Is .357 magnum Good for SD?

W

WheelGunRealGun

New member
Would the muzzle blast, noise, and flash be too much for home defense? What about CCW or car gun? As in, impair your ability to adequately defend yourself? (like, does it have too much flash/recoil/blast/noise out of a 4-6" barreled large framed revolver to stake your life on?)

I keep hearing some say yes, and some say all rounds will rattle your cage to where it won't matter. And shooting .38's out of it would defeat the purpose for me.

I have offered to me a pre lock S&W 686-3. I like it, but only if I can use .357's in it for SD effectively
 
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.357 Magnum revolvers aren't artillery pieces. They aren't miracle powerhouses of stopping power either.

I've been shooting the .357 for 30+ years and I have five or so of them now. They are a little loud, but the recoil isn't bad at all. They aren't much, if any at all, worse than firing a .45 ACP with +P ammunition. Also the +P ammo I fire out of my sub-compact Kahr PM9 9 mm is almost as loud and has almost as bright a flash as .357 out of a 4" barrel.

Those are just my perceptions though, someone less experienced, or more 'delicate' might have a different one.

Buy it if you want too, buy a variety of ammo, take it to the range and start shooting. Then YOU will have first hand experience and know whether YOU can handle it or not.

PS: There isn't a lot of real world difference between the effectiveness of +P .38 Special and .357 Magnum.
 
An above average shooter who practices a lot could make a case for the .357 in the L frame Smith. Flash, noise and recoil would make it tough for others. Most women would probably have a tough time using it for HD. I have several old Colt 4" Official Police revolvers stashed around the house with Pachmayr grips and FBI loads. My wife can shoot these if needed.

I have done enough time on the range at night to know flash is a big problem with the .357 4" and shorter.
 
I carry an 8 shot (Model 627) .357 and have every bit of confidence in this firearm. 158 grain sjhp @ 1250 fps will do it's job if I do mine. 30k rounds through this gun and still going strong (at the gunsmith to tune it up and deal with a bit of endshake)

It's loud. I trust it every bit as much as a 45. You could do A LOT worse than the .357 for SD.
 
At the moment I have I believe 3 revolvers in 357. My wifes house gun is a 4" Power Custom Combat 686 with a Clark moon clip conversion. I have a 2-1/2" 66 No Dash, as well as a new LCR 357.
I carry the Speer 135 grain Short Barrel 357 loads in both my 66 and LCR. I have midrange 125 grain Golden Sabers in the wifes 686.

I have never fired any 357 loads through any of them without hearing protection so far. I figure if it hit the fan I can stand the blast knowing that the 357 will get the job done. In a vehicle situation it would be much less spectacular for you to get the muzzle out the window before pulling the trigger.

The Speer 135 grain Short Barrel 357 would probably be my pick for house and vehicle carry. My guess would be that it is not as loud as most other 357 ammo.

Bob
 
The 686-3 weighs 37 oz. empty and it's plenty wide in the cylinder which makes it a load to carry and conceal... Too big and heavy for me.

Nate's right... Shoot a comparable .357 at the range and then you'll know what it's like.

I shoot mostly .38+P's through my SP101 (which is considerably smaller and 5-shot) and have it loaded that way as a house gun 'cause the flash and bang are, to me, a bit much for inside.

But I rarely carry it due to its weight... I'm spoiled on light 20-oz.-ballpark guns for carry.

(Seems to me like everyone oughta' have at least one .357 though... Besides being VERY effective for SD, they're nifty and useful and fun at the range with a wide variety of loads available.)
 
Concealability is not the major factor here, as it would also be used as a truck gun and home defense.

The load I'd be using is a 125grn sjhp or gdhp going about 1400fps
 
Like hunting, if you discharge a pistol at someone to save your life, you will never hear the discharge or feel the recoil. It'll be entirely lost in the blur of the moment.... when you are in the zone, and everything is happening in slow motion, and half of you is saying "I can't believe this is happening" while the other half is focusing on the front sight... you'll never hear the shot. If you've managed to focus on the front sight you'll only need to shoot once. The ONLY thing that counts happens BEFORE it goes bang... make it count.

Who has ever shot a .30-06 at a deer and ever heard the shot or felt the recoil? Shoot that same rifle at the range and your ears will be ringing.

