38/357 question (possible can of worms)

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tango3065

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I have a sp101 357 that I leave loaded with 38spl +p because of children in the house and neighbors close by. Do you think that I should load it with 357mags or leave it be with the 38's?


Also I can handle the recoil since I shoot my 460 mag regularly so thats not a issue, but I am thinking the 357's indoors will be very very loud and the muzzle flash will be blinding. So any opinions either way will be welcome to help me choose.
 
Use what you feel comfortable with and don't worry about what others may think. If you aren't comfortable and proficient with your chosen load then what's the point when it comes time to use it?
 
The best .38Sp +P loads, such as the 135 gr Gold Dot load, are extremely effective defensive loads. Until you have to worry about shooting through things like car doors and glass, you are giving up little or nothing.
 
I agree with Majic. Within the confines of a house I don't even worry about Plus-P powered .38 Specials, let alone Magnums. Precise shot placement is much more important then Magnum force. There is also the matter of recovering from the recoil of a first shot to follow with a second or more accurate ones.

And yes, muzzle flash and blast are issues too.

During the years when revolvers were the Bureau's standard sidearm, FBI agents carried .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolvers, but in both cases used .38 Special ammunition.

If you feel the need for .357 cartridges, go that direction, but from my point of view it isn't necessary or desireable.
 
Use what you feel comfortable with and don't worry about what others may think. If you aren't comfortable and proficient with your chosen load then what's the point when it comes time to use it?
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Well, ding, dang, darn it all to heck and back! I hate seeing eminently sensible suggestions in internet forums! I think we need some draconian laws to put an end to this.
 
Never pull a gun on a man without killin' him.
Stoke that gat....... .357 MAGNUM.

.38s for practice. (handloads r' best.)
 
Well, ding, dang, darn it all to heck and back! I hate seeing eminently sensible suggestions in internet forums! I think we need some draconian laws to put an end to this.
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It's okay, Wolf. We ALL know the answer to this question is something along the lines of "get a .45" typed in all caps. :)

Tango, I was once exposed to .357 without hearing protection (*), and I can tell you, it's a great deal louder than .38. With all the other issues I might be dealing with during a shooting in the home, I'd rather not compound that with losing my hearing, even temporarily.

Modern .38 loadings are no slouch in the self-defense department. My regular carry load at the moment are Black Hills 125gr +P. Those and the 135gr Speer "short barrel" loads have very little muzzle-flash, which is something else to consider.

(*) Never, ever, ever again will I assume that I'm alone on an indoor range. I could not hear anything but ringing for about ten minutes. For the next twenty or so, it was muffled voices with ringing. Then just a constant background of ringing for two days afterwards. Doctor said I didn't have any long-term damage, but that's not a mistake I'll be making again. :eek:
 
When you actually shoot to defend your family and your own life...I think a couple days of ear ringing is worth it.
Also indoor ranges tended to make it louder, it's a big concrete room with usually very little sound baffling.

My house is wall to wall carpet with dry wall, I really dunno how badly my ears would be ringing if I shot a gun in here and hopefully I won't find out.
 
i have the same gun as you, and i load it with 158gr .38+p. for me, this isn't about hearing loss or penetration, but simply that i do not recover as quickly from .357 recoil with that gun. with my S&W 586, i feel completely comfortable shooting .357s.

i think you've gotten good advice to make the choice you feel comfortable with and not worry about what others think. in a HD situation, it seems to me that the factor that determines your success in stopping the attack is not likely to be the difference between .357 and .38+p.
 
Sig line material:

During the years when revolvers were the Bureau's standard sidearm,
FBI agents carried .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolvers,
but in both cases used .38 Special ammunition.

If you feel the need for .357 cartridges, go that direction,
but from my point of view it isn't necessary or desirable.
Click to expand...
 
Also I can handle the recoil since I shoot my 460 mag regularly so thats not a issue, but I am thinking the 357's indoors will be very very loud and the muzzle flash will be blinding.
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That there's the number one reason to use .38s. Don't worry about wall penetration. Anything that'll work well enough for defense will go through enough walls to exit your house, fly around the world to Italy, go through several more walls in the Vatican, and kill the Pope.

Blast, however, is significantly louder for .357, and hearing could be a factor.

"This is the police, please put your weapon down and come out with your hands visible."

"WHAT???"
 
