.357 ammo penetration testing

[icebones]

Please list your favorite or preferred HD loads for your trusty .357 mag, doing a expiriment myself and I would like to see just how well diffrent brands and types stack up, how well will a 158 grain SJHP (my favorite HD load) penetrate after it passes through a gypsum board or a 2x4? or is that frangible ammo really harmless after passing through a few sheets of drywall?

Im shure the good guys at Box-o-truth and countless gun writers and fellow THR bretheren have done these tests, but I want to see for myself. All testing will be done with my trusty GP100 with a 6'' bbl. Test medium will include standard sheetrock/drywall, 2x4 studs, 2x4 studs with nails (hmm wonder what will happen if a bullets hits dead center of a nail?) insulation, both standard brick, cinder block, maybe copper plumbing pipe, electrical wires, simulated tile panels (like in a kitchen) maybe some home appliances and both hollow wood and solid wood core doors.

But please be aware my current financial situation, is, well... not that great, but I will test what I can and anything else that is reccomended

 

[Sniper X]

Sounds fun and worthwhile since real world tests like this trump geleten tests for letting someone know what the round will do in a house full of freindlies.

 

[foghornl]

Speer 158-Gr "Gold Dot"

 

[J.R.W.]

Buffalo Bore 38Spl +P 158gr LSWHC-GC

 

[Five of Clubs]

Hornady 125gr FTX Personal Defense

 

[147 Grain]

Favorite "penetration load" is 180-gr. Winchester Partition Gold.

If I had to use a 357 Mag. HD load INSIDE the home it would be Double Tap 125-gr. Gold Dots, but if INSIDE contained walls, there isn't much of an advantage to a 357, so the 4" revolver is stoked with the 158-gr. FBI load in 38 Special.

357 Mag. 125-gr. and 38 Special 158-gr. +P LSWCHP both generally perform about the same in denim testing.

 

[Confederate]

I'm not so much interested in how many boards a round will penetrate, as much as I am the combined effects they'll have in practical applications.

When the .357 first appeared, highway patrol people were thrilled because it penetrated car tires and car bodies -- something many .38s wouldn't do. Being able to pull up alongside a car and shoot out the tire was worth celebrating over. So the ability of the .357 125-gr JHP to penetrate vehicles and stop people spectacularly is far more important than how many boards it will go through.

The .45 auto will put many people down, while a .357 158-gr. JHP doesn't, so much. And I don't know whether .45 rounds will penetrate a car or tire or not -- but the balance of penetration and stopping power is what's important to me.

 

[Oyeboten]

For those tests, just rent a House for a short period, use what's there, say you are a 'Musician', and, the landlord will just find it to have been Business-as-usual.


Seriously though, for Home Defence, I think a Big Bore relatively SLOW Bullet will generally behave better than a smaller lighter super-fast one, for all of the penetration, deflection or terminal ballistic's concerns.

Hard to have it both ways - penetration without undue deflection as a 'plus', and or, as a 'minus'...but that is how it is.


Indoor Shots would not tend to be able to hit any Nail On-the-Head in the same longitudinal plane as the Nail itself is. The Nails would be in the top and bottom plates pointing down, or up, respectively.


Doors and Window Headers or Sills, would have Nails oriented horizontally going through the King Studs, but, with lots of Wood laying in the same path as the Nail is pointing...being then parallel to the Wall, where a Bullet would have to strike at some sort of angle to hit it in that way.


If a fairly powerful Handgun's Bullet were to strike a Nail head on, on the Head, in the same plane the Nail is pointing, it would definitely drive it forward and through at least the minor section of the 2x4 it is in, likely pushing it through more than one.



You can load 200 Grain Blunt-Nose Lead for .357 Magnum of course, but, it is still the diameter it is, though it would definitely penetrate well and deflect less than most anything else...maybe too well if allowed a spunky fps.


It's odd that the .357 made such a splash when the .38 Autocolt in 1900 was 130 Grain 1,250 FPS, but even when it got downloaded soon after to 1,050 fps and 130 Grain ( usually ), was still a good Car Piercer and Tire deflator, far as I understand anyway.


Must have been the addiction to Revolvers which hung up the use of that Arm for LEO.


.45 ACP was not a good Car piercer in the 1930s and 1940s anyway, would tend to leave deep Thumb-Tip 'dents' mostly.


.45 Colt, out of a long Barrel, would have done better and likely poked on through most Automobile's Doors and lesser thickness areas...but after around 1936 or so, Car Doors were two layers of Steel with reinforcement bars, where before that, they were usually Wood with thin sheet Steel nailed on the outside, and a lot easier to pierce.


.30 Luger would likely have done fairly well all through that era.


Cowells and Firewalls in the late '20s and through the '30s were quite stout on most Cars then and would tend to stop the usual Habnd Gun Bullets used by LEO at the time.


Not to drift too much ( sorry )...

 

[357 Terms]

Barnes solid copper. 125 grain in my sp101 2.25 140 grain in my 4in Police service six. both loaded with N110 powder and small rifle primed. I use them for carry, but my 1911 45 is my home defense go to gun,would hate to have to shoot those 357's indoors.

 

[krazykeny]

Speer Gold Dot .38 special + P 138 grain for short barrels.
From a EEA Windicator .357 with 2 inch barrel.

.

 

[Crashbox]

Speer Gold Dot; I have both 125- and 158-grain rounds in stock but usually load 'em at home with the former. Short-barrel version for my SP101.

I ***LOVE*** the .357 Magnum!!!!!!!!

 

[msiley]

Double Tap 125 Grain SJHP

 

[Steve C]

I keep my .357's loaded with 125gr JHP's of one brand or the other for self defense. Most are full power Gold Dots, Remington JHP's or the moderate velocity Golden sabers. Some times they are factory and sometimes hand loaded Sierra's or XTP's.

 

[amd6547]

Hornady 140gn leverlution shoots really well in my 4" 686...

 

[_N4Z_]

....

The .45 auto will put many people down, while a .357 158-gr. JHP doesn't, so much.

Gotta love such quotes when they show up on the internets!
Got anything concrete to substantiate this, or is it opinion?



In Lawton Oklahoma, about 1993 or 94, due to my then job, I was made aware of a justified shooting that was not prosecuted. A chronic and aggresive mental patient decided to break into his case workers house for some reason. He was shot in the center of the chest with a .45acp. Post impact he ran off, and went a city block before keeling over and expiring.

Post mortum ruled it a heart shot. So yes it put him down, after he bled out.

No magic bullets.

 

[buck460XVR]

No magic bullets.

Exactly. My .357 HD gun is loaded with what shoots the best outta it and what I feel the most confident with. 158gr Nosler JHPs over 15gr of H110/W296. Doubt very much if bullet brand makes much difference when the BG is shot in the COM at SD/HD ranges. Regardless of bullet make, you still gotta hit 'em where it counts. Regardless of bullet make, you have to practice with your loads enough to become proficient under stress and to know for sure if it is the most accurate.

As _N4Z_ said, there are no magic bullets.

 

[MikeNice]

I would love to see what the 158gr Nosler HP loaded by Double Tap will do. I would also like to see what their 125gr SJHP would do.

How about the PMC Starfire HPs. It would be nice to see what a "value" priced SD round can do.

Thanks for requesting our input on this test.