Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Looking at small .357 Mag. revolvers...

I don’t know any that has one that regrets it.

Here in Alaska, I've carried an sp101 for about 6 years, as my only handgun. Everything from grouse, snowshoe hare, Ptarmigan, squirrels, beaver, etc. To finishing shots to the neck of downed moose. Also confronting tweaker-thieves scoping out my road in the middle of the night.

I tried a lcrx in 357 mag. It was a snub nose with adjustable open sights. The recoil and muzzle jump was unbearable with 180 grain loads. The sp-101 is manageable with 180 grain stuff. Even with a 4.2" barrel, it is shorter in length than my old 3" barreled 44 mag. Very compact, light and slim!

So a few more ounces of weight from the sp-101 was much nicer. Also, the sp-101 easily breaks down for cleaning, with almost no tools or screws. It's a trail pistol for running rivers, dog teams and wood cutting chores. So it always gets dirty with wood dust, wood chips and river silt. The ease of taking it apart is much appreciated.

I outfitted mine with adjustable night sights, after having a chinese-garbage holosun and a burris fast fire fail to hold zero. I did install ismi springs for a lighter double/single action. Also, the factory grip had no protection for your fing nearest trigger guard. It would just about splinter my middle finger with 180 grain stuff. So an aftermarket grip replaced the factory grip.

It's covered in wood dust from running saws, but always fires. Great all-around trail pistol. Go team ruger........

Got the SP101 in 2.25" 3" and 4.2" versions. I like them all. I carry a GP100 4" a good deal and it's very good but larger and heavier. This series of revolvers are pretty easy to smooth the trigger action on for excellent results even for someone like me.

Mainer AK looks like his is sort of an one tool for all type of revolver. I don't know about shooting a chainsaw with one, I'd reckon they have an odd taste but I could see the hares or other small critters or moose.

Yep.

I shoot/carry a snub LCR, a 3" LCRx, and a 4.2" SP101, all in .357. I consider both the LCR and the LCRx as 38+p revolvers that are useful with my light load .357 snake shot capsules. The 4.2" SP101 is the Goldilocks for a small revolver that will be used with real .357 ammo.

We have the same set up,except I put Crimson Trace on mine and my wife's Lady Smith. Sometimes I carry the Lady Smith in my pocket

That's the one I have.

That's a nice looking little gun. What load do you find the sights regulated for?

I had one of those for a time and thought it pretty good, but didn't like the fiber optic front sight. Probably should have kept it because I find myself in the same position as the OP, bunches of 357 ammo on hand.

A couple buddies wanted to go coyote hunting so they used two of my rifles while I used the Ruger 357. Coyote comes in, friend on left smacks him with the Fireball, he keeps running and I roll him with the 357 at 75 yards, he gets up and gets blasted by friend two with the .223. We all got a piece of that one! LOL

My Model 19 Smith & Wesson. Makes a great carry and inside the house protection revolver.

Very nice, but if that has a security function for you, you should probably remove the overtravel screw. If it backs out any, it could prevent it from firing.

That’ probably the newer style roll pin that was pressed in and ground to length. No danger of it backing out. The overtravel stops that were problematic were the one in a cut in the frame behind the trigger. They were secured with a tiny screw under the side plate that would work loose and allow the stop to pivot forward and keep the sear from releasing.

My Model 19 Smith & Wesson. Makes a great carry and inside the house protection revolver.

It is the newer pressed in pin.

This ^^^^^^^^^^, in spades.

And I don't have to guess............................

At one time, S&W made a run of round butt L-frame with a 2.5" barrel that was reasonably heavy; might see if you can find one as that's about the smallest that I'd go. Had one, sold it, wish I hadn't. Might have been a Lew Horton Special or similar.

MM

After shooting a Scandium framed Smith with full power loads, a 2¼" barreled SP101 with similar loads was a delight. I expect that an afternoon of recreational shooting the same loads through the Ruger would get unpleasant eventually, but that lightweight Smith was miserable from the get-go.

It didn’t take much reading of the Scandium framed S&W 340 PD reviews to find out that a .357 Magnum going off in a 12 ounce revolver was akin to a bomb going off in your hand. Way too much of a good thing. I bought the .38 Special +P rated 337 PD version instead.

I have a 340 PD and it's really not that bad with regular 357 ammo.

That said I keep it loaded with 38 Special because I am more accurate with the lower power ammo.

Find a GP-100 wiley clapp if you can. 3”, fixed Novak sights, matte stainless finish. I added compact factory grips. Easy to shoot with any load. Love mine - highly recommended.

I decided to go a little larger and got a S&W 686.

And it's here. Finish is flawless, trigger is very nice, no end play on the cylinder. I'm happy. Now, I have to set aside some range time.

I hope it shoots as good as it looks.
Congrats.