azredhawk44
Moderator
I went to the range on friday with 3 guns, one of which was my good ol' sp101 3" .357 revolver. I've had this guy for about 2 years, and have put about 1000 rounds thru it in that time.
I have nothing bad to say about the gun. I do have some observations about appropriate cartridges to put in it.
I shot:
50 magtech 158gr JSP .357 magnums
50 magtech 158gr FMJ .38 specials
50 homeloads 158gr LSWC .357magnums, 4.5gr Titegroup
20 Federal Hydrashok 158gr JHP
The .38's were kittens. I also shot my Taurus 94 5" .22LR that day, and while there was a perceptible difference in recoil, I could still empty the gun (5 shots) in 2-3 seconds. All were COM, 10 or 9 ring on a sillhouette target at 25 feet. Single action shooting at bullseye targets produced sub-1" groups at 25 feet.
Next came the magtech .357's. They bucked quite a bit more, but follow up shots were still very easy to accomplish. If you can find some JHP's from magtech, they would make very good self defense rounds in the sp101. I could empty the gun accurately at 25 feet in about 3 seconds. All 10's and 9's on the same generic sillhouette target. SA shooting with this load also was very good. My bullseye target was getting a bit peppered at this point, but I think it was still sub-1".
After the magtechs, I shot my homeloads. These were an experiment to see if light, slow .357 loads would foul my barrel when using lead. The barrel remained very clean throughout shooting all 50 rounds. The titegroup powder smoked awfully fiercely, however. I really liked the recoil level of these loads. They were very economical to load (cheap lead and low powder levels), still much more powerful than .38's (definitely let you know that without being painful or slow to recover from), but didn't hurt in the tiny gun. If I can find a similar powder (Win231, Unique, etc) that smokes a little less, I will have the perfect load with that gun. These were great to shoot single-action, too. The sp101 is a very versatile gun, I wouldn't mind taking it out to harass rabbits some afternoon.
On a side note, the .357 titegroup loads smoked a lot, whereas my .44magnum loads I shot that day using titegroup did not smoke at all. Maybe it had something to do with barrel length? Anyways...
After being thoroughly pleased with the first batch of light magnum homeloads, I decided to shoot my SD ammo for comparison. Federal hydrashoks.
OUCH!!!
Not appropriate out of that gun. At all. I hadn't shot them out of it since I bought the gun. I must have not been able to tell what was an appropriate power level for SD at the time. They stomped much more than the magtech ammo. I would really worry about over penetration with those cartridges. Not going to buy any more unless I get a full sized .357 later on. I couldn't put all 5 on target in 5 seconds. It just hurt too much and required effort to make myself shoot again.
The verdict:
.38's are kittens out of this gun. The only worry is the typical magnum shooter's worry of building up lead that prohibits easy loading of .357 cartridges.
Light handloaded .357 cartridges are a dream come true. They hit your hand just right, are still controllable, and with proper bullet selection will do just fine for self defense.
Retail boxed magnum ammo aint too shabby. It'll do if you can't load your own and it still won't punish you.
The premium ammo I tried (hydrashoks) are loaded too hotly for this gun for my tastes. I will be developing a home-load JHP that smokes less for personal defense. In the meantime, I have a box of Fiocchi JHP's that will be loaded in it rather than the hydrashoks.
BTW, for those of you that think the sp-series cannot handle a full day at the range, there you have it: 170 rounds out of it. I also shot about 100 rounds out of my Taurus 94 5", and about 120 (50 .44special, ~70 magnum)rounds out of my redhawk .44. My hand is sore and I cut my thumb from all the hammer cocking, but it was a good time. It was also almost 400 rounds, 250 of which were magnums.
I have nothing bad to say about the gun. I do have some observations about appropriate cartridges to put in it.
I shot:
50 magtech 158gr JSP .357 magnums
50 magtech 158gr FMJ .38 specials
50 homeloads 158gr LSWC .357magnums, 4.5gr Titegroup
20 Federal Hydrashok 158gr JHP
The .38's were kittens. I also shot my Taurus 94 5" .22LR that day, and while there was a perceptible difference in recoil, I could still empty the gun (5 shots) in 2-3 seconds. All were COM, 10 or 9 ring on a sillhouette target at 25 feet. Single action shooting at bullseye targets produced sub-1" groups at 25 feet.
Next came the magtech .357's. They bucked quite a bit more, but follow up shots were still very easy to accomplish. If you can find some JHP's from magtech, they would make very good self defense rounds in the sp101. I could empty the gun accurately at 25 feet in about 3 seconds. All 10's and 9's on the same generic sillhouette target. SA shooting with this load also was very good. My bullseye target was getting a bit peppered at this point, but I think it was still sub-1".
After the magtechs, I shot my homeloads. These were an experiment to see if light, slow .357 loads would foul my barrel when using lead. The barrel remained very clean throughout shooting all 50 rounds. The titegroup powder smoked awfully fiercely, however. I really liked the recoil level of these loads. They were very economical to load (cheap lead and low powder levels), still much more powerful than .38's (definitely let you know that without being painful or slow to recover from), but didn't hurt in the tiny gun. If I can find a similar powder (Win231, Unique, etc) that smokes a little less, I will have the perfect load with that gun. These were great to shoot single-action, too. The sp101 is a very versatile gun, I wouldn't mind taking it out to harass rabbits some afternoon.
On a side note, the .357 titegroup loads smoked a lot, whereas my .44magnum loads I shot that day using titegroup did not smoke at all. Maybe it had something to do with barrel length? Anyways...
After being thoroughly pleased with the first batch of light magnum homeloads, I decided to shoot my SD ammo for comparison. Federal hydrashoks.
OUCH!!!
Not appropriate out of that gun. At all. I hadn't shot them out of it since I bought the gun. I must have not been able to tell what was an appropriate power level for SD at the time. They stomped much more than the magtech ammo. I would really worry about over penetration with those cartridges. Not going to buy any more unless I get a full sized .357 later on. I couldn't put all 5 on target in 5 seconds. It just hurt too much and required effort to make myself shoot again.
The verdict:
.38's are kittens out of this gun. The only worry is the typical magnum shooter's worry of building up lead that prohibits easy loading of .357 cartridges.
Light handloaded .357 cartridges are a dream come true. They hit your hand just right, are still controllable, and with proper bullet selection will do just fine for self defense.
Retail boxed magnum ammo aint too shabby. It'll do if you can't load your own and it still won't punish you.
The premium ammo I tried (hydrashoks) are loaded too hotly for this gun for my tastes. I will be developing a home-load JHP that smokes less for personal defense. In the meantime, I have a box of Fiocchi JHP's that will be loaded in it rather than the hydrashoks.
BTW, for those of you that think the sp-series cannot handle a full day at the range, there you have it: 170 rounds out of it. I also shot about 100 rounds out of my Taurus 94 5", and about 120 (50 .44special, ~70 magnum)rounds out of my redhawk .44. My hand is sore and I cut my thumb from all the hammer cocking, but it was a good time. It was also almost 400 rounds, 250 of which were magnums.
