.38 Snubby vs .357 Mag Snubby

[RedAlert]

S&W PC M327 .357MAG

Just saw this gun for the first time today. An 8 shot revolver with a Titanium cylinder and 2" barrel!

Hell, pick your poison, .38SPCL or .357MAG and have two or three additional rounds in a 21oz revolver.

RDF

 

[JERRY]

i have two s&w 640s in both .38spl and .357mag.

both are all s.s., the .357 out speeds the .38 with the same bullet weight by a little over 200 fps. it is more of a handfull, but not what i call excessive considering it is an all steel gun.


i would not buy a .357mag in a light weight(alloy frame) snubbie, just too punishing....

 

[Ben Shepherd]

PCRCCW and I are in agreement. At home I have almost a ream worth of chrono data, and 357 KILLS 38 in velocity/energy EVERY time, regardless of barrel length.

More flash, blast, and recoil? Sure.
Less efficient? Sure.

But the 357 still outruns 38 every time!!

The speer number 8 manual has a full page of comparision data on this, and it hasn't changed since then.

 

[gregwalter]

If you are carrying a Ruger Sp101 2 1/4" ...

for self defense, wouldn't it make sense to have the most effective round for that gun, which to me seems to be the .357?

 

[Marshall]

I chose the Model 60 .357 Mag a few years ago, I haven't looked back once. I shoot 145gr Silvertips and 158gr Gold Dots. The way I see it, if I were a bad guy and got to choose which to be shot with, I would choose the 38 spcl.

 

[joneb]

Speer offers ballistic data on there web site, short barrel data 2" vented
.38 +P 135 GD jhp MV = 860 fps, ME = 222 ft/lbs
.357 mag. 135 GD jhp MV = 990 fps, ME = 294 ft/lbs

If I had a (ALL STEEL) .357 snubby I would try out the magnum loads, if I could shoot them well, that's what I would use. Speer's Short Barrel .357 mag. load doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

[brett30030]

Too bad that the person who started this thread has not posted to this site in 2.5 years. I wonder if they have found an answer to their question, and if so, could they could post what it is