Light weight .357

[scaatylobo]

AGE = a factor

I am 65 now and I see a HUGE difference between what I shoot and tolerate now as compared to 10 or 20 years past.

I now own a S&W 442 and its 14 oz and I happily shoot +P .38's in it and LOVE the snag free design.

I own a S&W 360 and will not shoot magnums out of it without a glove,but it shoots +P very well and its in my pocket as I pen this.

I have an SP101 with the 3" barrel and while its easy to shoot with magnums,its a bit weighty and I would [ and do ] carry a Glock 23 in place of it.

I also have a S&W 387 [ 7 shot Ti .357 ] and its a pleasure to shoot and yes - it is gtg with magnums too.It has a 'L' frame with round butt 'K' frame grip.

The revolver is a BUG except in the house or when I am down the use of a limb [ just had shoulder replaced ].

Good luck with your search and I hope you get to shoot any under consideration.

 

[WardenWolf]

Your search for a shootable compact revolver should begin and end with Ruger. An SP101 with a Hogue boot grip is pleasant, and an LC357 should be fine as well. My father has a Smith & Wesson Model 38 Airweight Bodyguard in .38 Special. Before we put a boot grip on it, that thing was just unpleasant to shoot.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I remember an old FBI man saying "You want it to kick!". May God rest his soul.

 

[Bill4282]

If you want a 2" snubbie, look at Gold Dot short barrel ammo. Same velocity as a 4" barrel.

 

[Godsgunman]

I would say I'm not recoil sensitive as I consider shooting 000 buck and slugs out of a Taurus judge fun. I shot the Ruger LCR a couple months back with .38 spl target loads, shot about 5 rounds and said "no thanks". I have a Taurus 65 with 3" barrel and mainly shoot full house .357 loads with no problem and can follow up pretty quickly. These airweight things aren't for me, no real advantages that I see to them but to each his own. Good luck! Make sure to shoot before you buy if you can.

 

[mdauben]

Your search for a shootable compact revolver should begin and end with Ruger. An SP101 with a Hogue boot grip is pleasant, and an LC357 should be fine as well.

The S&W Model 60 is a steel j-frame that weighs approximatly the same as the SP101 (26oz versus 24.5oz) and with a good set of grips is just as shootable. IMO.

 

[BigG]

I got a DAO Airlight Smith - must be the 340 Model. It shoots ok. Not the end of the world to touch off though you will probably notice.

 

[Macchina]

I was trying to decide between the LCR in .38 or .357: Most everyone who owns one answers this question with: "buy the .357 and shoot .38 +P in it, that's what I do". My conclusion: skip a step, save $100, and get the lighter 38 +p to start with.

I once shot a friends 340 with mid-range Federal .357's: it was like nothing else. I own a 4.2" SP101 and load a .357 +P load with H110 and 158g XTP's and it's a .22 in comparison to the 340.

If I was going to buy a small .357 to shoot .357 out of, I would start with looking at a 2" or 3" SP101. I love my 4.2" and with a couple hours of my time, I have the trigger twice as smooth as that 340.

 

[HKGuns]

 

[scaatylobo]

HK - not nice

that is a real beauty [ in case you didnt notice = lol ] and I am drooling.

Just got my 'grail' gun,a S&W 13 with 3" barrel and now I am hankering for one of those !.

 

[bigwheel]

Well lets see where to start. Nobody has yet to explain to me the wisdom of trying to lug around a lumpy wheel gun in the concealed frame of mind..so I am getting the wrong impression to start with. Then as Bob 79 already said the concept of the .357 Snubby has been disproven ad infinitum. Only increase available over .38 special is in the field of muzzle blast and unburned powder. Somebody needs to go buy a Sig P 226 .40 and forget all this nonsense. Thanks.

 

[Sergei Mosin]

I was trying to decide between the LCR in .38 or .357: Most everyone who owns one answers this question with: "buy the .357 and shoot .38 +P in it, that's what I do". My conclusion: skip a step, save $100, and get the lighter 38 +p to start with.

I agreed with you...right up until I found a slightly used .357 model for about the price of a new .38 Special. Having fired both, I much prefer the heavier .357 - it's much more pleasant to shoot .38 (or .38 +P) rounds in the .357 than in the .38 model and I have found that shooting magnum loads in that little gun is a real blast.

 

[Deaf Smith]

My preferred pair is a Glock sub-compact and S&W J .38.

It can be the Glock 26 or 27 or 33 and just about any 2 inch snub J .38.

Like these two.

Deaf

 

[Sergei Mosin]

Well lets see where to start. Nobody has yet to explain to me the wisdom of trying to lug around a lumpy wheel gun in the concealed frame of mind..so I am getting the wrong impression to start with. Then as Bob 79 already said the concept of the .357 Snubby has been disproven ad infinitum. Only increase available over .38 special is in the field of muzzle blast and unburned powder. Somebody needs to go buy a Sig P 226 .40 and forget all this nonsense. Thanks.

If you re-read the OP, you'll find that he was looking at pocket or ankle carry. If you can carry a P226 in your pocket, great, but I can't. (Talk about lumpy...!)

.357 Magnum ammo is more powerful than .38 Special, even +P, even out of a snub. It's not much of an advantage, but I'll take all I can get.

 

[aliveisalive]

Love my sp101. Did not like my mod 60 pro that HK posted.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I would also throw the SP101 into the ring for consideration.

