|
|
02-04-2016, 10:39 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: GA
Posts: 14
Likes: 1
Liked 23 Times in 5 Posts
|
|
Favorite Ammo
I just bought a model 66-8 and was wondering what your favorite ammo choices are for this revolver. I have read where the lighter loads in 357 mag are not good choices for this revolver. Please let me know what your favorite 38 & 357 loads are for plinking and for taking into the woods to hunt swine. Thanks.
__________________
I was blind but now I can see!
|
02-04-2016, 11:07 AM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: NW FL
Posts: 1,565
Likes: 828
Liked 1,159 Times in 563 Posts
|
|
If you plan to participate in feral swine eradication with your 66 you will need to get pretty darn close, and use the heaviest bullet your revolver can handle. Take a broadside shot at the head, aim for a spot between the ear and the eye.
I have killed wild hogs with a .357 / 158 gr. bullet but that was with a revolver carried as a backup to a long gun. Since then I have moved up to a .44 mag. because I wanted more power due to chance encounters with larger sized hogs.
__________________
"Life is short, hunt hard"
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
02-04-2016, 12:43 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 8,158
Likes: 3,605
Liked 5,199 Times in 2,172 Posts
|
|
I use a model 66 for IDPA with .38 158gr plated over HP38.
Hunting pigs with it are sorta like hunting with a bow. It will kill the pig, but only a perfect shot will take it down.
A fellow shooter went on his first pig hunt, having gotten his version of the perfect heavy .357 load, and came back with the story of the big boar that took 6 of his shots and kept on trying to kill the dogs.
__________________
Science plus Art
|
02-04-2016, 12:44 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Outside Philadelphia Pa
Posts: 16,601
Likes: 7,342
Liked 17,200 Times in 7,303 Posts
|
|
You can use light load 357 just fine. Just not a metric ton of it. Otherwise it works fine
I use whatever ammo my gun is designed for. If I find one the performs better than others I try to buy more of it
|
02-04-2016, 01:04 PM
|
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Cocoa Beach, Florida
Posts: 10,559
Likes: 3,037
Liked 22,454 Times in 5,824 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toddmann
I just bought a model 66-8 and was wondering what your favorite ammo choices are for this revolver. I have read where the lighter loads in 357 mag are not good choices for this revolver. Please let me know what your favorite 38 & 357 loads are for plinking and for taking into the woods to hunt swine. Thanks.
|
Welcome to the Forum
My FAVORITE load to shoot in my 19 or 66s is a 125 grain Winchester JHP over 21.6 grains of H110, but all of mine are short barrels. I have sent many, many thousands of the full magnum 125s downrange.
For Hogs, I would probably go to a 158JSP or one of the heavier WFN hard cast lead SWCs
There is no need to worry about those old stories of light projectiles being a problem for the 19/66 revolvers. The stories are decades old and have zero bearing on your model 66. Metallurgy has changed since the Combat Magnum was introduced in 1955, so has the design of the revolver. The -7 engineering revision of the model 66 eliminated that weak spot on the bottom of the forcing cone where part of the barrel used to be cut flat so the crane could close under it.
Last edited by colt_saa; 02-04-2016 at 01:07 PM.
|
02-04-2016, 02:04 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: CSRA, South Carolina
Posts: 344
Likes: 15
Liked 190 Times in 86 Posts
|
|
l just like shooting targets with my Model 15 snubby and Highway Patrolman.
l shoot ''Dad's Ammo''. The price is great and l get home delivery .
Heck, lf l cook he'll clean my guns TOO!
|
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
|
|
02-04-2016, 06:21 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 6,315
Likes: 13,115
Liked 12,802 Times in 4,228 Posts
|
|
It's not just the bullet weight, but the velocity, too. Full-power, light-bullet-weight loads (think 125gr SJHP at 1,450fps out of a 4" barrel) are the rounds one should be concerned with. A steady diet of them may cause issues, but occasional use most likely won't. Just about anything else shouldn't cause any issues, assuming the gun is mechanically sound.
