Try to see if my wife can handle a .357 round

[gmh1013]

Does anybody know what the lowest power .357 made is.
She wants to step up from a +P to .357 and I figure if I can find a milder round the recoil might not be much more than her .38+p's
she has a Rossi .357 snub does not shoot it much and keeps it in her purse.
Last week we were shooting some Speer 135gr +P and she was ok with the recoil and now wants to try a .357

 

[mljdeckard]

Why not just use .38s?

 

[Thomas Garrett]

Just get her that .44 you've always wanted.

 

[gmh1013]

She wants to try .357's to see if the recoil is to hard on her hands.
I told her just stick with BB +P but she is hell bent on wanting to shoot 357 rounds

 

[Thomas Garrett]

My wife went threw the samething. Took her from 158 gr. .38 to the .357 then let her shoot a .500 S & W. She went back to the .38's and is much happier (she gave it a try) and so am I.

 

[Six]

I'd suggest some professional reloads if available at a local store/range. Often they're loaded well below new factory ammunition.

I'd also recommend using a heavier gun to start with rather than trying them in the snub nose first.

 

[Special_K]

I didn't even read the post before thinkin' this one up.

Women are tough creatures, I say give her a regular .357 load if she is asking for it. It's up to her after that weather she wants to shoot it or not.

 

[harmon rabb]

.357 out of a snub? i don't enjoy shooting .357 out of anything smaller than my gp100

 

[GRIZ22]

Try a 110 grain 357 load. Shooting 357s in anything smaller than a K frame is very little gain for not much fun.

 

[gmh1013]

Biggest problem is finding ANY .357's
all I have left are some 15 year old CCI Blazer 125 gr .357's and I only have 12 left.
I looked at the price on the box....9.95 from 1994?

 

[BCRider]

Being a new shooter myself I found the .357 to be quite a kick in the hand at first. But as I shoot more of them I find that the new supplies are not loaded as strongly as the older ones I shot.....

All of which goes to show that with familiarity and experience comes acceptance and control of the round being shot. In fact nothing tames the recoil of a .357 like shooting a few cylinders of .44 mag and then going back to the .357.

If she's shooting +P now and doesn't mind it (a really FUN plinking round for a .357 to shoot by the way) then just treat her to a few rounds of the Magnum at the end of each session. After a few days of that for grins try a little version of Russian Roulette called Magnum Roulette. Load up 5 .38's and one Mag. Spin the cylinder and then lock it home without looking down and then shoot. Do this to each other so you can both have some giggles. Pretty soon she won't mind the Magnum's and you'll both learn to control your flinch or other issues that much sooner.

Mind you this assumes that you're shooting something that's heavy enough that it soaks up a good bit of the recoil. If it's a light body gun with a short barrel I doubt there's much of anything that'll make shooting Magnums fun for a steady diet. My own revolvers I've shot the stuff through are a Model 19/6" and a big heavy Nframed Model 28/5". Even the 19 makes shooting the Magnums very tolerable now that I'm a bit more used to the BANG and big fireball....

The odd thing with this is that I consistently find the Magnum round shoots low with the sights adjusted for the .38Spl. I asked a long time shooter about it and he said it was normal since the Magnum bullet doesn't spend so long in the barrel so it leaves before the recoil lifts the muzzle. So keep that in mind when scoring the hits. At 12 yards this worked out to about 2 inches or so lower than the .38Spl.

 

[wnycollector]

My wife practices with mastercast's 125gr JHP .357 (~1200fps out of a snub ruger security six) and carries the speer gold dot 135gr short barrel .357's. In a 31oz revolver both kick, but nowhere near as bad as hot 125gr .357's. The mastercast actually puts out more energy than the speer load, but she (and I) figure if she can hit what she aims at with the mastercast load, then the shooting the speer fine as well!

 

[Confederate]

As dear as the .357 is to me, I'd have to join the others in recommending the use of .38 Spc. Go ahead and let her shoot a cylinder of .357s just so she'll know what to expect. I'd settle on the 125gr JHP as 158gr bullets have more recoil and are less effective, and 110gr JHPs are tough on the gun.

