What's your idea of the ultimate .357?
- Thread starter labnoti
- Start date
- Status
ArchAngelCD
Member.
On come in AC, stop shooting that old gun, you deserve a nice new gun. I will take that old thing off your hands, I'm good that way! 
John Joseph
Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2016
- Messages
- 1,441
S&W Model 28.
Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Pythons are sure pretty but the Model 28 is an animal.
Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Pythons are sure pretty but the Model 28 is an animal.
Armored farmer
Member
Honorable mention goes to the best factory trigger of any handgun i own.
Taurus 669 6inch .357.
At least 6 deer fell to this one, including two in one day.
tubeshooter
Contributing Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2006
- Messages
- 2,142
There's nothing wrong with this. I think .44 Special and .45 Colt are both good alternatives if you want to use more mass and less blast to get where you are trying to go.
I love the .357 and feel that it's versatile and will probably generally suit my needs. But it is more for the (relatively) cheap factory 38 Special it brings to the table - which is something the larger calibers can't do. I generally find the .357 obnoxiously loud for recreational shooting.
As to the my idea of the ultimate .357, I haven't shot enough types of them to feel I can make a call on that. Never shot anything N-frame sized, for example. I do enjoy shooting it out of a beefy single action, really helps with recoil. For a general purpose do-it-all I am enjoying the 3" GP100 I picked up recently. My old 3" SP101 wasn't bad either (minus a shot of course). I'm most accurate and get the most raw horsepower out of the levergun.
WestKentucky
Member
Rossi Cyclops 8” pretty much nails my “perfect” .357. I will have one. Someday.Pic from google search.
Last edited:
ColtPythonElite
Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2011
- Messages
- 10,473
I have never found one so perfect that I was willing to sell off the rest.
captain awesome
Member
I am pretty fond of both my Ruger Match Champion and My Smith 27-2 6". My wife likes the match champion more than any of the others she has tried, from a J frame airweight to a performance center 8 shot 627. She shoots 38 special loads in magnum cases. That is her absolute favorite combo. The nicest I have ever messed with was a slicked up 686.
SP101 or GP100?
Old Dog
Member
Model 19 (-3 or -4) works for me. Relatively lightweight, perfectly balanced. Great sights. Eminently reliable, superbly accurate. Even easily concealed with the right high-rise pancake holster. Did I mention it's also really pretty?
In second place: the Model 66-4 snubby, 2.5. barrel.
In second place: the Model 66-4 snubby, 2.5. barrel.
hemiram
Member
My Dan Wesson 715 is pretty close to perfect, IMHO, but if S&W would bring back the 28 as a 628, with no lock, and without the weird looking barrel, I would buy one as soon as I could get the cash together.
That doesn't seem likely, so I will survive with my 715, my 1971 era 28, and my SAR Sr38, a 586 clone.
That doesn't seem likely, so I will survive with my 715, my 1971 era 28, and my SAR Sr38, a 586 clone.
rpenmanparker
Member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2018
- Messages
- 2,456
So the votes for the 4" Security Six are piling up. Why did Ruger discontinue the Security Sixes anyway?I guess it kind of depends on a person's definition of "ultimate." If "ultimate" refers to most expensive, my FA Model 97 is my "ultimate" .357, because it was certainly the most expensive .357 I've ever bought.
Kidding aside, I love my FA Model 97. It's so smooth and tight, and I shoot it as well or better than any handgun I've ever owned.
However, for an all-around, all-purpose (at least every purpose I'd use a .357 for) I'd have to go with my old 4" Security Six. And if it had a 6" barrel, I'd probably like it even more. So I guess my definition of an "ultimate .357" would have to be a Ruger Security Six with a 6" barrel.
CajunBass
Member
I'm a big fan of 357 revolvers. I almost never shoot 357 ammo in them however. All of my shooting is at an indoor range, and I just don't care for the flash and blast of 357's, so I almost always shoot 38's. Why buy 357 guns? Because they never made (to the best of my knowledge), a Model 27 or a Model 19 in 38 Special.
Having said all that, I think the "ultimate" 357 is the new S&W Model 19-9. A K-frame, with a 4.2 barrel, made slightly heavier to eliminate the weaknesses of the earlier Model 19, but still retains the feel and sleekness of the original. Now, if you just don't like the modern S&W's I can't help you. Nothing I can say is going to change your mind, but this is a really nice gun, and in spite of what I said earlier, I have fired 357 magnums through this one, and it handles them just fine. Of course I haven't fired it enough to know how it will hold up over time, but I see nothing to make me think it won't.
But I gotta give "honorable mention" to the 27-2.
.
It's probably overbuilt for a 357, but I don't care. I haven't fired this particular one, but I've owned a couple of Model 28's with 4" barrels so this shouldn't be any different. It just looks better.
Having said all that, I think the "ultimate" 357 is the new S&W Model 19-9. A K-frame, with a 4.2 barrel, made slightly heavier to eliminate the weaknesses of the earlier Model 19, but still retains the feel and sleekness of the original. Now, if you just don't like the modern S&W's I can't help you. Nothing I can say is going to change your mind, but this is a really nice gun, and in spite of what I said earlier, I have fired 357 magnums through this one, and it handles them just fine. Of course I haven't fired it enough to know how it will hold up over time, but I see nothing to make me think it won't.
But I gotta give "honorable mention" to the 27-2.
.
It's probably overbuilt for a 357, but I don't care. I haven't fired this particular one, but I've owned a couple of Model 28's with 4" barrels so this shouldn't be any different. It just looks better.
captain awesome
Member
Gp100
jar
Contributing Member
Gotta admit my weak and frail M-19 model 5 is still managing to get by. Like me, it's likely not what it once was but at least now it's mature enough to understand that it wasn't all it thought it was when it was was.
I’ve had a 4” and 6” GP100, and for me the 3” balances best, and actually fits in my back pocket as a size and concealability reference. Not all the way in the pocket, but I could hide it with my shirt tail.
A dab of white paint on the front sight helps a lot, but the fixed sights work perfectly fine. The picture shows it’s 7 yard accuracy.
The trigger stages easily with practice, so single action isn’t strictly necessary. The trigger pull and reset are longer than a Smith, so if I’ve been shooting Smiths a lot I sometimes short stroke the Ruger, but it’s rare.
It’s rugged. It doesn’t feel like a precious jewel I don’t dare scratch. Sort of the AK47 of revolvers.
The Ruger doesn't have the trigger of the Smith but the Six series are built like tanks and are made for shooting and not for show.
Armored farmer
Member
milemaker13
Member
I foolishly traded my new model black hawk for my sp101 (not straight across mind you... more like 4:1 against me ). That had been my first .357 and I still miss it.
). That had been my first .357 and I still miss it.
the Black Spot
Member
Best .357 is the one converted to .44 special..
While I am a big fan of the N frame .357, my favorite .357 is the Manurhin MR73. It is sized between the K and L frame, and it was designed to endure very high round counts of full power .357 loads. Both the original and the current Chapuis manufactured MR73s are beautiful and durable revolvers.
bannockburn
Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 26,297
In a double action revolver a S&W Model 686 would get my first place vote, followed closely by a Dan Wesson Pistol Pak (really liked the 15-2 VH set-up), a Ruger Security Six, and a Colt Trooper Mk.V.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
