What's the Scoop with Speer's Promised "Short Barrel" .357 Magnum ammo?

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

P. Plainsman

Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
1,125
Location
Red America
It's listed on the Speer website.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/default.asp?s1=7&s2=26

MidwayUSA says it's "Out of stock, no Backorder" until January.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=121256

Heard lots of buzz about this load. The new 135 grain .357 Mag. "Short Barrel" Gold Dot load is supposed to build on the success of Speer's excellent 135 grain "Short Barrel" Gold Dot in .38 Special +P.

The SB .357 is rated at just under 1000 fps from a 2" barrel. Sort of a .38 Special +P+ (or .38/44) in a .357 case. This looks like a tailormade round for the Ruger SP101 and S&W 60. Hope it's only being delayed a while: I want to try it.
 
On a tangential note, Speer makes excellent ammo, but their web site is awfully politically correct. No mention of any use of Speer ammo for lawful personal defense by citizens. Nope, it's all law enforcement, targets, or hunting.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/default.asp?s1=7&s2=26

That is lame. Contrast with Winchester, which unabashedly includes a "Personal Protection" category on its website.

Speer's stance runs to laughable lengths, as when their website identifies the three possible uses for their new 135 grain "Short Barrel" .357 Magnum ammo as "Target," "Varmint," and "Small Game"! Yep, guys, that covers the full gamut of likely uses for jacketed hollowpoints in a snubnosed .357. :rolleyes: When I look at this gun:

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=5720&return=Y

... I'm thinking NRA Bullseye, squirrels, and jackrabbits.
 
Mr Moore,
I think they used a 2in longer barrel to get the 125 ME number. Not really a fair comparision.

I would be more curious what the other gains are. Less flash maybe? Better bullet design for that velocity? (I do worry if a 125 will open out of a short barrel, never tested it).

At this point though. I'm hard pressed to give up the 125, it's track record and availability is just too good for me to move to something else. Also, I hate getting into a new load only to gind out a year later it's been discontinued. I'm confident the 125 will always be around.

Just my 2 cents............
 
I think the new-wave bullet design is definitely meant to be a selling point. One strong point of the Speer 135 grain .38+P is that its yawning 135 grain Gold Dot bullet was engineered to expand reliably at snubby .38+P velocities -- circa 850 fps. So with the SB .357 sending the same bullet travelling at 990 fps from a 2" barrel, expansion should be a snap.

Indeed, I wonder if Speer chose to load the SB .357 a smidge lighter than we might expect (to my mind, 1050 fps from the 2" barrel would have been perfect) because they needed to keep the bullet from expanding too quickly for best effect.
 
P. Plainsman said:
On a tangential note, Speer makes excellent ammo, but their web site is awfully politically correct. No mention of any use of Speer ammo for lawful personal defense by citizens. Nope, it's all law enforcement, targets, or hunting....


That is lame. Contrast with Winchester, which unabashedly includes a "Personal Protection" category on its website.

Speer's stance runs to laughable lengths, as when their website identifies the three possible uses for their new 135 grain "Short Barrel" .357 Magnum ammo as "Target," "Varmint," and "Small Game"! Yep, guys, that covers the full gamut of likely uses for jacketed hollowpoints in a snubnosed .357. :rolleyes: When I look at this gun:

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=5720&return=Y

... I'm thinking NRA Bullseye, squirrels, and jackrabbits.
Click to expand...

At least Speer will sell their best ammo to civilians. Winchester on the other hand only sells Ranger line of products through Law Enforcement channels. Sure, I can buy it all day online, but I prefer not to give my money to a company that does not think I should have their best.
 
1911austin said:
At least Speer will sell their best ammo to civilians. Winchester on the other hand only sells Ranger line of products through Law Enforcement channels. Sure, I can buy it all day online, but I prefer not to give my money to a company that does not think I should have their best.
Click to expand...

1911austin, that is a fair point you make. Shame on 'em both, then.
 
I tried them in both a Taurus 851 and a Detective Special and they shot way low. Since I don't want to file down the front sights I'm back to my old load.
 
1911austin, that is a fair point you make. Shame on 'em both, then.
Click to expand...

Winchester moreso. Winchester absolutely refuses to do ballistic testing on any of their ammunition other than the law enforcement only stuff. Silvertips, "Supreme" SXT, etc. Never tested at all. Ever. It's designed, made, and put on the shelves, without ever being fired into gelatin or even water, once. Winchester representatives said that because those lines of ammo are not meant for the LE market, they don't need to conform to any ballistic testing standards at all. I refuse to buy anything with Winchester's name on it.

Seems like there are very few "perfect" ammo companies. Remington makes a law-enforcement only bonded version of the Golden Saber, but the bonded stuff absolutely sucks and doesn't expand through clothing, anyway. Speer is kind of PC, and also make some real lemons; 165 gr .40 cal and 200 gr .45 cal Gold Dots do not open up when fired through heavy clothing, unless they're driven to extremely high velocities, like DoubleTap's stuff. Winchester hates civilians and thinks anyone without a badge who uses a pistol for self defense should eat poo and die. Federal is pretty similar to Winchester, considering the absolutely terrible performance of 50% of their standard Hydra-Shok line when fired through heavy clothing, and the fact that the much better performing HST is LE only.
 
RyanM said:
[Speer] 200 gr .45 cal Gold Dots do not open up when fired through heavy clothing, unless they're driven to extremely high velocities, like DoubleTap's stuff.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Sources? And does that go for the 200 gr .44 cal Gold Dot as well?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

U
  • Locked
Speer .357 Mag 135gr Gold Dot (SB) = Unobtanium?
Replies
5
Views
954
Tuckerp229
T
G
  • Locked
Which ammo for my 2" snubnose SP101
Replies
2
Views
599
ArchAngelCD
ArchAngelCD
K
  • Locked
Self-Defense round, the Speer GDHP or Speer GDHP-ShortBarrel .357 magnum?
Replies
1
Views
389
vanilla_gorilla
V
F
  • Locked
Am I missing something about gold dots?
Replies
7
Views
840
Stainz
S
ArchAngelCD
  • Locked
Speer Short Barrel Round in a 4" Barrel??
Replies
19
Views
1K
Kimber1911_06238
K
Back
Top