BEST .357 mag load for wife to use in ccw
I bought my wife a Ruger sp101 .357 mag. for a purse gun. I handload 158gr. hornady hp/xtp's for myself, BUT I remember reading some time ago that the FBI tested these cartriges and found that the 124gr had the most terminal performance. Does anybody out there have that info or a link I can use so I can load these for her. She is a very good shot, but having only 5 rounds, I want to be sure to stack the odds in her favor as best I can. Thanks for any help in this matter..[;)]
You may take the most gallant sailor,the most intrepid airman,or the most audacious soldier,put them together at a table.
What do you get?
The sum of their fears
-Winston Churchhill
You may take the most gallant sailor,the most intrepid airman,or the most audacious soldier,put them together at a table.
What do you get?
The sum of their fears
-Winston Churchhill
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I use the 110 grain 357 loads in snubbies. Much hotter than .38 loads but easier to control than full house 125 grain .357 loads. 0 -
Char,
Medium velocity I guess in your load??
I think the 158's I had were a little hot judging by the look on her face when set set the first one loose...lol.She got them dialed in but I think I should go lighter.
Thanks for the reply[:D]
You may take the most gallant sailor,the most intrepid airman,or the most audacious soldier,put them together at a table.
What do you get?
The sum of their fears
-Winston Churchhill0 -
try a 38spl +P. 0 -
Glasser safty round in 38 special. 38 special 125 gr for practice. My 2 cents [8D]
Greg
Former Marine
A N G L I C O0 -
I'm sure that your 158 gr rounds give you a satisfying wallop, but in a "real" situation you may find yourself w/ a problem faced by a number of officers "way back when" ... and that is a little something called over penetration or "through and through". Big bang, heavy bullet, goes right through and the "bad guy" keeps coming.
That's why we changed to the 125gr jhp loads and if you check the FBI stats you may find that is still right near the top of the list of "fight stoppers".
If you want "yee haw" rounds the heavier the better, but if your serious about defense ... you want to expend the bullets energy in what you are shooting, and while doing that you want to make the ugliest wound channel that you can make.
Also, you may want to think about commercial loads for defense. Many good ones out there.
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
I use 110 grainers in my S&W model 60 J frame. I'm not a big guy and I can handle them pretty well. I just don't think 38s have enough punch! 0 -
+ P .38's in a small handgun are enough to handle, I'm agreeing with part of the previous posters, 125 gr. +p's (38)should work fantastic and be far more comfortable to shoot. Can you imagine the "perp" that could take a couple of these and keep coming? I think the most important thing is whatever she is shooting it's manageable enough that she shoots it accurately. 0 -
I agree with a lot of what I've read here. It's all about transferring the energy into the "target" and using a round that is manageable enough recoil wise to make sure follow-up shots stay on target. I used to handload a lot of my own 357 personnal defense rounds but have, on the advice of a VERY prominent and well educated fellow shooter and attorney, turned to using my handloads as a replication of factory rounds to be used in practice situations only. I have absoluteconfidence in my handloading abilities and would back up these loads with my life. The bad part is from what I can ascertain through reading and my good friends advice is that if you put an assailant down using your own "special" handloads some enterprising sack of sh** ambulance chaser is going to portray you as a bloodthirsty butcher who set about loading up rounds to kill the "assailant" with malice and forethought. I realise the whole point is to put the meanie down and keep him down but the vast majority of your fellow "citizens" who will likely make up the jury in a case of this nature will be susceptible to boo-hooing from the decedants lawyer and realtives and paint you out to be the "bad guy" who is imbued with murderous intent. It's a screwed up world so don't give the remoras of the world a chance at you in this manner! I now use 140 jacketed H.P.'s from Cor-Bon (1325 fps) as my "bedside manner burglar deterent" round. They are amazing terminal performance rounds and transfer a heck of a lot of energy into the target with expansion to about the size of a quarter in ballistic gelatin with 90% + weight retention. I have been able to roughly duplicate the round by handloading 140 gr. Hornady jacketed H.P. XTP's at around 1360 fps but the performance in gellatin was just not quite as good. At least I can keep myself used to the recoil and placement., I think your wife, being somewhat smaller might want to try the 125 gr. Cor-Bon load...goes like a Bat out of Hell and transfers lots of energy too but might not rip her hand off at the wrist!! To sum up, let Cor-Bon take the heat in court instead of yourself...life sucks when the bad guys' family gets your house, car and retirement fund!! As long as the little lady comes home in one piece at the same time!. Cor-Bon or for that matter MANY of the other premium self defense ammo makers are in the business to do what they do best; bring you and yours home in one piece with a lessened degree of personnal liability!
"When I cease learning...I'm dead"(Me)
"Power corrupts...Absolute power corrupts absolutely"(Descartes?)
"History is written by winners"(Patton)
"You get a lot farther with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone!"(Al Capone)
"There is nothing lower than the human race...except the French" (Samuel Clemens)0 -
Contender Man..........
You simply re-stated what I said, and my question was, what IS the 124.gr load the FBI said was best?? I realize the whole overpenetration problem, I don't want anybody but bad guy(s) getting hurt[;)]Thanks for your input
1KYDSTER........
I think maybe using what 1kydster says as a heading.....I may use cor-bons.I use them in my ccw .45, I guess my wife can use them as well.
Thanks for the input, hopefully she won't ever have to test the theories above, but better them than her[;)]
You may take the most gallant sailor,the most intrepid airman,or the most audacious soldier,put them together at a table.
What do you get?
The sum of their fears
-Winston Churchhill0 -
My wife shoots 110gr xtp's in front of 9.8gr of greendot. This is out of a 3" barreled Dan&Wesson.
Ray
More Powder, More Lead, More Dead0
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