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.44 Mag vs. .357 Mag Recoil in N Frame S&W

rhmc24
Will someone with the experience please comment on this. I bought a S&W .357 Mag in the Nightguard with 2.5 bbl, 8 shot cyl. The gun has the scandium frame and is quite a lot lighter than the steel N frame of same dimensions. Had the choice of .44 Mag in same frame. I had a .44 Mag Mountain Gun that I thought was manageable.

Just wondering what to expect. I won't be able to get out to shoot it for a couple weeks. Any info on the subject appreciated. After I do some shooting I will report.
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • rufe-snow
    Be glad you got the .357 version. I can't imagine what the recoil of a .44 Mag full house load would be like, in a scandium frame revolver.
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by rhmc24
    Will someone with the experience please comment on this. I bought a S&W .357 Mag in the Nightguard with 2.5 bbl, 8 shot cyl. The gun has the scandium frame and is quite a lot lighter than the steel N frame of same dimensions. Had the choice of .44 Mag in same frame. I had a .44 Mag Mountain Gun that I thought was manageable.

    Just wondering what to expect. I won't be able to get out to shoot it for a couple weeks. Any info on the subject appreciated. After I do some shooting I will report.


    By comparison, last weekend I used the 45 ACP version - the 325. I don't care for the gun (prefer the older Smith 25s and such) but I must say it was accurate and well made and recoil was pretty mild. I thought it would be stiffer & sharper but it was not. Used 230 hard ball and some 185 grain hot stuff, not bad at all. I can't imagine the 357 is much worse.

    I'm very recoil tolerant, but others shooting had the same reaction. I'd rather shoot the light N frame in a "big" caliber than the J frame alloys in 38 Special any day.
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  • fordsix
    all will depend on the load 44/240gr vs 357/125,158gr the 45 is 800fps with 230gr
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  • charliemeyer007
    I shoot a 10 5/8 44 with full tilt reloads. I can get through 500 rounds with the Herrit Shooting Star smooth grips. I looked for a 4 in. 629. I found a 6 in. I could not even finish a box of 50 even with the herrits on it. I gave that pistol away. The guy that got it loved it until shot it some. I know a guy that has a 329 that has had exactly one cylinder full shot through it. A real pleasure to carry but not much fun to shoot.
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  • beantownshootah
    Answering this one is actually easier than you might think, if you have any experience firing the more "conventional" Smith .357 revolvers.

    The N-frame scandium Smith you bought weighs 27.5 ounces.
    The small all-steel J-frame model 60 weighs about 22.5 ounces.
    The K-frame .357s (models 19, 66, etc) weigh about 30 ounces.

    So as a basis for comparison, using whatever load you choose, your recoil should be a little more than with a model 19 and a little less than a model 60.

    This is not what I would call "mild" recoil, but I hardly think its unmanageable or "punishing". I don't know that I'd want to fire 300 of these quickly, but I think any experienced shooter won't have a problem with recoil here.

    Speaking in general, recoil is a highly subjective phenomenon. A lot of it just has to do with your personal expectations, and a lot of it just with how you hold the gun.

    Well-fitting comfortable grips (and for a magnum gun, that generally means SMOOTH grips, not checkered) go a LONG way in reducing the subjective unpleasantness associated with firing a gun.

    Its sort of off topic, but I'm also of the opinion that firing the small lightweight .38+P guns is subjectively more unpleasant than firing the large heavy .44 magnum guns.
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