Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Have the .357 Magnum and 45 ACP Become obsolete?

Yep, I shoot on my place. A 16' x 20' canvass tarp over the grass works. Except for one of my buddy's 45 Super. We put the tarp a 1/4 mile down the road for him.

Don't get me wrong, I have 9 autos. But I think if you practice it does not matter you can hit with most anything some one hands you. I reload a lot of 38 spec and 357. I shoot 148's with bullseye in the 38 and heavy loads with h110 in the 357. Hasbeen

If you use full mag 125gr rounds in the 357mag that would be quite a muzzle blast/noise and recoil and probably poor self defense choice.

I think one would be better off sticking to 38spec +p for self defense.

Use heavier magnum loads, ie 158gr, for woods gun. Probably not ideal defense against a black bear or hog but should work on most things, yes?

Odd�the 125 HP was the 'go to' load for years whilst revolvers were still in vogue. It tallied up a 97% 'One Shot Stop' rate�..everything else was a distant second, including the .45 auto.( Who was that that compiled those statistics�Evan Marshall???)
The noise was impressive for sure, but the muzzle blast was not bad if a quick burning powder was used. A slow powder like 2400, or 4227 which is normally used behind heavier bullets, just about make the 125s prohibitive to shoot in the dark, the flash is so bad.

In 38 spec, I like 135 Speer gold dot or 158 lead swc . In 357 most every thing I shot is above 140. Hasbeen

ingwe,

Yes, I've read the hype about the 357mag 125gr loads.

But I've also shoot a bunch of them on an outdoor range in a 4" Ruger GP100. It was daylight and I was wear ear plug and ear muff. And the muzzle blast and noise was pretty substantial.

There's no way I'd want to touch off one of those rounds at night without hearing protection. We'd both be deaf and blind. Plus the perp would need to "stop, drop, and roll" to put himself out, lol!

hasbeen,

Yep

Duty loads out of a 4" barrel is one thing, conceal carry loads out of a snubby is another. All this stuff about insane flame balls that burn out retinas, singe eyebrows, and torch off trees, are about as much pulled out the rear end of a BSer as is the report will shatter windows and fracture the earth.

The standard table for loudness rates a 45acp at 157db, a 9mm para pistol at 160db, a 41 magnum pistol at 163db, and a 357mag and 44mag at 164db. All are loud and beyond the threshold of pain, which is rated at 120db. You'd likely not be able to notice a difference of around 3db. If someone cranked off a round in your direction from gun fighting distance, I seriously doubt you'd discern that decibel difference. Likely in a gunfight, auditory exclusion would kick-in.

As for muzzle flash, current LE loads have greatly improved in this regard with the use of modern low flash propellants. I just ran through a night fire course using a .357sig and a 357mag revolver, and neither resulted in night blindness.

As for revolvers, I do believe that manufacturing reports show more .357 revolvers being made now, and going back for a number of decades than any other chambering, to include 38 revolvers. As for most profitable, both 38 and 357, each, outsell 44mag ammo worldwide. Being the 357 revolver is more popular by manufacturing numbers, most of that 38 is shot through the 357. So, when you add up global sales of 38 plus 357 ammunition, it accounts for a fairly good chunk of sales profitability.

If makers were forced to dump all revolvers and all revolver ammo except for their choice of one mixed chambering. Going by the numbers of sales, they would choose the 38/357 and dump all the rest. But, I don't see the 41, 44, and 45 going away anytime soon, if ever. So certainly, the 357mag is no where even close to being on any chopping block.

Best

Thanks for sharing that load Shane. I recently bought one of those 686 Plus 3" 7 shot revolvers that Shrapnel posted on here last year. I just started casting that 170 gr Keith out of a new Lyman mold - I'll have to give that one a try...

Jerry

I need to order one of those molds.



Travis

Here be one.

You think the 40 is on it's way out in favor of the 9? I'm trying, but I don't see that. I don't see a hot 9 being anywhere near a 40. My favored load in 9 is a 147+P or +P+, and 180 top end 40, and the way they interact with various media when they hit clearly puts the 40 well above the 9.

I don't shoot people, and hope to keep it that way, but by orders of magnitude I'd rather have the 40 and all it's drawbacks than the 9 when my life is on the line.

I know of several shooters under 30 who own 357s. And I don't know that many people.

I had a couple when I was under 30.

My 629 holds a special place in my heart, and will occupy one of my hands on my funeral pyre. But my 586 is what I grab 99% of the time I'm out and about.

I had one as well. Sadly I no longer qualify to be in the "under 30" crowd. Lame.

I'll drink to that. uber lame.

Ok, now I just bummed myself out. Believe I'll grab a beer myself.

Cheers. :hiccup:

HOLY SHEE-IT!! Someone FINALLY said it!

Am I the only person seeing the trend of shooters who spend infinitely more time behind a keyboard than behind a trigger?? It's near impossible to carry on an intelligent conversation because everyone's "knowledge" is either a) opinion, b) read from another internet forum or c) seen in a YouTube video. Anyhow, I digress....

Yes, I think the .357's popularity is waning because it's a revolver cartridge and revolvers are "old", "outdated" blah, blah, blah. The 45 ACP though I think is going as strong as ever.

I have a 45 ACP (Colt Series 70) and love it, but I'm more of a revolver guy.

I have three .357 revolvers, but to me the caliber is sort of in between. Much too loud and blasty for every day shooting, but not really enough for serious hunting.

My extremes are the .38 Special for plinking and fun shooting and either a .44 Special or 45 Colt for hunting.

I'm with ya. 38 Special for plinking/blasting/general everyday use. 44 Special or 45 Colt for hunting or when I really wanna blast big holes in stuff.