Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .357 Magnum Stopping Power

I also have the Glock 20 SF in 10 mm and don't feel under-gunned with either, just grew up with the 357 magnum and only have nothing but respect for it , own three at the moment .

My last 4" model 19 clocked 1450 out of its 4" barrel with factory Fed & Rem 125's.

40S&W equals and surpasses 4" 357mag.

In what way? If you want tissue destruction the Rem 125 gr SJHP just makes big wounds. It typically breaks into 4 pieces and penetrates 14-16". Its one of the most predictable bullets i've ever tested. For barrier penetration i dont know of any .40 cal load that can top the 158 JHP in the .357. (Or any other auto pistol roynd for that matter)

The .357 has terminal performance, there's no doubt about that. But the noise, HORRENDOUS muzzle flash, and recoil (although it doesnt bother me unless its a J frame) are just not worth it in my book. To my way of thinking, those are significant liabilities. Where a .40 or .45 will give you like 98% the terminal performance with none of the offending drawbacks. Unless its the only thing you have, the .357 just doesnt make sense as a personal protection cartridge anymore.

Yep. Those old Remington 125's would make 1400 plus out of a 4" 686 barrel too.

In the 70's i had this friend who was a County Mountie and i loaded him the 125 gr Sierra for a duty load in his 4 inch Model 19 357 Magnum and they were hot. He shot this guy outside a local bar who was supposedly drunk and coming at or threating him with a tire iron while he was on duty. He shot the guy in the chest and the bullet took out two or three ribs and one lung , needless to say the guy when down like a sack of sand. He survived and didn't die, but lost the ribs and one lung . I know for a fact the 125 gr bullet out of the 357 magnum doesn't mess around in stopping power. After the shooting he told me he wouldn't carry any other load on duty in his pistol, but my hand loads with the 125 gr Sierra Bullet. I believe i loaded them with a max load of H110 and CCI 550 MAG PRIMERS and this was from the old manuals when a max load was a max load . I really don't believe a better pistol round was ever made for stopping a man than the 357 magnum. Stopping and killing are two different animals.

Just going by the numbers. When I look up velocities for a 4" 357 pushing a 158gr pill and 4" 40S&W pushing a 155gr pill I see equality. And when I look at the 4" barrel platforms available for the 40S&W - I see a big advantage for the 40S&W.

If the bore diameters were the same for those two cartridges were the same, your comparison would be more valid.

A 158 in 357 is more the equivalent of a 180 grain bullet out of the 40 S&W

FWIW the last I saw of Evan Marshall's stats...not Stopping Power Index of Marshall and Sanow, the 40 S&W had finally eclipsed the 357 Mag. in the top load of each as far as one shot stops. Again, FWIW.

IMO where the 357 Mag. really shines is as a bedstand gun for a guy who wakes up not too groggy to actually comprehend what's going on and where no little kids are present in the house. For a gun you can just grab and shoot, a 4" 686 filled with either top loads or 110 grain Winchester white box for something that won't kill your next-door-neighbor, is the best.

Full house 357 mag loads are no joke. I've seen handloaded 125s north of 1600 fps from a 6" GP100.



Take a look at some of the serious 125gr commercial ammo out there.

Buffalo Bore - 4" S&W, 1603 fps

Doubletap - 4" Ruger, 1600 fps

Underwood - 1600 fps.

I'm a big fan of 9mm. But comparing 9mm to 357 really only works if you compare watered-down 357 ammo in a short revolver.

I shoot the 125 gr Barnes TAC-HP's to an even 1400 fps out of my old Colt first gen Trooper, it's a 4" blue gun, and it's muzzle blast and noise, along with performance would spell sure doom to any crackhead that caught one of those slugs.

Gunner

Looks like I'll be in the Colt Trooper business again. I got it off a GB auction. The finish is a little rough, but It has the original wood grips and the wide hammer.

I'm thinking about picking up some of the Thunderheads for the .357 and stuffing some cases for the hog hunt.

