Self defense ammo

All this back and forth arguing over .38 sp vs .357 mag is kind of moot. It all depends on the shooter and which they prefer. Either round can be effective.

Personally, I prefer .38 out of my SP101 2.25". I can and have/do shoot .357 out of it. But I'm definitely more accurate and faster with follow up shots, on target, with the .38s. To me, that trumps the extra power the .357 provides. I'll take 5 shots, fast and on target, of .38 over missing a few .357s during rapid fire any day.
 
All this back and forth arguing over .38 sp vs .357 mag is kind of moot. It all depends on the shooter and which they prefer. Either round can be effective.

Personally, I prefer .38 out of my SP101 2.25". I can and have/do shoot .357 out of it. But I'm definitely more accurate and faster with follow up shots, on target, with the .38s. To me, that trumps the extra power the .357 provides. I'll take 5 shots, fast and on target, of .38 over missing a few .357s during rapid fire any day.
Click to expand...

Shootig 357 from a barrel that short is kind of crazy anyway. Either way, I am not going empty my gun before an assessment and then think, oh darn, my gun is empty.
 
These types of threads are usually unproductive, because the majority of answers are opinions based on little, or wholly inaccurate data.

Most of the information on terminal performance or "stopping power" floating around on the internet is woefully out of date. Or more often, based on invented statistics gleaned from gunwriters and fictional studies.

The truth is, .38 special, .357, 9mm, .40 and .45, with decent modern ammunition, are all much closer in terminal performance than many want to believe. A round that expands, and penetrates sufficiently, will work about as well as one that is going 300 fps faster.
 
.357 mag and 357 sig (and to some extent 9mm+p) will be better at defeating certain hard barriers compared to .38+p, .44 spl, .45 acp, etc. That is a function of velocity. Hard objects react differently to soft objects (flesh) when hit with bullets.

Of course, if you don't expect you'll have to punch a hole through a steel dumpster in a self-defense situation, you're probably just fine with .38+p or .45. Obviously some choices are going to be better than others.

Shoot some guy with a .38+p, .45, .44 spl, or .357 mag, and he won't know the difference, and most likely neither will the medical examiner until he measures and weighs the bullet.
 
Thank you guys for all the info I think I've narrowed it down to a few boxes I'm gonna try out and see which ones I shoot best
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top