But have you looked at the Springfield XDs? Not as classy as a revolver to be sure, but 6 shots of .45 acp in an easily comtrolable gun is nothing to overlook. It's about the same length as my J frame, and it is narrower.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The J-frame is perhaps thicker only through the cylinder.. about 1.5" long.. depending on grips.

 

[Kleanbore]

I remember an old FBI man saying "You want it to kick!". May God rest his soul.

Well, you do not.

If you may have to shoot through automobile bodies or body armor plate glass, or shoot dangerous animals, you may need to shoot something that kicks. Otherwise, it is silly to trade controllability in rapid fire for unnecessary penetration.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Who said you can't control something that kicks?

 

[savit260]

The S&W Model 60 is a steel j-frame that weighs approximatly the same as the SP101 (26oz versus 24.5oz) and with a good set of grips is just as shootable. IMO.

S&W's website lists the 2" model 60 at 22.6 oz. Not a huge difference, but enough to notice.

The one place IMO, that the Ruger has it all over the J frames is ergonomics. Speaking only for myself, I find the trigger reach really cramped on J frames, and not so bad on the SP-101's and Colt D frames.

 

[hunterwinco]

I carry a Ruger LCR357 and its a pretty easy snubbie to shoot 38 or 357. I carry it often in my front jacket pocket if Im out for a walk etc. One advantage to the wheel gun over my Glock is that it can be fired without even taking it out of the pocket.

 

[Bushpilot]

I figured I would get a bunch of recoil related responses to this so let me be clear.

I don't care about recoil. I have shot plenty of what most people consider "painful" guns and have never had a problem. I should also add that I roll my own ammo and can load down for practice. I plan on carrying full power 357 loads

The fact is, other than lots of extra recoil and muzzle blast, you're not getting any significant increases in velocity by shooting 357 mag out of a 2" barrel over a 38 special or 9mm... Actually, out of 2 inches of barrel or less, 357 mag has absolutely nothing on a 9mm. 357 mag requires at least 3"- 4" of barrel length in order to turn that extra powder into velocity.

 

[4season]

The fact is, other than lots of extra recoil and muzzle blast, you're not getting any significant increases in velocity by shooting 357 mag out of a 2" barrel over a 38 special or 9mm... Actually, out of 2 inches of barrel or less, 357 mag has absolutely nothing on a 9mm. 357 mag requires at least 3"- 4" of barrel length in order to turn that extra powder into velocity.

Why does this keep being stated as fact? I guess it really depends on what you call significant. If there was no gain in velocity between the same weight bullet for 38 to 357 there would be no difference in recoil as well. Simple matter of physics. The more energy coming out of the barrel the more energy is coming back at you in the form of recoil. Sure when the barrel is this short they are all within a few hundred fps of each other but at the speeds we are talking about that can be 10-25% more energy. I know most 357 factory loads are built for 6 inch barrels but there are some factory loads that are designed for snub-nose. And if you hand load you can simply pick a faster burning powder to gain your speed faster.

 

[RevolvingGarbage]

.38spl +P vs .357 mag

Sure, not much difference at all! only something like 800 FPS vs 1000-1100 for the same weight bullet.

On that note, that .38spl is giving you undue blast and flash! Why don't you know you could get nearly the same ballistics with a good .38S&W load? (Ironically, those two are much closer from a 2" gun than the .38 spl +P and the .357 mag...)

 

[Bushpilot]

Why does this keep being stated as fact? I guess it really depends on what you call significant. If there was no gain in velocity between the same weight bullet for 38 to 357 there would be no difference in recoil as well. Simple matter of physics. The more energy coming out of the barrel the more energy is coming back at you in the form of recoil. Sure when the barrel is this short they are all within a few hundred fps of each other but at the speeds we are talking about that can be 10-25% more energy.

It keeps being stated as fact because 357 mag is very inefficient in short barrels... The physics involved are not quite as simple as you suggest. Intuitively, it may seem that more recoil directly equals more performance but in reality it doesn't work out as straight forward as that. First of all, the increase in the mass of the extra propellant (and all of the burning gases produced) are added to the bullet mass in producing recoil, relative to the mass of the gun. Second, just because the short barrel isn't efficient enough to produce dramatic increases in velocity from the increased charge doesn't change that fact that you are burning more powder which increases muzzle blast and recoil. And third, if there was such a direct and proportional relationship between recoil and velocity, the snub nosed 357 in question would produce huge increases in velocity over a similar weight 38 special since it recoils more than 2X as much, but it doesn't. The actual "real world" difference varies between guns and loads but averages about 15% (about 150 fps). A 150 fps increase in velocity in exchange for 2X the recoil doesn't seem a significant enough increase to me to be worthwhile. It may even be a handicap if a second or third shot is required or if fired in a confined space. 357 mag performance compared to a 9mm, when both are fired out of a 2 inch or less barrel, is so close that it is practically identical, but with much less recoil for the 9mm. It's all about the efficiency of small cases with fast powders in short barrels as compared to larger cases with slower powders.

Sure, not much difference at all! only something like 800 FPS vs 1000-1100 for the same weight bullet.

On that note, that .38spl is giving you undue blast and flash! Why don't you know you could get nearly the same ballistics with a good .38S&W load? (Ironically, those two are much closer from a 2" gun than the .38 spl +P and the .357 mag...)

It's not usually that significant. What makes little sense to me is that you disagree when discussing 357 vs 38 special, then essentially make the same argument involving 38 special vs 38 S&W. Small capacity cases with short barrels are more efficient than larger capacity cases in short barrels.....