Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 2" Snub nose 357 magnum self defense ammunition

I have a 2" Colt Magnum Carry 357 revolver and my current self defense ammunition for it is the medium velocity Remington 357 magnum Golden Sabre. I want to replace this ammunition with new ammo (the carry load in the revolver is 2 years old). I am having trouble finding this ammo on the shelf in local gun shops. I was wondering what other people were using in 2" small frame snub nose 357 magnum revolvers for self defense ammo. I am not interested in carrying 38 Special +P ammo. I'm just wondering what other people recommend, are there newer loads that may work better. Thank you.

I have 5 boxes of it and would carry the Remington 125gr Medium Vel. 357 mag load. That is what I carried in My S&W 640 when it was an off duty gun for me. It was not terrible in that gun.

I use Speer 135gr. Gold Dot Short Barrel 357's. However, the short barrels don't do the 357 any justice. These little Gold Dots come out at 986fps for an unimpressive 292ft.lbs of energy. Most 9mm's put out more energy than that.

I'm sure you can find a hotter, faster 357 load, but even these Speer Loads, mild as they may be, are ruthless in terms of recoil in a super lightweight J- Frame. The Colt is heavier and might offer better recoil control.

I use the 135 gr Gold Dot also in my Smith. Not something I want to shoot often. I do not change out . 2years is zip in the life of a cartridge

Thanks for the responses guys, I'll try to get some Speer 357 magnum 135gr Gold Dot Short Barrel ammo if I can't find any Remington 357 magnum 125 gr Golden Sabre. My revolver is all steel, it's not aluminum framed but I still prefer to shoot medium power 357 loads in it for ease of control.

You can order that Remington load directly from Remington online. It is available, it's not inexpensive though. Looks like they only sell it in the 20-round boxes for $38.99 per box.

Mogc, thanks, I didn’t know that you could order directly from Remington.

I don’t think I have any ammo that new. Have recently shot some WW II ammo that had no problems.

You sure can. Like I said, not cheap there but it's usually available ordering direct from the manufacturer.

Haven't bought anything for it in a while, but I'm quite sure they're 125gr Federal Hydra-shock.
Look up some tests with the latest ammo from short barrels. They're making ammo specifically for carry guns.

check into Civil defense, 50 gr all copper at 2000fps in 2" barrel, or Legheigh (sp) 100 gr at 1500-- designed for short barrels.

You’re a better man than I. I had enough of shooting.357 mags in 2” revolvers a long, long time ago.

Today, if I had a good reason to carry a 2” five or six shot revolver versus a small, flat, lightweight 9mm with 11 on tap and a quick easy ten shot reload, it would be loaded with either the old .38 Special “FBI load” of soft, +P 158 grain LSWCHP or with 148 grain WC’s at the same speed, but that’s just me.

Standard pressure 158 grain .38 Special is brutal out of a lightweight J-Frame.

The Colt Magnum Carry is all steel, though, as I recall.

PS Ethan Edwards, of happy Campfire memory, had one and cherished it.

That depends. If there's even a hint of solvent or lubricant left in an automatic's chamber, and you carry one in the chamber (highly recommended), then over time that little bit of solvent can corrupt the powder. I imagine the same is true for a revolver's chambers, although perhaps not to as great an extent.

Many years ago, I had been carrying the same 1911 without changing out the ammo (or even removing the round in the chamber) for about two years, and decided it was time to shoot it all out at the range. The first round was a dud. This was high grade commercial ammo.

I've been more careful about getting the chamber bone dry on an automatic pistol that I'm carrying since then.

Yep, that's what's in the Airweight J-Frame .38 that lives in my bathrobe pocket, i.e., 148 grain target wadcutters over 4.5 grains of Unique.

That's the gun that accompanies me out to the hen house every morning, along with my two dogs.

Aren't medium power 357 and +P 38's about the same thing? Why not just go with some +P 38's?

That’s not about the chamber. It’s the breech face & especially the firing pin & firing pin hole. Applies the contaminant directly onto the primer. Particularly while carried muzzle down.

That makes sense. So we all need to keep the breach face bone dry in our carry guns as well.

Seems to me Speer 135gr. Gold Dot Short Barrel 357 ammo is about equivalent to +P+ .38SPL, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. (Any miscreant taking one to his 10-ring should ought to find it sufficiently impressive.) They go where pointed, too:

Please disregard that flyer at eleven o’clock.

Actually I don't think they are. The Golden Sabre 125gr 357 magnum round has a velocity of around 1,100 fps from the 2" barrel of my Magnum Carry and 1220 fps from my the 4" barrel of my 1990's vintage King Cobra. The Golden Sabre 125gr 38 Special+P round has a velocity of around 875 fps from a 2" barrel and about 1,000 fps from a 4" barrel. The medium velocity Golden Sabre 357 magnum ammo is about equal to a 9mm Luger +P load, in my opinion.

I use Underwood's 38 Special 158 grain +P Lead HP, does 1003 fps from a S&W 637, clobbers 2-3 gallon jugs and expands like this-



I'm using Hornady 357 Magnum American Gunner 125 grain XTP from a 2" ported Taurus* 617 Ti I bought a couple weeks ago. I'll add chrono & water jug results when I have them. I know it's expanding them because I found nose frags in the second jug but the damn bullet bounced off #4 and got lost in the hayfield.

* Yeah, I know- cheap lottery ticket. Seems to be the best example I've examined. We'll see if I can break it.

