It depends on the person and the type of gun that he/she is using. From a terminal performance standpoint, the .357 Magnum is an excellent self-defense cartridge as it offers the ability to drive a heavy enough bullet fast enough to get aggressive (in some cases downright violent) expansion, possibly with moderate fragmentation, and still retain adequate penetration.
Where the cartridge becomes problematic for some people, particularly when they try to shoot it from a very small, light revolver, is blast and recoil. These properties are, however, rather subjective as what one person might consider comparable to the wrath of God, another might not find to be offensive in the least. I personally do not find the blast nor recoil of a .357 Magnum to be prohibitive. I have fired, or been present when someone else fired, a .357 Magnum from a relatively short barrel on more than one occasion two of which were in low light and one of which was indoors. While the flash and report were certainly noticeable and my ears rang a bit afterward, my vision was in no way impaired and I could still hear well enough to engage in normal conversation without difficulty immediately afterward. I have also suffered no noticeable long-term effect from those experiences.
Now, it is certainly true that firing a .357 Magnum without hearing protection is not advisable and will cause some degree of permanent hearing damage. However, firing any handgun without hearing protection is inadvisable and likely to cause permanent hearing damage. I admit that the blast of a .357 Magnum is more noticeable than many other common cartridges, but unless you plan to routinely practice without hearing protection (a rather foolish thing to do with any handgun) I very much doubt that the long term effects to your hearing would be substantially different.
In short, the terminal performance is certainly there if you can deal with the blast and recoil. The only way to find out if you can handle it is to try one yourself and make up your own mind.
Where the cartridge becomes problematic for some people, particularly when they try to shoot it from a very small, light revolver, is blast and recoil. These properties are, however, rather subjective as what one person might consider comparable to the wrath of God, another might not find to be offensive in the least. I personally do not find the blast nor recoil of a .357 Magnum to be prohibitive. I have fired, or been present when someone else fired, a .357 Magnum from a relatively short barrel on more than one occasion two of which were in low light and one of which was indoors. While the flash and report were certainly noticeable and my ears rang a bit afterward, my vision was in no way impaired and I could still hear well enough to engage in normal conversation without difficulty immediately afterward. I have also suffered no noticeable long-term effect from those experiences.
Now, it is certainly true that firing a .357 Magnum without hearing protection is not advisable and will cause some degree of permanent hearing damage. However, firing any handgun without hearing protection is inadvisable and likely to cause permanent hearing damage. I admit that the blast of a .357 Magnum is more noticeable than many other common cartridges, but unless you plan to routinely practice without hearing protection (a rather foolish thing to do with any handgun) I very much doubt that the long term effects to your hearing would be substantially different.
In short, the terminal performance is certainly there if you can deal with the blast and recoil. The only way to find out if you can handle it is to try one yourself and make up your own mind.
