Taurus 651 Total Ti .357mag Snubby & 180gr Nos Partition

[roo_ster]

Howdy:

I bought a Taurus .357mag snubby (think S&W Bodyguard knockoff) a while back. It has been a bit of a trial to find cartridges to shoot to point of aim. 158gr & 125gr .357mag shot ~12" low at 7 yards. .38spl+P LSWCHP was closest at ~5" low.

Also, S&B .357mag 158gr would stick in the cylander, requiring a cleaning rod to extract.

I was getting no love from this revolver & was thinking of selling it off when I remembered I had a box of Winchester .357mag hunting loads.

I tried some at my local range & whaddaya know? They shoot darn close to pint of aim. They also extracted just fine & their subjective recoil is less than S&B 158gr loads...though still substantial.

I think I will shoot some into newsprint to see if the Nosler Partition expands at all at snubby velocities (mv 1180fps with 8" bbl). Hey, Winchester claims, "Massive Energy Deposit, Accurate, Optimum Penetration, Consistent Expansion."

Weapon:
Taurus 651 Total Titanium .357mag
2" bbl
17 oz
No porting

Ammo:
Winchester
.357mag
180gr
Partition Gold JHP
S357P

Large Image (~2MB)

 

[roo_ster]

Part Deux

Forgot to add, it was shot offhand.

 

[Black Snowman]

I'd say that should make a great defensive load from your snubby. The velocity you lose in the shorter barrel will be made up somewhat by the great sectional density and slower expansion netting you good penetration. I certainly think you could do worse

 

[Cosmoline]

This kinda dovetails into the thread about ballistics. I'd agree that sounds like a great combination provided you don't lose so much velocity in the shorter barrel that the 180's fail to expand. Given that these are designed for handgun velocities, though, you should be good. Winchester's info seems to indicate they expand fine at velocities over 1,000 fps.

 

[roo_ster]

Velocity Data

Sunday, May 7, I shot a cylander over my new Chrony to see what sort of velocity I could get out of my taurus's 2" bbl:

vel_shot 1000 1024 1040 933.9 1014
avg_vel 1002.38
SD 40.97
ES 106.1

I still think I'm going to do an expansion test of some sort. Maybe I ought to subscribe to the local news rag for media (test and news).

 

[paul105]

I chronoed a 185gr CWFNGC at 1,008 fps from a S&W 360, 1 7/8" bbl, with Hogdon's Lil Gun Load for the 180gr Nos Part. I thought that was pretty good. Based on previous comparisons of cast vs. jacketed (same bullet weight), would have thought the jacketed Nos Part would have been slower.

Paul

 

[roo_ster]

Yep, I would have bet on the cast as having a higher velocity. It might be attributable to the different revolvers used (cylander gap, 2" vs 1 7/8" bbl, etc).

Heck, I was surprised the Winny Nos Part load made ~1000fps in my Taurus. I would like to know which powder Winchester uses in this cartridge. It seems to generate good velocity without too much pressure or drama.