A good medium frame gun like a S&W 66 or a Ruger Speed-/Security-Six is fine with magnum rounds; anything smaller or lighter is very difficult to master.

In the end, let her decide what she's more comfortable with.

 

[gmh1013]

Is there that much diff between a
a BB 158gr +P and a .357
out of a 2 inch snub?
I read somewhere it about only 100 fps
faster for the .357 vs the +p

 

[RobertCohn]

Let her try the .357 but she will probably go back to the +P I can almost guarantee.

I know...I have a Rossi snub.

If she is comfortable with the +P then convince her that round is just as effective for someone who is comfortable with the weapon and reasonable shot placement.

One advantage to the 461 & 2 is they are 6-shot.

You really can't argue with 6 shots of .38 +P.

The .357 out of the 2" Rossi just plain hurts and re-acquisition is terrible for women.

 

[sd]

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=453964

.357 mag "cowboy" loads from sportsmansguide. still look like they pack a punch at over 1,000 fps and over 400 ft lbs energy , but thats less than a typical load of 1200/500 ballpark.

the standard answer is always .38 spl, which is fine, but I too always wanted to bridge the gap between .38 and .357 with a low powered .357. I have never used these but your post made me curious so I googled .357 cowboy load.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Try the Remington 125-gr. SJHP (R357M1). For a cheaper alternative, the UMC version is loaded to the same specs but with a JSP bullet. If the kick, thunderclap report and concussion from this load from a small-frame snubnose revolver is too bothersome, you can step down from there. I am partial to the 110-gr. WWB JHP.

 

[Guillermo]

I agree with your wife...357 snubs are not fun to shoot.

 

[woad_yurt]

gmh1013:
Load her up with a cylinder-full of your remaining twelve .357s and let her go at it. Either she'll like or dislike.

PS: Keep the other six rounds for yourself!

 

[pps]

Go to the 135gr speer GDSBHP. It's actually less power than the BB 38+p Honestly I'd just keep her with that BB round. It's a great round.

 

[jfh]

I'll echo pps's comments--e.g., try the GDSB135-gr. 357 round with her. Other than arguing the merits of bullet weights--e.g., 135 vs 125 vs 110--she may find as I do that the "quick" recoil of the lighter weights is more bothersome / irritating than the "slow" recoil of the heavier bullets.

If she wants both sides of the equation, have her try the BB20As--that their 38'+P+' 158-gr. ground that runs 1000 fps from a 2" barrel.

Jim H.

 

[Black Knight]

If she wants to try 357 ammo I see no reason why she shouldn't. Proper and careful trial and error is how we learn. She needs to explore her limitations where recoil is concerned. Some like it some don't, how will you or she know if she doesn't give it try? I would start with a lighter load (110, 125, or 135 GR) before going to full house 158 GR loads.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Why are you denying your wife the pleasure of shooting a .357 Magnum. You wouldn't like it if someone told you not to shoot what you want. She may surprise you and shoot Magnum rounds very well. Most women are very good shots and can manage recoil well after they get over the initial fear.

With today's market shortages the best chance you have of finding .357 Magnum ammo that won't go broke on is from a commercial reloader. There are several that are good like D&G Reloading, Georgia Arms or The Mastercast Bullet Company. If you use Mastercast you will have to send them the brass. There are others around but I know these three to be reputable. (not that the others aren't but I have only dealt with those 3)

 

[pps]

gmh, how does she handle the recoil of the BB loading? If she handles that without difficulty, I'd have to agree with archangel...let her go for it.

 

[BCRider]

Is there that much diff between a
a BB 158gr +P and a .357
out of a 2 inch snub?
I read somewhere it about only 100 fps
faster for the .357 vs the +p

Velocity wise maybe not. But kick to the hand yeah, the .357 will smack the hand much harder than +P in my experience. About as much again as the difference between .38Spl and the +P jump.

As I mentioned before I think that exposure breeds comfort. At first I thought the .357's were hella strong. But as I shot them on a more regular basis I got used to the recoil. Mind you the .357's don't actually HURT while I found that factory .44Mag does hurt so I don't see ever getting used to shooting .44Mag factory. Reloads would be a different story since I may run them just as strong but I'd play with the powder used to generate more of a softer thump than a sizzling crack.