Chrono results, 021724 28 F

Alaska Backpacker 200 grain 357 914 fps
Hornady American Defense 357 125 XTP 1198 fps
Underwood 38+P 158 Lead SCWHP 935 fps

Exactly, but also the firing pin channel. If you clean your breechface with solvent or clp & a toothbrush like we all would, looking down at it, the liquid gets into the firing pin hole. Then picture your gun being carried muzzle down, again like we all pretty much do, & the firing pin channel applies the primer killing goo directly to the primer. That it doesn’t kill them all the time is a testament to the tight fit of primers & sometimes use of excellent sealants.

The trick is to clean that breech face while it’s facing down, which is admittedly counter intuitive & more difficult but it helps keep the fluid out of the firing pin hole.

I use Ruger ARX .357 Magnum in my 2 inch Taurus 605 and Ruger SP101. Kicks like a .38 special but tears up water jugs.

Mackay Sagebrush may have something that you’d like.

Good idea. I'm going to adopt that practice.

For reference, here’s some 357 snub chrono data I collected years ago:

https://www.rugerforum.net/threads/2-25-sp101-357-mag-chronograph-data.224289/

The aforementioned Hornady American Gunner 357, 125 grain XTP at 1198 fps (nominal) into water jugs. Stopped in the 4th jug and left 6 nose fragments, about the size of #4 shot, in 2nd and 3rd jugs. Recovered bullet shown in front of the first jug it hit. Offered simply as a point of reference.

SargeMO, How is the recoil of that Hornady American Gunnern357, 125 grain XTP load out of a 2" snub nose? That looks like a full power load to me, I think that I might have controllability issues with that load. The results do look impressive.

21 Oz ported Taurus 617 titanium, recoil wasn't bothersome at all. Then again, I am not particularly recoil sensitive. I'm also not one of those people with thinks every handgun problem is solved by emptying it as fast as you can.

My Magnum Carry is listed as weighing 21 ounces but the barrel is not ported. I'm not particularly recoil sensitive either but I have tried to use medium power loads in small frame 357 revolvers. I have a medium-large frame 4" Colt King Cobra that handles full power 357 loads just fine.

I shot the 200 grain Alaska Backpacker load, Federal and Blazer 125 grain and several full power 158 grain 357 loads through a 2 1/4" Ruger SP101 I owned. Recoil was definitely more noticeable from the little Ruger.

The only 357 load that bit me, using the OEM grip, was a 2000 fps rifle load I worked up, 19.0 grains of Winchester 296 and a 140 grain XTP. The trigger guard rapped my bad-finger knuckle like Sister Mary Elephant.

I de-finger-grooved a set of Houges, which detour the trigger-guard around that knuckle. Even the 200 grain bear loads aren't bad now.

https://www.thesixgunjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/20240217_164200-768x632.jpg

SarrgeMO, those grips look good. I have the same set on my Magnum Carry, but they are in their original form, I haven’t modified them. They are very comfortable with the loads I shoot through the gun.

From a 3" barrel, the 125 grain 357 mag Buffalo Bore load shows good velocity: 125gr. Jacketed Hollow Point = 1476 fps - that's their published data, I haven't tried that ammo myself.

My 3" J-frame punches the 180 gr Buffalo Bore 357 hard cast out at 1245 fps. It's a bit of a beast to shoot. Hang on tight!


Used my 2.5" Model 19 with 158 gr Remington JHP ammo, saw 1237 fps from it. Recoil is controllable.

I have carried 38+P in my 2.5" and 3" 357's, but I have to admit liking the "punch" from the magnum loads.

Regards, Guy

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This. I have stopped handloading pistol ammo because his stuff is excellent. A great guy and great ammo.

Screenshot test.

Some chrono results from almost 20 yrs ago. All from 1 7/8" S&W M340 and M360. And the Beartooth is 185gr and not a typo



Let's see if this works.

Do the Houges on your Colt cover the top of the backstrap?? Seems to make a lot of difference on snubs, shooting full 357 mag loads.

Personally I use 38 Special in a 2” gun and magnums in a 3” barrel. But that’s just me.

Plus P.
Underwood or Buffalo Bore

currently I am liking a 162 grain powdered coated LSWCHP, over a stiff load of SR4756 powder. Accurate, easy to control, and effective. (at least on pigs)
This is the load I use in my three inch barrel .357 revolvers. I don't have a two inch revolver.

They come up to the top of the backstrap, almost like a beaver tail, if I had to try and describe it.

I have that Colt, too. First time I shot it, I tried some Winchester .357 Mag 110-grain loads. All it did was produce a bigger fireball out front and not nearly as accurate as the Lost River .38 Spcl 158-grain +P load.

I use Fiocchi 125 grain HP's in my Taurus 605

Gonehuntin, I love that holster, who made it?

Tucker Gun Leather, it's the HF3


https://tuckergunleather.com/hf3-revolver-holster/

If you're looking for new ammo ONLY because it's 2 years old and you want "fresh" ammo you are greatly overthinking things here. Even if that ammo was 20 years old every single one would reliably go BANG as long as you store it in a reasonable dry, climate-controlled environment.

Barnes 125gr or 140gr XPB offers comparable performance to the famed Golden Saber..

FBI and most other government agencies have an expiration date on issue ammo. They used to just give pallets of out dated ammo to any agent that wanted it. I wound up with thousands of rounds of Winchester 145 grain Silver Tips that way. Over 20 years later, I have yet to have a bad round.

I believe military rotates stock every 10 years. I would extend that if both case mouth and primer are sealed. I do not like bullet stuck in barrel because it has interrupted my range sessions in the past. Last time it was Russian military round which had laquer seals. I boycot Russian ammo now and mostly shoot Serbian, or made in EU stuff
. I shot some 9x19 Magtech ball recently and it performed quite well about same as S&B. The cartridge base is little concave, but I have had no stoppages shooting with Glock.