.357 mag and the 110 grainer

[1911Tuner]

The problem with the 125 grainers is the recoil and blast

Aye. There's the rub. Fire one of the full house 125 JHP offerings without hearing protection...then imagine lighting one of those things off inside a small room...in the dark or low light. It's like setting off a flashbang stun grenade.

Remington once offered an attenuated 125 grain JHP round, loaded to an advertised 1280 fps from a 4-inch barrel. The loading was accurate, penetrated and expanded well in several different test media...including gelatin...and compared to the OMG! loadings...were downright pleasant to shoot. I don't know if it's still available, though. It wasn't very popular with the "Gotta have the biggest/baddest one I can find" set...but it probably made the best compromise. Another very good one that has been discontinued was Federal's 158 grain SWCJHP Nyclad load. If you can find either of those...grab'em.

 

[joed]

I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of these so called protection loads. I've never been a believer in a light bullet for protection but that seems to be about all you can buy anymore.

Myself, I'd rather have a heavier bullet then the light one. Yet you don't see heavy bullets for personal protection by many ammo companies.

 

[1911Tuner]

Yet you don't see heavy bullets for personal protection by many ammo companies.

Probably because of the overpenetration concerns, since a vast majority of the ammunition will be used in home defense guns. The "problem" is overblown, IMO...because the argument centers mostly around shooting through and through the bad guy and heading off to parts unknown...assuming that nobody will actually miss the aforementioned bad guy...in which case it won't matter much if it's a light hollowpoint or a heavy solid. Hollowpoints tend to collapse inward in the hard stuff rather than expand or fragment unless they're specifically designed to come apart when they...hit the wall.

 

[goon]

Why not shop around online?
I usually look locally but if I can't find it... Midway, Sportsman's Guide, AIM surplus, Natchez, whoever has what I want gets my money.

Also, if you want a decent compromise load, you might check out the Speer 135 grain short barrel load. They are pretty controllable and don't have much blast but still keep enough of a .357 to make it worthwhile. IIRC, Buffalo Bore also makes some "reduced" loads.
I'd say if you have a box of the 110 grain loads use them for now and don't worry too much, but shop around a bit for something better.

FWIW, 110 grain loads used to be available when I got my first .357 for $11 for 50 rounds! I shot a 686 out of time with those things. If they were still that price I'd be going through two boxes of them a week!

 

[Radaray]

While the 125gr loading has a very good record of one shot stops, it might be because so many police agencies use them. I haven't shot anyone with them personally, so I can't say it's the "perfect" round. I do know that they are very hard on forcing cones, as has been pointed out here, already.

I prefer Hornady's 140gr XTP for defensive use in .357 magnum revolvers. I haven't shot anyone with this load either, but I feel it has superior penetration and expansion, especially in the winter time when the bad guys have heavy clothing over their bod. Even in a home invasion situation, the bad guy probably has on heavy clothing before he enters your home. The blast and flash is not nearly as great as the lighter loadings, and I really think the .357 was originally intended for the heavier bullets.

I save the 125gr bullets for .38 spl loadings. 110gr loads? I have no idea what they are good for. Super Vel used them very early on, and they were very hot. I don't know what the velocity was (I didn't have a chronograph in those days) but you sure didn't want to touch them off without hearing protection.

 

[okespe04]

I keep WWB 110 grain in my .357. It will do the trick.