Perceptions change when adrenalin flows. Recoil and noise are just not on the scale of events when the real thing is happening. Trust the old man here.


Willie

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Like hunting, if you discharge a pistol at someone to save your life, you will never hear the discharge or feel the recoil. It'll be entirely lost in the blur of the moment.... when you are in the zone, and everything is happening in slow motion, and half of you is saying "I can't believe this is happening" while the other half is focusing on the front sight... you'll never hear the shot. If you've managed to focus on the front sight you'll only need to shoot once. The ONLY thing that counts happens BEFORE it goes bang... make it count.

Who has ever shot a .30-06 at a deer and ever heard the shot or felt the recoil? Shoot that same rifle at the range and your ears will be ringing.

Perceptions change when adrenalin flows. Recoil and noise are just not on the scale of events when the real thing is happening. Trust the old man here.


Willie
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You don't think the blast and noise will cause some sort of subconscious hesitation during a follow up shot?
 
Personally I think the 357 is over kill, I don't even like +Ps.

Yeah I did carry a 357 in LE, but that was an area where we had to put down a lot of moose after Moose/Vehicle encounters.

If I was to go back into LE today, in an area where we didn't have large animals I'd probably stick to standard velocity 38s and 158 LSWC ammo.

Really how much "penetration" do you need, I never saw anyone who was so big a standard velocity 38 couldn't get to the vitals.

That's just me.
 
You don't think the blast and noise will cause some sort of subconscious hesitation during a follow up shot?
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I have hunted deer with guns considerably louder than .357 revolvers .... on those occasions when more than 1 shot was taken by me, I don't recall the recoil or noise being a factor at all .... I was concentrating on the target animal. I have noticed my ears ringing afterward..... but not at the time, when the heat was on- it seems to me that at those moments, time slows down and I can hear everything acutely, even the bullet striking the animal.

I have been bothered by the report when someone else is shooting and I am watching ....
 
Take it from someone who has fired a .357 snub with 125gr federal .357B indoors without hearing protection. It left me with an unbearable ringing in my left ear for about 9 months, and now about a year later my ear still occasionally rings. I was at the indoor range which I had to myself and dropped my hearing protection real quick, forgot to slip them back on and fired a shot. My first reaction was to cover my ears it was so ear piercing, and for about a month after my ears were so sensitive I couldn't shower, turn a faucet on, or drive with the window down without cringing unless I used earplugs.

Those who keep saying during the shooting you wont notice the blast, may be true for some. But you will most certainly still suffer the damage from it. After my experience I lost all interest in the .357 mag for self defense, I will NEVER put my ears through that again, it was complete hell. I'll stick to .38 special which will get the job done at much lower decibel levels.

I have had people call me out on this and say BS, but if you don't believe me talk to most combat veterans. Chances are they are stuck with permanent ringing in there ear. My grandfather who served in WW2 was pretty much deaf, needed huge hearing aid's all his life, and his ears also rang constantly.

Who has ever shot a .30-06 at a deer and ever heard the shot or felt the recoil? Shoot that same rifle at the range and your ears will be ringing.
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Your ears will ring regardless. Just because you don't register the shot because you are so focused in the moment, does not mean your ears magically shut down and block out sound.
 
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"Your ears will ring regardless. Just because you don't register the shot because you are so focused in the moment, does not mean your ears magically shut down and block out the sound"



No disagreement at all.... the point is that in the VERY rare case of need to discharge to save ones life, probably statistically zero for any ONE person, it's not an issue... if you are ALIVE, you'll be grateful to only have your ears ringing for a few days.

Personally... I'd use something else as a dedicated defense pistol (and I do), but for a one size fits all utility handgun, a .357 will certainly do the trick, and recoil and noise and flash are really irrelevent to the game. The nice thing about a .357 is versatility: Load it up with SWCs in .38 special and it'll serve well in the house and in the truck. Load the first three with .38's and the last three with .357's and learn to select that which fits the need at the time. My own bedside .38 has a .38 flush load wadcutter first, 2 Glasers for the next, and FBI loads for the last 3. If I don't like the early results, I'll just keep shooting: It'll get louder and lounder... :)


Follow up shots? If you are focused on the front sight and get a surprise break, you won't need a follow up shot...

