Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W Airlite .357 mag and full power loads....

Can full power .357 mag loads be shot comfortably in the little S&W AirLite? The barrel length is only 2.5". Any personal defense load recommendations?

Thanks,


Jordan

Not comfortably. I recommend a good shooting glove, one that protects your middle finger from the trigger guard in particular, if you intend to fire any volume of full power .357 rounds out of your Airlite.

In short barreled .357's or 38's, I like the Speer Gold Dot +P 38spl rounds made especially for short barrels.

Thanks Oregon, 'preciate the advise. I'm a novice with this handgun and the .357 mag.

Jordan

Never met anyone that would do that more than rarely as they are VERY uncomfortable. I shoot 357's out of my LCR (only slightly heavier) It is as controllable as can be expected with that light a gun. If you are intent on a Smith and want to shoot 357's I'd go with an S&W 640.

Have your kid hit you in the hand with a teeball bat. You will have effectively simulated the recoil sensation of full boat 357s in an airlite.

They are dang nice to carry and comfortable to shoot with wadcutter target loads for practice. If you don't reload try to find some of the Fiocchi 148 wadcutter stuff to get familiar with it, it does about 500fps out of a snubby and won't penetrate a 3/8" sheet of rubber.

What TheKid said. I often use the analogy of slapping your hand really hard with one the small promotional bats they sell at ball parks. If you handload use 357 brass to save on cleaning and load to 38+p levels for SD loads. Even those lighter loads can get old fast.

Anything .38 +P or greater is not going to be pleasant to shoot. .357 Magnum full power loads will be downright abusive and painful.

Practice with the wadcutter target loads, fire enough full power stuff to know the sights are on. Those revolvers are designed to be carried a lot and shot very little.

That said, if in a self-defense situation, the full power .357s in a snubby offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. They are deafening. In low light, there will be a huge fireball. You will be deaf and your night vision compromised. You, however, will know it's coming; think about being on the down range end. Also, if at point blank range the concussive blast will "leave a mark" so to speak.

The older style Remington 125 Semi-Jacketed HPs are just nasty out of a short barrel. If you can find a box or two, grab them. They are full power, with a very soft lead nose quite exposed in the scalloped semi-jacket and a deep HP cavity.

I shot a few of the Speer GD SB 357 loads out of my MP340 and it wasn't terrible. That being said, I keep Corbon DPX 38 +p's in mine. I traded in my 642 so that I could put in the 357's while hiking in the UP. Now that Buffalo Bore has their 38 Outdoorsman load, that's what I carry. I still like the 340 because of its XS Dot front sight.

Full power magnums in an Airlite suck!!! It's the most abusive revolver I've ever shot...the shooter only fares slightly better than the one shot. But look at the bright side...

You'll never shoot anyone on a whim!

And even if you miss, you light his clothes on fire

I think if you want to shoot .357's in a J frame I'd get one of the Model 60's with the 3" full lug barrel, just to have a little more weight. I have one of the Pro models which is in .38 Special +P, and it's pretty easy to shoot. I'll usually carry it with two snake shots, and three hollowpoint +P's

It may be just an urban legend, but when they first came out some of the owners of Scandium J-frame .357's were reporting broken hand bones due to the recoil.

And for ANY J frame .357, shoot only modern spec .357's, not some of the 50's & 60's style loads with 158's at 1400 fps!

What about the Ruger SP101 and the Hornady Gunner loads .357 125gr XTP's? Been a little nervous about trying these. Bought a box then wondered,oboy.

Replacing the OEM J-frame grips on the with the Ergo grips makes the gun slightly less concealable - only slightly - and requires getting used to the new grip angle, but it makes shooting 357 Mag SD loads much more controllable. I normally practice with my 360PD with a couple of cylinders of 38 +P and one cylinder of 357 Magnum 135 Critical Duty or Speer 125 GDHP. These 357s are my normal carry loads.

The recoil is stout but controllable at the range a BUG is needed to fight your way to your primary weapon. Just my own experience YMMV.

I have shot some rather big bore handguns, including the .475 and 500 Linebaugh in custom single actions (prior to the invention of the 460 and 500 Smiths).


With that said, they were less painful than shooting a buddy's airweight .357 with magnum loads. My hand was literally numb from pain. They are a very good way to do irreversible damage to your hands.

I will stick with .38 plus Ps, no matter if it is chambered for .357 or not.

+1000 to all the comments above regarding pain. The Ti airlight I had and sold was the only handgun that I shot 5 times and sold.....The irreversible damage comment is right on, as well....My hand was sore for some weeks.....

I shoot Garrett 44mag +P's in a 4" Redhawk revolver and a Redhawk Alaskan with 2 1/2" barrel, so I have some experience with heavy recoil in a handgun.

Shot my sons Ti Airweight with full power .357 loads twice and thought had torn something lose in my hand, most pain ever shooting a handgun. My "Macho" LEO son thought I was just a sissy but he only shot it 5 rounds and said no more.

I think 38 +P will do whatever you want to do with a J-frame snobby.

180 gr. Buffalo Bore solids in a SP101 3" barrel are very brisk but with a Hogue Grip it is manageable.

I run Hornady Critical Defense 125 gr 357's in my 3" SP101 for EDC. You feel them when they go off at the range, but it is tolerable. If it got to nut-cutting time, I'm pretty sure the recoil would not be an issue.

GE

I appreciate your detailed response on my question. heehee. I will try the 125's, which seem to have the same ballistics of the Critical Defense. I apologize for my distraction from the thread's true focus.

I shot one cylinder of full patch loads through my buddies 357 S&W 340. Without a doubt the most painful handgun I have ever fired. Another buddy had a 4 5/8" blackhawk 500 Linebaugh and with his 440 gr max loads, it was less painful to shoot than the 340.

357 snubbies are best teamed with at most warm 38 loads.

the problem shooting hot loads in those j frames is the bullets can actually come unseated. full house 357 mags, yeah I shot some in my scandium j frame. imagine taking a metal bat with nothing on it. now go wack a flag pole as hard as you can with it. that is what it feels like in your hand.

personally I could not hit the broadside of a barn with a jframe. way way more accurate with a little 380 like an lcp or something.