Guns that tame the .357 Magnum

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Looks like a Redhawk. I'm curious about those, especially since they started making them again, now with 8-shot cylinders and 5.5" sleeved barrels (initially they were only doing the snubby).

I was starting to think about the Dan Wesson revolvers. I remember seeing them advertised in every issue of Guns & Ammo back in the 80's. But man they were ugly. They were like the Chiappa Rhino's of the 70's and 80's. Innovative, but ugly and ultimately wouldn't sell many. I mean, back in the 80's, why would anyone want four ugly barrels when they could get one Colt Python? But look at Smith and Ruger now. Pretty soon they'll be going to sleeved, tensioned barrels on all their models. Ruger already adopted the stub grip-frame around a coil main spring (though missing on the non-super Redhawk) and the detent lock on the crane instead of the ejector rod. And Smith is now doing the latter on at least the 19, 66, and 69. So the only thing they haven't adopted is the forward-mounted cylinder release. It seems like Karl Lewis had the right ideas all along, just nobody in Monson knew how to make them look good.

The Redhawk is pretty awesome. It's got to be one of the beefiest .357 Magnums out there. The question I have is does Ruger make them like crap? Because my experience with both Smith and Ruger recently is their quality sucks.

This isn't my video, but it shows the kind of thing I've come to dread when buying new revolvers:



skip to 3:40 to start seeing the issues Ruger fixed
skip to 6:30 to see the issues Ruger did not fix
 
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"Taming the .357" ?????, is just a matter of opinion to whomever you ask. Kind of a silly question to me, because you can ask that about any caliber. You either like the caliber or not, if so, then you will find a gun that works for you to "tame" it. It's not some kind of wild beast to be afraid of. I prefer a Smith 586 and Ruger GP100, both in 6" barrel, I shoot a lot of .41 and .44 mag so full house .357 is a non issue to me.
 
I've heard humblings of the possibility that Ruger is planning to roll out a 8 shot 357 revolver built on a slimmed down Redhawk frame ...
 
"Taming the .357" ?????, is just a matter of opinion to whomever you ask. Kind of a silly question to me, because you can ask that about any caliber. You either like the caliber or not, if so, then you will find a gun that works for you to "tame" it. It's not some kind of wild beast to be afraid of. I prefer a Smith 586 and Ruger GP100, both in 6" barrel, I shoot a lot of .41 and .44 mag so full house .357 is a non issue to me.
I was a tough guy when I was young as well. Times change. I still enjoy shooting some .41 and .44 Mag, but in moderation, and I prefer my full power .357 in full size revolvers. I love my 4" Security Six, but it is a handful these days. Gettin' old ain't for sissies.
 
I've only owned 2. One was a Ruger GP100 that I foolishly traded. It was a 4", but handled the recoil pretty well.
I currently own a 6 1/2" Blackhawk that handles it even better.

I've not had much trouble with the .357 mag, but did shoot a cylinder out of a scandium framed S&W and it hurt.
Any full sized steel gun tames the .357 pretty well for me.
 
I had a 6" Smith 27-2 that was pretty tame. It is unfortunately not mine any longer; it was too pretty to shoot.
 
We've read about people that qualified with .38 Special +P, but carried .357, and others that carried .38 Specials in their 686 like Edmundo Mireles. The reason is evidently because they're easier to control. While a preponderance of those carrying .357 J-frames admit to preferring .38 Special +P, there's ample evidence that the slightly larger K-frame Model 19's have also been more shootable with .38's. Even Dirty Harry, which I would like to remind people was a fictional character, made a reference to the ease of shooting .38's in a .357. So what does it take from the gun to tame the .357?

In my own experience, I found shooting .357's in steel J-frames was not uncontrollable, but there was two factors involved: first, ".357 Magnum" includes a very broad range of loads starting from anywhere just above .38 Special +P pressures and velocities. A .357 case loaded with a maximum charge of W231 or Longshot is not the same as a full load of H110. The other factor is barrel length. Loads in snub-nose guns develop hundreds of feet per second less velocity than they will in a six-inch barrel. So I could shoot a full-house load of Longshot out of a steel J-frame and think it was hot but not too bad. But I found a full case of H110 from a six-inch barrel would have a lot more energy. Of course, the gun was heavier and that helped control some of the recoil, but I wouldn't say that it was easy to shoot.

