fun, too, but I bet my life on what I carry, and my proficiency w/ the ammo & gun combination.
I'm no kid, I'm 50 yrs old, and the arthritis has really slowed me. Perhaps some of my perspective comes from my grandad breaking me in when I was 7 w/ the .45 Colt SAA that his dad carried in the Texas Rangers in the 1880's. After that experience, most hand guns are just entertaining (there was this .45-70 revolver tho: it definitely made an impression!!!).
Back to the original smart ass comment: if a .357 seems brutal, you ain't shoot'n' it enough, and if you ain't shoot'n' it enough to be comfortable with it, how are you ever going to have faith in your proficiency to save your life??? No, I'm no advocate of carrying a .454 or .50AE, but anything less than a strong .357 or .45acp seems an invitation to your own funeral. (And yes, after a diet of .45+P, a .357 gets my attention, but that is a function of revolver vs. autoloader.)
...Oh, and sorry Mr Eastwood, but I believe that a sawed-off 12 guage w/ a pistol grip is the world's most powerful handgun!!!

[This message has been edited by thanatos (edited August 24, 2000).]
 
Good replies all. I think there is a lot of truth in what most of you wrote. Docstodd, you touched on a good point, the day I started this string, I had been shooting my 686 AND a .22 Sig Hammerli, so the difference between the two was significant to say the least. As far as shooting more, I couldn't agree more. Ideally I would shoot at least twice a week. As it is, I only get out to the range every 2-3 weeks. This is mainly due to a lack of funds for ammo (a box of 357's run about $12-13). I hope to alleviate this situation in the future by starting to reload. In any case, I think the point is (and it is well taken) that I need to tame that stainless steel beast by breaking her (so to speak) on the range.

BTW, the 686 is NOT my go-to gun for defense (I don't see how anybody can conceal a gun that weighs in at over two lbs). That honor lies with my G23, which I practice with fairly often, including IDPA matches.
 
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