And if you are such a sensitive sort that you're scared by the flash of your own first shot, even inside, you ought not to be playing with dangerous things... :rolleyes:


And yep... first .357 I ever shot was in the cellar shooting range of our church when I was a kid (yup... a church with a youth rifle league, go figure). I was 14 and one of the so-called "Adults" let us kids each shoot a cylinder of full house .357 in the underground 50 foot rifle range, without any hearing protection. It was a painful experience. STUPID to do... he ought have been horsewhipped. Probably have some residual permanent damage, was literally deaf for a week. Could not attend school, etc... not good.


Willie

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Take it from someone who has fired a .357 snub with 125gr federal .357B indoors without hearing protection. It left me with an unbearable ringing in my left ear for about 9 months,
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My ear did not ring that long when it was exposed (no plug, muffs or even a finger!) to a 8 inch howitzer firing .... 88 lb powder charge .....

You sure you didn't have a "Loudener" attached to that?
 
kraigwy said:
If I was to go back into LE today, in an area where we didn't have large animals I'd probably stick to standard velocity 38s and 158 LSWC ammo.

Really how much "penetration" do you need, I never saw anyone who was so big a standard velocity 38 couldn't get to the vitals.
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I often read your posts about carrying LSWCs and its kind of humorous. When you contrast it with all the people worrying about expansion diameters and performance to the nth degree.

I used to carry hard cast 200 grain LSWCs @ 1000fps in my .45 ACP and I didn't need any ballistic gel to tell me what they would do to a heart, spine and brain. I still wouldn't hesitate to rely on them.

At one time or another I've done it myself, but I believe people are over thinking the problem and worrying too much.

Like Mike Irwin once sarcastically commented to a noob who was asking about the efficacy of using standard SJHPs .38 Special for defense...

Mike Irwin said:
Worse than bad.

AWFUL.

It actually heals people you shoot with it.

Doctors in hospitals carry .38s loaded with SJHPs and routinely shoot patients to provide a quick dose of healing power when other options would take too long.
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Thats kind of how I feel when the worriers start questioning the effectiveness of LSWC and even FMJ and LRN.

They are hunks of metal traveling at 600-900+ MPH, they can and will go in one side of your body and out the other. They'll make a nice neat round hole in your teeth, and keep right on going out the back of your skull.

Sorry I'm ranting. Just go out and practice shooting everyone the projectiles will work fine if you do your part.
 
I often read your posts about carrying LSWCs and its kind of humorous. When you contrast it with all the people worrying about expansion diameters and performance to the nth degree.
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Well I've shot just about everything from snakes, coyotes and rabbits to horses, moose and buffalo with LSWCs, they seemed to work on, though you got to be careful with buffalo, since my first shot bounced off his head and made him mad. Second round worked after I was shown the spot to head shoot buffalo.

Where most of these post deal with shooting blue jeans and jello.

I just can't believe people are that much tougher.
 
My ear did not ring that long when it was exposed (no plug, muffs or even a finger!) to a 8 inch howitzer firing .... 88 lb powder charge .....
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I was at an indoor firing range, ie. the sound waves bounced off whatever was next to me and directed it directly back into my ear. My right ear does not ring at all, so it must have hit my left ear just right to cause so much damage. Thankfully I have only minimal high frequency hearing loss, so little where the audiologist barely picked it up.
 
i have a 357 and i load it with 38+p when its home inside the house, not only for sound but the wife don't like the 357 recoil from a taurus 605. i do load 357 in it when i'm outside or in the woods walking, i may get ringing in the ears but i need 357 in case a wild hog or black bear wants to try me for supper. thanks
 
WheelGun,

You might want to cut down on the muzzle blast a bit by using 145gr. Silvertips instead of those 125gr.. I prefer them anyway.

W-M
 
Many rounds will suffice for SD.

The question is, is it worth having a round that MIGHT do a better job in SD than other rounds (depending on the circumstances), even if you could just use a smaller round that will be extremely effective and not run the risk of hearing loss?

Focus on well placed shots with a smaller round and you will be effective while still having confidence in your ability to retain your hearing.

I trust 9mm JHPs to stop threats as well as to provide a controllable weapon.
 
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