That One Go-to .357

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Toros said:
Or....38+Ps in it
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No point to a revolver them…use magnums for the terminal ballistics. Stepping down to 38 Special means getting about 9mm performance. Better to go with a small semiauto.
 
tomrkba said:
No point to a revolver them…use magnums for the terminal ballistics. Stepping down to 38 Special means getting about 9mm performance. Better to go with a small semiauto.
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Some folks have an aversion to pistols and only like revolvers. +P and +P+ affords some alternatives to full .357 loads.
 
Archangel14 said:
Hi everyone. I present a question to this highly knowledgeable community. And it is this: if you could have that one go-to .357 revolver, which one would it be? Now, in processing the answer to this question, allow me to add some context. What .357 would it be if you found yourself having to absolutely rely upon it, likely in a harsh environment, without the possibility of being able to clean it after every use, or frequently? It has to work, it has to go bang, it has to be rugged. Now I know that some of us may be tempted to direct this poster toward a different type of handgun or a different caliber. Or you may want to talk about different firearms for different environs and uses. But let's just keep it simple; the .357 for all uses when one finds him or herself in difficult, possibly prolonged situations. Your thoughts supporting your conclusion will be well considered.

I love you guys (and gals)!
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Well, sounds like survival, life or death to me... So, my most bad ass strongest made, tight fitting with next to no gaps and. cylinder.frame spaces... 6" barrel hunting revolver... and no thought to scratches, etc... Would have to be this one...

View attachment 1052584 View attachment 1052585
 
Well seeing as I have 4 357's. I will have to pick my 1984 S&W 4in 686. But my 1983 Ruger Speed Six with 2.75 barrel is a close second. Love em both. The S&W is a bit more useful as a one gun rig with it's 4in pipe.
 
Took mine out.
Cold range, arthritis and new sights.
Set even.
Only had 15 rounds left of the Hornady 140 gr.
Yup.....theres always one ....dangit

First shot was high. Next 4 in the hole

Only 21 ft, offhand. First 5 shots from it in over a year.

IMG-20220118-093719931.jpg
IMG-20220115-210852818-2.jpg

Used to shoot good groups at 25 yards.
Bifocals are a curse.

Will give the Kensight 2 clicks to the right and it should be good. Take outdoors for 25 and 50 yard checks.

May end up w an EGW reflex base and leupold DPP the way things are going
 
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westernrover said:
Good info. Not an attack on you, but maybe the guys that did that -- they're the only ones doing that kind of thing to the gun. On the other hand, Ruger discontinued to "Six" series because it couldn't hold up to what people actually do: shoot them. After Newhall, the doctrine of shooting in practice what an officer carries came down. Many agencies went back to 38 Special +P, but the ones that started practicing with 357 Magnum shot a lot more of it. Anecdotes like "mine's shot over 75,000 rounds and is still going strong" didn't matter. Two facts: there was demand for the GP-100. There was not enough demand to keep making the Six series. The Six's were dropped well before revolvers were and it wasn't because they were too tough.

Also, I stand by my first assertion that a gun isn't useful just because it functions if it can't be used to do the job needed to be done. What job is the Six good for? Police work? IPSC, USPSA? Deer hunting? Bullseye?
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I had a Security Six, and a Speed Six in .357, and I thought that they were great carry guns. I never fired that many rounds through them, and they would have lasted me forever.
 
For pride of ownership the 4” S&W 586 is hard to beat. For utility purposes only, the 4” Ruger GP 100 would be the one. It’s like the cockroach of revolvers: It’ll be here long after we’re gone.
 
No brainer. The original .357 mag, pre model 27. I catch hell from time to time at the range for shooting it. But that's what it was made for. Of course I also get grief over my Lefty Randall. Collectors are the bane of shooters.
 
cdb1 said:
Manurhin MR 73 or an original Korth.
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I have agree with the MR73. Handled one yesterday......DA was amazing.
Better than the Korth IMHO ....he had a 5 shot Korth too.
The MR73 you can adjust the trigger.....at home....at the kitchen table.
A pair of leaf springs make the Nice DA possible.
And the man has all 3...Janz included.
Revolvers were an afterthought yesterday.........
 
westernrover said:
Bill Ruger didn't get to rewrite history just because his fan boys believed him...
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:rofl: Please post links to your other works of fiction. Entertaining reading for the non-gun person.

As already posted, the GP-100 was introduced for three reasons. First, because it required less handwork than the Security-Six, therefore less expensive to produce. "Just raise the price" of the Security-Six is not an answer in a competitive market, when Ruger could introduce a new model that cost less to produce.

Second, the GP-100 was also less costly to repair when required. All heavy-use DA revolvers eventually need repair, whether the owner recognizes the condition or not. Since you seem overly enamored of S&W, they required repair far more often than any Security-Six. I'm a factory-trained S&W Revolver Armorer, and the "good ole days" of hand-fitted S&W revolvers resulted in guns that required a great deal of hand-fitting by skilled technicians to repair. It wasn't until the redesign/MIM era that S&W finally got to the point of parts with consistent dimensions, and revolvers that did not have to be filed, stoned and finessed with a lead babbitt to be made to work.

Third, as you pointed out, the PERCEPTION of durability - or lack thereof - and the unfortunate influence of gun writers changed the gunsumers taste in what they thought they wanted in a revolver: larger frame and full under-lugged barrels. That the heavy barrel had no effect on durability was lost on the relatively uninformed gunsumer. Also, the very vocal niche of PPC target shooters wanted a heavy barrel gun they could compete with in service matches right out of the box, and gain a perceived edge shooting cream-puff .38 Special loads. Hence, the S&W 686. Ruger also capitalized on these perceptions with the GP-100 (although they never really broke into the PPC market, which interestingly lasted another 10-15 years until it became like Conventional Pistol: shot only by old men, of all ages).

As for the question posed by the OP.... as much as I like the Security-Six, it wouldn't be my one and only .357. It's out of production many years and NEW parts are pretty well dried up. Repairing a gun with used parts often doesn't work out well with any DA revolver, especially the Security-Six. The old Colts are great, but suffer from the same problem in spades. I don't have enough experience with the newly redesigned Colts, and I also don't see ANY parts available. The GP-100 - hard pass. It's durable enough, but from my point of view the action is clickety-clackety, accuracy is indifferent, it's too heavy/bulky to be all-around gun, and it's grossly overpriced for what it is. The older S&Ws are machines of beauty and function, but having worked on scores of them, I would be paying for a lot of spare parts.

Right now I think the best choice is the currently produced S&W Model 19 Classic, PROVIDED I examined the specimen and it was properly assembled (questionable these days at S&W). Compared to the old-school S&Ws, the new gun as designed is far more durable. Lock neither offends nor bothers me (the guy that bought S&W designed it, so it's not going away). Nothing wrong with the new Model 66, but I don't care for the polishing job on the stainless, and I like blued guns. Nothing wrong with the new 686 guns either, but the full under-lug leaves me cold and it's a big gun for all-around use, which includes CCW.

Great country America, so many choices!
 
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