What ammo for .357?
- Thread starter tpaw
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Ala Dan
Member in memoriam
I would load .38 Special "Low Recoil" rounds as made by Federal~! These
are 110 grain JHP's, that ought'a work well in the VERY LIGHT S&W 340PD.
Otherwise, expect moderate recoil; and down right painful recoil from the
125 grain .357 magnum JHP loads~!
are 110 grain JHP's, that ought'a work well in the VERY LIGHT S&W 340PD.
Otherwise, expect moderate recoil; and down right painful recoil from the
125 grain .357 magnum JHP loads~!
ArchAngelCD
Member.
I would not suggest you fire full house .357 Magnum rounds from a 12 oz snub nose revolver, ever! If you want to carry .357 Magnum rounds in your .357 Magnum revolver but don't want to break your wrist then I suggest Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel 135 gr .357 Magnum rounds. They are made to have less recoil than full house Magnum rounds with very little muzzle flash. That, along with their specially made bullet which expands at lower velocities that other bullets, it's a winner. You can expect ~ 1,000 fps from a snub nose. If that is still too much to handle you can carry Speer Gold Dot .38 Special +P 135 gr rounds. I carry them in my N638.
Read about it Here. For Ballistic data click the link to "Product Listings" on that page. The Short Barrel rounds are at the bottom of the page.
Read about it Here. For Ballistic data click the link to "Product Listings" on that page. The Short Barrel rounds are at the bottom of the page.
wnycollector
Member
A light inexpensive load is the blazer 158gr jhp. I shot it out of a friends rossi snub and it felt kinda +P'ish. granted the rossi is twice the weight than your S&W.
The Lone Haranguer
Member
I've never shot any of these fleaweight revolvers, but the Winchester "white box" 110-gr. JHPs in .357 were fairly comfortable to shoot out of my Ruger SP101 (which weighs over twice as much), if you simply must shoot .357. I still think you would be better off with .38 Spl. loads.
PhrankKastle
Member
I 2nd the Gold Dot Short Barrel .357, I found it very controllable in a friends Taurus 605 but thats almost twice the weight of the 340pd, if that's too much then I'd go with the .38 +P
boomstik45
Member
This is why I no likey lightweight magnum revolvers. It's almost an oxymoron. If it's going to be lightweight, then shoot .38s. Better to be actually able to make hits, repeated ones. Besides, if using this for defense, you need the practice, and there's no way you practice enough with such a combination as you suggest. You'll turn into a flinch-a-holic.
BikerRN
member
Here's a way to see what load you should use:
1) Gather all ammo and sort it by type, brand, bullet weight etc
2) Place Target at 5 Yards
3) From the "Low Ready" shoot 5 rounds of each different ammo type
The ammo that you can keep 5 shots in 5 inches at 5 yards is your carry ammo. I "stole" this from Mr. Camp, and it makes a lot of sense to me. I hope I got the "gist" of what he was trying to say. I have been known to be a little "dense" at times, just ask my wife.
Biker
1) Gather all ammo and sort it by type, brand, bullet weight etc
2) Place Target at 5 Yards
3) From the "Low Ready" shoot 5 rounds of each different ammo type
The ammo that you can keep 5 shots in 5 inches at 5 yards is your carry ammo. I "stole" this from Mr. Camp, and it makes a lot of sense to me. I hope I got the "gist" of what he was trying to say. I have been known to be a little "dense" at times, just ask my wife.
Biker
warriorsociologist
Member
Speer "Short barrel" 135gr. GDHP .38 Special +P
zxcvbob
Member
.38 Special "+P" 158 grain lead SWC hollow-points.
Gary Roberts writes:
Quote:
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We tested NUMEROUS .38 spl loads for BUG use. Almost all the JHP's either failed to consistently expand or they had too shallow penetion. About the only JHP bullet that works reliably from a 2" barrels is the Speer 135 gr +P JHP Gold Dot, however in the lightweight J-frames it is not particularly comfortable to shoot. Initial testing of the Barnes XPB bullets looks good, but we need a bit more data before we are ready to give them a full recommendation.
Since most JHP bullets fail to work in J-frames, one option is to use a full target style wadcutter. As noted by Fackler and others, although they will not expand, wadcutters are a very efficient bullet design for cutting tissue. The sharper the leading edge of the wadcutter, the better it works. With wadcutters penetration is almost always adequate; thus velocity can be dropped without loss of acceptable penetration, resulting in less recoil. Many LE agencies here have switched over to wadcutters for BUG use. The reduced recoil has lead to much higher qualification scores and since they don't hurt to shoot with target wadcutters, officers are actually practicing with their J-frames. Both Winchester and Federal 148 gr standard target wadcutters have been used by agencies here with acceptable results. At this time, the Safestop has the sharpest leading edge of any wadcutter and is a good choice.