The most effective handgun round currently on the commercial market is the Federal .357 Magnum 125 grain jacketed hollow point (357B). The .357 Federal load has more stopping power than any other handgun bullet including more powerful rounds such as the .44 Magnum. All experienced revolver men should carry the Federal 357B in a .357 Revolver, or the Remington full-power 125 grain semi-jacketed hollow point is just as good (R357M1).

The 357B has one warning though. The .357B along with other .357 Magnum cartridges have a large kick that may make it uncomfortable for some people to carry. The noise is also an issue, some shooters may not be comfortable with the loud noise it produces compared to other rounds. There are lower recoil rounds for the .357 on the market though for people who do not feel they want to carry the .357B in a revolver, in addition they will have less kick that will make it easier to fire off more rounds with better accuracy. Every .357 load has a good amount of stopping power for self-defense purposes.

In descending order of severity of recoil (i.e. the Silvertip kicks the most) I recommend the Winchester Silvertip 145 grain JHP (X357SHP), The Remington Golden Saber 125 grain JHP (GS357MA), Federal 110 gr. JHP (357D), Remington Medium Velocity 125 grain Semi-Jacketed Hollow point (R357M11) and the Cor-Bon 110 grain JHP. The latter two are excellent rounds I strongly recommend for .357 Magnum 2.5" and 3" barrel snub-nose revolvers like the S&W Models 66, 19, 65, 13, the Colt King Cobra, the Ruger GP100 and especially the small-frame Ruger SP101. If you still find that your .357 kicks too much, carry the Cor-Bon .38 Special+P 110 grain JHP discussed above. Two or three hits with good .38+P slugs beat any number of misses with .357 slugs.

Caution: Shooters that are using factory wood stocks on Smith and & Wesson along with Taurus .357 revolvers should get a set of rubber replacement grips. Ruger and Colt .357 Magnums come factory-equipped with recoil-absorbing ergo dynamic rubber grips, and the S&W along with the Tuarus put wood grips on their .357 versions. The control between the two types is substantial when firing rounds. Compact rubber grips from Uncle Mike's or Pachmayr work well with .357 revolvers. They are inexpensive and will cut down on any firing issues, along with increased accuracy after replacing the wood stock.

Other Good .357 Magnum Loads to Consider

The 125 grain jacketed hollow points by Cor-Bon, Winchester, and CCI are all good stoppers. The CCI Blazer 125 grain jacketed hollow-point is a very good buy, both for practice and self-defense use. The 110 grain jacketed hollow points by Winchester, CCI and Remington are all good for use in snub-nose revolvers, or for those sensitive to recoil. You never go wrong with a 110-125 grain .357 jacketed hollow point from the Big Five. All are great stoppers.

Crappy .357 Magnum loads you should not carry for self-defense.

Never carry soft-points, semi-wadcutters, or any of the 158 grain or 180 grain jacketed hollow points - these are solely for hunting or target use. Stick to jacketed hollow points under 150 grains in weight. The heavier bullets kick heavily and will shoot high and confuse you. All-lead bullets are okay for practice but you will have to spend twice as long cleaning your gun.

- See more at: http://gundata.org/blog/post/best-handgun-caliber-and-round-for-self-defense/#sthash.kCQgo7Ym.dpuf

That'll work CT, I'm gonna bring my old Colt Trooper revolver for the newer Coppers at the hog hunt to shoot, along with the old Veteran Leo's such as ET.

Gunner

Sorry, but this assertion is based on what?

What are your guys thoughts on the Winchester silver tip load in the 357.

I'm not impressed with it, the speed is slow and expansion is unimpressive.

For self defense its a decent load. I've never seen it fail to expand ever. It has considerably less muzzle flash than any of the 125's and because velocity is a little down (1200fps-ish), recoil is about the same as the 125's and penetration is deeper. Stll, even with less muzzle flash, its still a lot of muzzle flash.

Really there are very few .357 loads that are bad for self defense, but they all have that horrendous muzzle flash.