fastbolt
Member
This subject was pretty much old news and had been discussed back and forth even back in the 80's, when revolvers were still commonly seen in LE circles and a short-barreled 6-shot .357 Magnum made by S&W, Colt or Ruger wasn't an uncommon thing for off-duty cops to carry.
The .357 Magnum started to lose it's velocity advantage once you started to reduce the barrel length under 4", and even more under 3". (Nobody measures revolver barrel length as including the cylinder charge hole length. It isn't relevant since the barrel/cylinder gap allows loss of pressure.)
Another influence was the difference in bullet designs between revolvers and pistols back then. Although there were some isolated examples where pistol bullets had exposed lead outside the nose cavity, for the most part the nose cavities ran jacketing up to the top edge of the cavity to try and enhance feeding, which wasn't necessary for revolvers. Heavy jackets on pistol bullets would often delay and interfere with deformation and expansion, while bullet designs used for revolver cartridges could have some exposed lead (the Rem SJHP is an excellent example) which would help by rolling over more easily and even breaking off & fragmenting (which isn't always a bad thing, depending on the circumstances).
In more recent times we've seen some of the improvement and refinement of defensive bullet design carried over into revolver cartridges which are still popular. (How much of this is the result of applying the lessons learned in making hunting ammunition for handgun hunters is always an interesting discussion, too.
)
While I don't find the subject of trying to promote 9mm over .357 Magnum to be all that interesting nowadays (or compare the +P/+P+ 9mm to the .357SIG, for that matter), the increasing popularity of the diminutive 5-shot .357 Magnum wheelguns has seemingly created the potential for the revival of this sort of debate ... for some folks, anyway.
I've become more interested in what any particular shooter is able to actually do when shooting any of the often contested guns, calibers & ammunition. If someone can't consistently use it to good effect, making rapid & consistently accurate hits on intended targets under anything less than 'ideal range conditions', does it really matter what paper ballistics and cracker barrel discussions churn out? Really?
I'd much rather have a seasoned & experienced partner armed with a well-used & well-maintained S&W M10, loaded with standard pressure 158gr LSWC, into Harm's Way having to enter that dark doorway, over anything being promoted in the way of cutting-edge, high-tech, flavor-of-the-month wondergun & ammunition, in the hands of some earnest but inexperienced & untried paper puncher sporting the latest in black nylon & velcro tac-apparel ...
Just my thoughts, though.
It's only a handgun.
The .357 Magnum started to lose it's velocity advantage once you started to reduce the barrel length under 4", and even more under 3". (Nobody measures revolver barrel length as including the cylinder charge hole length. It isn't relevant since the barrel/cylinder gap allows loss of pressure.)
Another influence was the difference in bullet designs between revolvers and pistols back then. Although there were some isolated examples where pistol bullets had exposed lead outside the nose cavity, for the most part the nose cavities ran jacketing up to the top edge of the cavity to try and enhance feeding, which wasn't necessary for revolvers. Heavy jackets on pistol bullets would often delay and interfere with deformation and expansion, while bullet designs used for revolver cartridges could have some exposed lead (the Rem SJHP is an excellent example) which would help by rolling over more easily and even breaking off & fragmenting (which isn't always a bad thing, depending on the circumstances).
In more recent times we've seen some of the improvement and refinement of defensive bullet design carried over into revolver cartridges which are still popular. (How much of this is the result of applying the lessons learned in making hunting ammunition for handgun hunters is always an interesting discussion, too.
)While I don't find the subject of trying to promote 9mm over .357 Magnum to be all that interesting nowadays (or compare the +P/+P+ 9mm to the .357SIG, for that matter), the increasing popularity of the diminutive 5-shot .357 Magnum wheelguns has seemingly created the potential for the revival of this sort of debate ... for some folks, anyway.
I've become more interested in what any particular shooter is able to actually do when shooting any of the often contested guns, calibers & ammunition. If someone can't consistently use it to good effect, making rapid & consistently accurate hits on intended targets under anything less than 'ideal range conditions', does it really matter what paper ballistics and cracker barrel discussions churn out? Really?
I'd much rather have a seasoned & experienced partner armed with a well-used & well-maintained S&W M10, loaded with standard pressure 158gr LSWC, into Harm's Way having to enter that dark doorway, over anything being promoted in the way of cutting-edge, high-tech, flavor-of-the-month wondergun & ammunition, in the hands of some earnest but inexperienced & untried paper puncher sporting the latest in black nylon & velcro tac-apparel ...
Just my thoughts, though.
It's only a handgun.