Note that there are no problems with bullet jump using target wadcutters in the lightweight J-frames, although other lead bullet configurations have proven to be problematic. Since the flat front of target wadcutters often slow reloads, so some officers are using 5 target wadcutters in the cylinder with a speed-loader or speed-strip holding Gold Dot 135 gr JHP's, as they are much easier to rapidly re-load due to their shape.
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Quote:
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We tested NUMEROUS .38 spl loads for BUG use. Almost all the JHP's either failed to consistently expand or they had too shallow penetion. About the only JHP bullet that works reliably from a 2" barrels is the Speer 135 gr +P JHP Gold Dot, however in the lightweight J-frames it is not particularly comfortable to shoot. Initial testing of the Barnes XPB bullets looks good, but we need a bit more data before we are ready to give them a full recommendation.
Since most JHP bullets fail to work in J-frames, one option is to use a full target style wadcutter. As noted by Fackler and others, although they will not expand, wadcutters are a very efficient bullet design for cutting tissue. The sharper the leading edge of the wadcutter, the better it works. With wadcutters penetration is almost always adequate; thus velocity can be dropped without loss of acceptable penetration, resulting in less recoil. Many LE agencies here have switched over to wadcutters for BUG use. The reduced recoil has lead to much higher qualification scores and since they don't hurt to shoot with target wadcutters, officers are actually practicing with their J-frames. Both Winchester and Federal 148 gr standard target wadcutters have been used by agencies here with acceptable results. At this time, the Safestop has the sharpest leading edge of any wadcutter and is a good choice.
Note that there are no problems with bullet jump using target wadcutters in the lightweight J-frames, although other lead bullet configurations have proven to be problematic. Since the flat front of target wadcutters often slow reloads, so some officers are using 5 target wadcutters in the cylinder with a speed-loader or speed-strip holding Gold Dot 135 gr JHP's, as they are much easier to rapidly re-load due to their shape.
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tpaw,
I have a 340 and I have shot it with 357. It is excruciating - though apparently not damaging. You should fire a couple of rounds to see how it feels.
Even with 38+P it's quite painful. I suggest you install a closed-backstrap grip even for the 38s like I've done here:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=231172
If you have to defend yourself, you might not notice the pain - but don't practice with 357s until you are comfortable with 38s. Maybe one round per session just to confirm that the point of impact is about the same.
Also - there is a warning not to use lightweight bullets in AirLights - right on the barrel, IIRC. It probably only applies to Magnum loads, not 38s.
Also, do not use led bullets in that gun as you should never use any metallic brush on the titanium cylinder! So no wad-cutters and such...
miko
I have a 340 and I have shot it with 357. It is excruciating - though apparently not damaging. You should fire a couple of rounds to see how it feels.
Even with 38+P it's quite painful. I suggest you install a closed-backstrap grip even for the 38s like I've done here:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=231172
If you have to defend yourself, you might not notice the pain - but don't practice with 357s until you are comfortable with 38s. Maybe one round per session just to confirm that the point of impact is about the same.
Also - there is a warning not to use lightweight bullets in AirLights - right on the barrel, IIRC. It probably only applies to Magnum loads, not 38s.
Also, do not use led bullets in that gun as you should never use any metallic brush on the titanium cylinder! So no wad-cutters and such...
miko
jAK-47
Member
I put Crimson Trace on my 340 and it helped with the .357; there's an "air pocket" rubber spacing on the backstrap that goes against the webbing of your thumb/forefinger and it takes up some of the recoil. It's still not pleasant and I rarely practice with hi-power .357. My first round is loaded with one and the rest are +P. I use either Gold Dot 135gr or DoubleTapAmmo 125gr.
Very unscientific but there is a NOTICEABLE difference between .357 and +Ps on the big OJ containers filled with water. The .357 load out of the 340PD seems to vaporize the jug while the +P just puts a nice hole in it. I think both would do the job so...
jAK-47
Very unscientific but there is a NOTICEABLE difference between .357 and +Ps on the big OJ containers filled with water. The .357 load out of the 340PD seems to vaporize the jug while the +P just puts a nice hole in it. I think both would do the job so...
jAK-47
boomstik45
Member
I definitely want to try some of that double tap ammo. In the meantime, I'll stick with the Speer 135gr. +p ammo. Wonder how the .357 loads do out of a 3" barrel?
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