My favorite load to shoot in a K-frame .357 Magnum was the WWB 110gr SJHP. It's a light-recoiling load (IIRC, energy-wise it's equivalent to 9mm 115gr +P), yet makes a really cool fireball from the muzzle. I only used it for target shooting, but if I couldn't find anything better I'd be ok with using it as a self-defense load.
|
02-04-2016, 06:52 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: In The Woods Of S.C.
Posts: 8,838
Likes: 13,934
Liked 13,643 Times in 4,939 Posts
|
|
Favorite ammo is the ammo I make in the little bullet factory out back.
__________________
S&W Accumulator
|
The Following 3 Users Like Post:
|
|
02-04-2016, 07:29 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Henderson, Nevada
Posts: 483
Likes: 325
Liked 560 Times in 220 Posts
|
|
A few of my friends and I have used this Buffalo Bore 180gn Hard Cast .357 Round successfully, hunting Boar. My one friend has also taken, two black bear, with this round.
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.ph...uct_list&c=162
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
02-04-2016, 07:33 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Penna
Posts: 656
Likes: 2,736
Liked 1,015 Times in 247 Posts
|
|
For plinking at the range, I buy Freedom Munitions, great ammo at a very fair price, first time customer gets free shipping, sign up for their email alerts, they have a special everyday on a different ammo. Home defense I stick with Hornady Critical Defense.
|
02-05-2016, 10:00 AM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 292
Liked 641 Times in 345 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyflake
|
Have you been shooting these out of a Model 66 like the OP's?
__________________
USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73
|
02-05-2016, 10:21 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 13
Liked 831 Times in 390 Posts
|
|
For killing stuff with a handgun, is there ANY bad .357 load?
There might be some things that need killed, that you wouldn't want to use a handgun. But anything that warrants a handgun is gonna be in big trouble if the shooter has a .357.
ANY .357.
If you can hit a wild pig with any handgun, you should be giving US advice.
.
.
.
.
__________________
WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?
Last edited by W.E.G.; 02-05-2016 at 10:23 AM.
|
02-05-2016, 10:54 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Henderson, Nevada
Posts: 483
Likes: 325
Liked 560 Times in 220 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by moxie
Have you been shooting these out of a Model 66 like the OP's?
|
I have not shot them out of a Model 66, although it probably could handle the load, but in a smaller size gun like that it will probably hurt ya!
I have fired that round, many times, from a S&W Model 29, a Ruger GP100 and a Ruger Blackhawk. If your not holding on, it can sting the hell out of you hand. However, when your in the mix of it, you don't seem to feel a thing!
|
02-05-2016, 01:56 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: GA
Posts: 14
Likes: 1
Liked 23 Times in 5 Posts
|
|
My 66-8 is not gonna be my primary weapon just a back up side arm to carry while hunting pigs. The gun came lots of ammo just seeing if any of it is good for that application. I have 100 rounds of 180gr Underwood ammo.
__________________
I was blind but now I can see!
|
02-05-2016, 04:13 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Arkansas Ozarks
Posts: 1,915
Likes: 4,224
Liked 3,606 Times in 1,246 Posts
|
|
The 180 Underwood will do what you need.
I load 158 JHP's almost exclusively and have taken deer and hogs with them.
|
02-05-2016, 07:32 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: GA
Posts: 14
Likes: 1
Liked 23 Times in 5 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by twodog max
The 180 Underwood will do what you need.
I load 158 JHP's almost exclusively and have taken deer and hogs with them.
|
Great, thanks for the response.
__________________
I was blind but now I can see!
|
02-05-2016, 11:15 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 292
Liked 641 Times in 345 Posts
|
|
Shooting that 180 gr. Underwood @1400 fps out of a K-frame Model 66 is not a good idea.
__________________
USAF, 69-92
Vietnam, 72-73
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
|
|
|
|