357. Remington 125 gr soft point or Winchester 110 gr soft hollow point?

[Dr_2_B]

Faced this decision a little while ago for my Ruger SP101 357 mag snub. Remington green box 125 gr soft point or Winchester white box 110 gr soft nose hollow point.

Which would you get?

 

[warnerwh]

The 125 grain hollow point has an excellent track record. It is of the very best SD rounds of any caliber.

 

[MCgunner]

I've found 125 and lighter bullets in 2" guns pretty pathetic. I'd go heavier. I carried a 140 Speer in my SP101 clocking over 1300 fps from that gun.

 

[W.E.G.]

Whichever one shoots closest to point of aim.

Is the SP101 regulated for 125's, or is it like most snubnose .38's, and regulated for 158's?

 

[Dr_2_B]

125 grain hollow point has an excellent track record

Yeah unfortunately they had soft point rather than hollow point in the 125 grain.

 

[Jeff H]

look up the ballistics between the two. I actually have both of these rounds and shot them back to back last week and was astounded how anemic the Winchester rounds felt compared to the Remingtons. I looked up the ballistics and it is pretty evident why the Remingtons felt more powerful.

The Wins felt more like a 38 +P

 

[ChristopherG]

Like other folks, my first choice is neither. I'd rather have a 125jhp. But given these two, the 125 sp is more likely to penetrate enough to do what needs doing.

 

[Starter52]

The Winchester 110 grain is definitely less powerful, but in a small revolver like the SP101 that may not be a bad thing. The Remington 125 grain load is a tough load to shoot from a smaller gun. I would go with the Win. 110 gr. hollowpoint.

 

[Manco]

Are these your only locally available choices? If this is for defensive ammo, then personally I would recommend something with sealed primers to help avoid misfires or hang-fires due to environmental contamination (the odds of this happening may be low, but I like to be careful). If the "green box" Remington is their Express line, then the cartridges should have this feature, so they're OK in this regard, although I have seen some negative reports on the reliability of this ammo--for what it's worth, as every product line probably has some complaints and substandard production runs. I would also recommend heavier bullets such as 158 grains, especially in a snubby, but if you'd really prefer to buy locally, even in the case of defensive ammo, then the 125 grain load should do. On the other hand, if you're willing to order from somewhere else (just defensive ammo), then the Speer Gold Dot 158 grain JHP should be a good defensive load.

 

[MCgunner]

The Remington 125 grain load is a tough load to shoot from a smaller gun. I would go with the Win. 110 gr. hollowpoint.

If I were recoil shy, instead of the 110 load, I'd go with a 158 grain .38 special +P SWCHP or JHP, the FBI/Treasury load. I shoot this in my .38 specials and it is accurate and has a "good street record", too..

 

[Steve C]

The OP was asking about 125gr JACKETED SOFT POINT not HP loads. It takes a lot of velocity to have any deformation with a soft point load and you won't get it out of anything short of a 6" or 8" barrel. Keep the solids for rifle or carbine where the velocity would be 2,000 or more fps.

Of the 2 loads the 110gr JHP's would be the better choice for self defense as they will have over 1,000 fps in velocity that ensures HP expansion.

 

[Dr_2_B]

you won't get it out of anything short of a 6" or 8" barrel

I was afraid of that Steve. Are you pretty confident of that? We're talking about a 2" bbl on this Ruger.

 

[amd6547]

I would carry the 125gn sp load without a moments hesitation.

 

[earplug]

Are you shooting seedless watermelons or water filled jugs?