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Old 01-13-2017, 11:13 PM
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wcoyne wcoyne is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: NE Tennessee
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Originally Posted by Jupiter01 View Post
wcoyne; Welcome! It sounds to me as if you have been doing a lot of reading, and have become slightly confused. There seem to be at least two schools of thought about ammo; one says the 125 grain jacketed hollowpoint at 1450+- fps is the Bee's knees, but for the one little fact that not everyone can or wants to shoot it! With prices nowadays, to practice enough with it to overcome the "firing pin shock" is prohibitive!

Any ammunition offering by one of the large manufacturers will be good, and expen$ive! It has shaken out to be generally: "milder" 357 magnum loads like the Remington Golden Saber 125 gr., or the 158gr. GS. Other manufacturers make similar loads.

Others, myself included, have settled on the milder and more controllable , but equally effective offerings in the 125-135-158gr. 38 Special +p rounds, or the 158 gr. Semiwadcutter Hollow Point rounds from the "Big Three"...Remington, Winchester, or Federal. Those are the once famed "FBI, Dade County, RCMP" load, and are still very effective. The Speer .38 Special 135 gr +P is showing good results from the New York Police Department. That's one of the reasons I chose it. Buffalo Bore offers a 158 gr. Semi Wadcutter Hollow point that will expand from a shorter barrel, and is said to be effective.

I guess the point is; Find what you can shoot comfortably and accurately...If you have fun at it, all the better. Then, if you do handload, find a bullet/load that matches your chosen carry load, and use it for practice, plinking, whatever. I have trouble finding cast bullets that match the Speer 135 gr.Gold Dot, so I just load my 125 gr. plated bullets, which I have a potful of, to match the approximate recoil level of my carry ammo, and let it be good enough. Don't bounce from one ammo to the other...6 rounds of this, 12 rounds of that...you'll confuse yourself. Shoot one enough so you know how it will perform, keep notes, and more important, whether you like it or not, then go to the next choice. One thing...despite all, Cool, calculated, accurate bullet placement trumps all, no matter the ammunition or gun!

This whole thing can get all too emotional and serious; One day at the range, I was concentrating too hard; my groups were NOT what I wanted! The harder I tried to concentrate, the worse they got. Finally, I called it a day, and driving home, I was seeing double! I don't do that any more! Be safe, and good luck!
I planned on going to the range today but did not make it. I am going to buy some range ammo to figure out the point of aim then try the 3 FMJ's I bought and see what I think at that point. I do not plan on shooting all of what I bought in one trip to the range. I just want a good basis to start with before I get more ammo. I wish I had the room and time to reload but I don't.

Ammo for semi autos is easier to choose from it seems and most of the time I cannot tell that much of a difference between grains. I have not shot a 357 yet but will see how it compares to my 44mag which I can tell a difference in grains in
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