There's a few guns out there that I've not shot, but which present novel ways to tame the .357. The S&W 627 V-Comp for example. Besides the huge N-frame, it uses a full underlug on a long barrel and a compensator. The 686 "Competitor" uses underlug weights. The Ruger Redhawk with a 5.5" barrel is simply massive. Most people will choose a lighter, easier-to-carry .357, a J-frame or a Model 19, an SP101 or a Kimber, but no matter what load they chamber, they will be shooting a kinder-gentler .357, and the chances are they will shoot a light load better. So what handguns do you think do a good job of both producing and taming the hottest .357 Magnum performance?
ruger blachawk new model.

murf
 
Taming the "vicious" recoil of the .357 Magnum in a Dan Wesson is easy. Get an EWK Arms EH slab-side barrel assembly. If that isn't enough, EWK also sells a muzzle brake that replaces the barrel nut.
I have a 3" EH barrel on my M14-2 and it handles Buffalo Bore loads with no problem. My preferred ammo, however, is Barnes 140gr VOR-TX. Oh, and I have the factory "combat" fingergroove wood grip, not a rubber one.
If you think today's ammo is hard to handle, you should have been around to shoot original Super-Vel loads. They made even Buffalo Bore feel tame.
 
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The 125gr JHP stuff in a 2.5" K frame.....pretty nasty.
Worse is a scandium J w Corbons (me want!)

I hunted w a 6" Python and found factory 140 to 158 gr stuff to be rather wimpy.
Not really a fan of .357 mag. Got my first one in 6th grade.

Liked .44 mag w 180's cranked to max. Shot a lot of those.

Arthritis/old age has me thinking L frame 6" or Contender 10"........if I ever deer handgun again.
 
I think the way to tame a .357 is to start with the cartridge, not the gun. 6 to 6.5 grains of Unique with a 158gn coated LSWC is pretty good, and for factory loads, 125gn Golden Sabers are mild. If I'm carrying a snubnose, the latter is what's in it.

Although I'm a mere child of 62, my skinny wrists are older than the rest of me somehow, and I really don't want to damage them any further. Even regular .38 out of an Airweight got to be too much, so I got rid of those. If I get an inexplicable urge to shoot "real" .357, which does happen sometimes, I use a 6" S&W Model 19. The target grips make a difference, as does the extra weight from the barrel.
 
I've got four 357's now. Two N-frame Smith and Wesson's, and two K-frames.

I think the N's are a bit of overkill with the 357, especially if I have to carry one in anything but a range bag.
 
Back in the day when I was more into revolvers I found the .357 to be very manageable in the Ruger Security Six. Likewise with the S&W Model 686. Never had an N frame in .357 (did have a couple of .41 Magnums and a .44 Magnum) but I have no doubt they would have been good at taming the recoil of full house .357 loads.
 
Back in the day when I was more into revolvers I found the .357 to be very manageable in the Ruger Security Six. Likewise with the S&W Model 686. Never had an N frame in .357 (did have a couple of .41 Magnums and a .44 Magnum) but I have no doubt they would have been good at taming the recoil of full house .357 loads.
My experience with a 4" Security Six was different in that I had to treat it as a mid-level reload gun. Anything too serious would hurt me. My GP100 Match Champion is much different (for me) and can handle anything. My context though is that grips had to be reasonable in appearance and something that would not rule out concealed carry.
 
RealGun

First thing I did with my Security Sixes was put a set of Pachmayr Presentation grips on them. Fit my hand nicely and did alleviate some of the felt recoil. Had a GP100 but didn't care for the ergonomics of the grips; they just felt like they were the wrong size and shape for my hand. Found the Pachmayr Gripper grips on my S&W Model 686 were more controllable than the usual Presentation grips. Best factory grips I ever found that were comfortable with .357 loads were the wood grips on the Colt Mk.V. A nice comfortable grip and were great at managing recoil.
 
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