Jay,
Read your blog about every day, and really enjoy what you have to say. After a tour in Iraq, I really got interested in buying guns and ammo. I recently purchased a taurus .357 with a 6" barrel. Since then I have been stocking up on ammo, focusing on FMJ for plinking and JHP for defense. However, after reading various opinions on various loads, I find myself getting more confused about what type of round to buy, what size, and what brand. Before I go spend all my money and time buying and testing rounds, I was wondering if you could give me any advice on these issues. I was looking at S&B 158g SP, S&B 158g. FMJ, Fiocchi 142. FMJ, Fiocchi 148g SJHP, and Fiocchi 158g JHP w/ xtp bullet. Is there a rule of thumb regarding different size bullets for different applications? This article seemed to be well written, but it raised as many questions as it answered regarding bullet selection.
Thanks for your time.
-Alex
I may not be the world's most foremost authority on bullet selection, but I took a shot at it:
Good evenin' Alex,
First off, thank you for your service.
Secondly, my experience with revolvers has been that bullet selection isn't quite as critical as with semi-autos. I'm assuming you know that the lighter the bullet the faster the round travels and the heavier the bullet the more kinetic energy it imparts. A 110 grain .357 Magnum round is going to scream (approx. 1300 FPS out of a 4" barrel IIRC). You lose some of the speed with the heavier bullets, but make up for it with increased muzzle energy - that's why defensive rounds are generally 110 - 125 grains, and hunting rounds are 180+ grains.
My experience with S&B has been that the QC is spotty - it's one of the only manufacturers that consistently has one or two bad rounds in every box. I tend to pick up reloads from a local place I trust, 158 grain .357 Magnum FMJs for practice and 125 grain JHP hydrashoks or Gold dots for self defense. One thing to keep in mind is that the lighter, faster rounds are not recommended for the uber light snubbies (like my venerable S&W model 360PD, the "Snubbie from Hell™) because the extreme pressures tend to rattle that last round loose...
Thanks for reading!
Now, I know there's some reloaders out there that might be able to chime in with a better answer, so have at it!
That is all.
9 comments:
Good reply, as always, but one minor quibble:
"I'm assuming you know that the lighter the bullet the faster the round travels and the heavier the bullet the more kinetic energy it imparts."
Given the formula for kinetic energy, where the kinetic energy equals one half the mass times the velocity squared, the speed of the projectile has far greater influence on its kinetic energy than the mass.
Having opened up the philosophical can of worms on bullet size versus velocity, I now retire to watch the fireworks from your subsequent commenters. *grin*
Alex might try Hornady's "Critical Defense" loads in 38+P in the .357. My son has them, they shoot well, & they're designed for social occasions.
My $.02.
BTW, hope you're feeling better soon.
AD caught the mass v. velocity v. energy bit.
My advice is to buy a box of each load that's being considered and test them out. See what groups well, what recoil is most manageable, etc.
Really, when you're talking about .357/.38+P, anything that's not FMJ is going to be just fine for social work. 90gr Glazers up to 158gr JFPs. My personal (factory) woods load (since I don't carry the .357 particularly for two-legged problems) is the plain Remington UMC 125gr JFPs. Quite nice to shoot in the 28-2, plenty of oomph for anything I'm like to find in the woods around here.
If expense is an issue, I suggest learning to handlaod. It is not hard at all, particularly staright walled pistol caliber cases for revolvers. The Lee hand press and dies would set a guy back less than 50 bucks, and savings are on the oreder of 50 to 75%. Plus you learn lotsa kewl stuff like
ME (muzzle energy in ft lbs)= velocity of projectile at muzzle squared x wt in grains of prjectile divided by a constant o 450,436..... or 450,500, depending upon which loading manual you are reading....
....Ballistic coefficients (not ral important with handguns, unless you are shooting silhouettes.....)
If a person is responsible enough to manage a firearm, handoading is a cinch.
My home defense/self defense recommendation would be to pick up one of the CCI Gold Dot offerings in the 110-130 grain range.
I'd go old school and use the Remington "FBI" .38 Special load. It's a +P 158-grain, all-lead semiwadcutter hollowpoint. Plenty of power and expansion without too much recoil for fast follow-ups.
My defense loads, kept in stock at no small expense, are Winchester Silvertip 145 gr JPH .357.
Shot over a Chronny, from 4" S&W 28-2, I show +/- 1290 fps, with pretty damn consistent standard deviation of about 10 fps.
At 15 yds, they're accurate to minute of one ragged hole of about 5/8" diamter.
At 100 yards, they're minute of bowling pin, and/or pretty much 10 ring accurate on the B-27, except for when I pull one off target.
Expensive as hell, but I don't practice with 'em, other than to shoot-cycle the carry load (18 rds.) every 6 months or so.
Recoil is very manageable, and should be roughly equivalent from a 6" bbl K frame sized Taurus.
For practice? Two types. Type 1 is to get the cheapest .38 spl you can get your hands on. More important that he shoots LOTS than WHAT he shoots. Sight picture, trigger pull, etc.
Type 2 is to find a cheap "replicator" of the more expensive carry load. Find equivalent in both recoil and apparent trajectory. Actual velocity won't be as important as the same sort of "feel" to recoil impulse and performance downrange.
Spare no money on the carry load though. Buy only the best, whatever that best is for you.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Oops.
JHP instead of JPH, and ChroNy, with only one N.
Damn type oh's. PIMF!
Jim
boat, island, etc.
For .357 plinking my 686-4 gets American Eagle 158gr JSP or, if I'm hand loading, 158gr LSWC over 7.5gr of Unique. For .38 Spcl I use AE 130gr FMJ or AE 158gr LRN. If hand loading the .38 I use a 158gr LSWC over 5.5gr Unique.
For home defense I use my XD 45, but keep the 686-4 loaded with Hornady Critical Defense .38 Spcl for my wife. She likes it and shoots it very well.
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