.38's for all the above reasons. I

f you don't like the load you have look around some. There are many .38 +p loads out there that are created just for your situation.
 
"Never pull a gun on a man without killin' him.
Stoke that gat....... .357 MAGNUM.

.38s for practice. (handloads r' best.)"

Nix that.

Practice with the same ammo you carry.

I split the difference between standard 38 and Magnums. My preferred HD handgun is a .38 with my loads (125@1100).
 
My carry gun is an SP101, loaded with 125 grain SJHP magnum loads from Remington. All the rest of my defense oriented magnums are stoked with the same load.

IF I was going to load .38 special, it would be the 158 grain lead HPSWC at +p pressure. IIRC, that is the load the FBI issued, as well as the Treasury Dept..
 
I'll add to the above comments regarding noise by saying that once, while trying to give my location to my party out in the wilderness across a canyon, I fired 3 shots into the air from my .357 Ruger GP100. Ringing ears for the rest of the day and into the next. And this was outdoors. I'd hate to use it inside without hearing protection.

I am going to start keeping a heavy-framed (Ruger) .357 loaded with .38 for home defense, so that my girlfriend can use it if she has to. The difference in recoil, muzzle flash, and bang between .357 and .38 is enough to make a large difference in her comfort with using the gun in practice and in a self-defense situation. I'll go with an SP101 and 5 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 135-grain .38 special+p. That's also what I carry in my S&W 642 "pocket-protector". I'll save the .357 rounds for my GP100 when I'm hiking and camping.
 
I agree with the others who said to keep the .38 Special rounds in your revolver. Firing a .357 Magnum round indoors without ear protection is very uncomfortable. If done at night in a bedroom it's like setting off a flash-bang. I really like the .357 Magnum round but not indoors.
 
I really hate to disagree, but from personal experience, I was later amazed at how I DIDN'T notice the muzzle flash, or the noise from firing inside an apartment. No ringing ears or blindness. Golden Saber .357s. The Colt Grizzly even has a ported barrel.
 
Speer Gold Dot short barrel, 135gr, in the .357 Magnum loading. This is 1000fps spec and is quite clearly not a full-power load, but instead downloaded to deal with flash, noise, and recoil considerations.

There is also a mild 110gr .357 magnum JHP load from Winchester, I think it's in the USA (inexpensive) lineup. I've used a fair bit of it, and recoil and noise are mild compared to full power loads.

I think most advice above is reasonable, but remember it's not all or nothing - there are a number of mild .357 loads, there are major brand loads that are powerful without coming close to maximum, then there are the seriously powerful loads like Buffalo Bore or max (but safe) handloads where you might see 1700fps for a 125gr bullet. I would avoid the max power loads for indoor use, but the mild loads like the two I mention above are much closer to 38 Spl in all respects, though just slightly more powerful.

One thing to remember - if you mostly shoot .38 Spl in your .357, there will be a ring of lead and fouling in the front of each chamber that will make it difficult, or in bad cases impossible, to chamber .357 cartridges. While this should be apparent on loading and therefore long before any bad guy appears, it's a good reason to (1) clean your gun, and (2) not expect to load .357 into a dirty cylinder that has seen lots of 38's.
 
How about using .357 Glaser Safety Slugs?
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I think a deep entry/exit semi-nasty wound is nicer than a shallow, really nasty wound. Don't think much of the trick ammo.

On the OP, do you have any evidence that the .38s you use penetrate common building materials less than a .357 load? I'm betting that a .38 might often get you more residential wall penetration as the faster .357 slug breaks up sooner upon hitting the wallboard.
 
Muzzle flash and report should be a distant second on the list of concerns when deadly force is involved.

Carry what you will be comfortable with, but I would practice with the lighter .38 Special but keep the .357 magnum available for real-time use.
 
How about using .357 Glaser Safety Slugs?
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They'll still penetrate several layers of wall board - http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot4.htm . Anything capable of producing an incapacitating wound to a human is going to penetrate several sheets of wall board / sheet rock. Don't get hung up on which round to use. Know your house layout, know where you can or can't shoot. Move to change the backstop. Practice with the gun and get very good with shot placement.
 
I load my home protection revolver with the hot .357 JHP.

I plan to hit what I aim at. After all, if a gremlin is inside my house I should be able to vanquish him.

Of course if I have a chance, the 870 is what I grab.

The main thing is (like Saxon Pig advised) practice with what you carry. Be good with it.
 
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