357 magnum sp101 Recoil?

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.380awsome

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i am looking at a small sp101 .357 magnum i hear its good and my only concern is recoil on it ,also would a 13 year old boy be able to fire it without to much recoil i have a son that would like to fire it also:D
 
I use to have an sp101 and the recoil with the 125 grain .357 hydra shoks and golden sabers I shot through it were not unpleasant to shoot. My wife even shot it and didn't find it unpleasant and shes never shot a .357 before that. For your son I say load it with .38's for him they are quite tame,in terms or recoil in the SP101 due to its weight. The sp101 is a great snub nose you won't be sorry if you get one.
 
I have shot some full house magnums out of our Sp and its not unpleasant to shoot, way better then the light weight models of some other manufactures. They ccw OK but are a little heavy. They are a good gun.
 
I had one (3") and sold it. Too much recoil and flash for me. It was too heavy to use as a 38 gun, but I thought it was too small to handle magnums. I like the way my 6" GP100 handles the magnums much better. ;)
 
Lets put it this way. It could be worse, try shooting a S&W J frame in .357

That will make you think twice and cause you to change to .38 +P rounds.

The Ruger is bigger than the J frames so its you dont have to worry about holding on with a floating pinky finger. Yeah the Ruger is going to jump in your hand but it wont be too uncomfortable.
 
The factory grips on the sp101 are suberb...less recoil shooting full hot loads than a S&W .38special model 60 (for instance) with +p ammo, this is because the backstrap is exposed on the Smith and it hammers the palm....not the case with the Sp101 using .357 mag loads...comfortable to shoot all day long....BTW Great Firearm... I carry two each and every day for the past 15 years....Don't think twice about getting one....you won't be sorry...Doc:D
 
Great gun, built like a tank. Strong punch with a .357, but with .38 it isn't bad. I'd let the kid try standard .38 Special and go up from there. I handed it to a friend with some +P ammo in it and he held it loosely thinking "just a .38" wouldn't recoil much. I watched that first shot almost smack him in the nose. :D He respected the gun a lot more after that, and was afraid to try the .357 rounds. It really is just a matter of getting acclimated, as the first couple cylinders of .357 feel like hitting your hand with a hammer, but after some practice it is quite manageable, even one-handed.

In other words, go ahead and buy one. Better yet, but 2, so you won't do like I did and sell your only SP101 when you're short of funds... :(

gp911
 
The recoil on snubby .357's doesn't bother me nearly as much as the muzzle blast. Light off some 125gr Cor Bons out of a 3" :eek:.
 
With the factory grips it is not too bad with 1125gr Silvertips and my 2" is fun to shoot .38's for practice. For full house stuff I will stick with my blackhawk for range play and I will leave the SP for defensive work.
 
It is not necessary to shoot only magnums in it, especially for a beginner. I had one and found it easy to shoot with all .38 Special loads (even +P), and milder .357s - e.g., WWB 110-gr. JHPs, Federal 130-gr. "Personal Defense" HydraShoks and the like - were not bad. It was quite strenuous with Remington 125-gr. SJHPs (R357M1), with a thunderclap-like blast and roar.
 
I have a set of Trausch grips on mine and I can shoot magnums with no trouble. I don't like shooting the 125gr rounds, they seem to have a lot more recoil, but 158 and 180 are great.
 
My wife carries and shoots one and she's a girl! ;)

Great gun, not uncomfortable to shoot magnums loads at all. 25oz empty, so it has the weight to absorb the energy.
 
I have one, my wifes has one and I recently took one of our 11 year old cousins shooting and he loved it. He shot both a s&w 642 w/buffalo bore 38+p and the sp101 w/ full house magnums and he definately preferred the 101. When we switched over to regular 38's he said he felt like he was shooting a bb gun. Everyone is different.

If both of you can handle the 357 and the boy cant then you may have to down load to something EVERYONE in the house can use/handle (38+p).
 
Only gun I have ever shot that hurt me was my buddies airlite lady smith with 38+p. I tore up my knuckles on my middle and ring finger.

BTW the sp101 is fine to shoot. If the factory grips bug you there are many different styles of grips availible for that gun.
 
A pussycat with hot 140 grainers. A little more push with 180 buffalo bore equivalent, but man those hit hard! 1306 fps from a 2.25" barrel. Hogue grip is the only way with the SP101. Sweet shootin' gun, smallest .357 I can comfortably fire with max loads and tough as an L frame.
 
All I shoot is 357. Most of the time it's in Snubs. with the right grip they all can handle full loads just fine. The SP 101 is my only Snub that has the Factory Grips. The Ruger Grip fits me and there is no recoil sting with mag loads. I can carry it in some pockets but, It carries better IWB.
 
Recoil

I have an SP101 with the shorter barrel. Recoil with .357 loads isn't bad at all, but Lordy the muzzle flash!! I tend to side with those who ask "who would want to be blind and deaf in a gunfight?"
 
I don't like shooting .357 Magnums out of a J-Frame Model 640. Out of the SP101 it's not a problem.

My BUG is an SP101 loaded with Remington 125 Grain SJHP's or Black Hills 125 Grain JHP's.

BikerRN
 
I tend to side with those who ask "who would want to be blind and deaf in a gunfight?"

Ditto that. If you ever have to fire a .357 in a closed area you might damage your hearing permanently, if not lose it altogether. That's a mighty loud round...:evil:
 
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