Just picked up a model sixty today. Beautiful little gun. I'm going to range tomorrow and I have some Speer Gold Dot 135 Grain 38 special +p, Remington 357 125 grain, and Federal premium 130 grain reduced recoil.

I'm extrapolating from my 637 airweight (38+p) that the recoil in the 60 with 357 will be something like +p ammo in the 637.

I'm interested in info on low recoil (but effective) 357 loads.

Thanks in advance.

mojust,

Just a word of warning. 130 gr. Federal "low recoil" is not low recoil It's in every respect full house 357 magnum ammo with energy exceeding famed 125 gr. Remingtons (R357M1).

Mid-range 357 magnum loads are Speer short barrel and Remington golden sabre.


Mike

Thank you. I guess I'm in for a sore hand tomorrow.

No, no. You are in for a lot of fun! R357M1 is what I carry in my 640

Speer short barrel .357s are popular as are the Remington Golden Sabre. Use what you and your gun shoot best with. I like R357M1 in my Taurus 605 2 1/4".

rozenbem is right.

Shame on Federal for calling it "Low Recoil".
I found that out the hard way.
You might want to give Corbon 357 DPX a try too.

coach22

I use the Federal 130 gr .357 'low recoil' loads, and while they are pretty potent, they are much more controllable than full house 158 gr loads. I don't find the recoil to be unwieldy. They are the main load in my Taurus 605 2", along with the Speer .38 +P SB round. The difference between felt recoil in those rounds is much less than the difference between the Federal 130 and Blazer Brass 158 gr .357s.

Speer's Gold Dot 135gr .357 Magnum Short Barrel round is a very manageable round especially in a Stainless J frame. It really doesn't produce much more recoil than the .38 Special +P Short Barrel round. That's probably due to the numbers reported by Speer.

.38 Special +P 135gr Short Barrel Gold Dot:
860 fps from a 2" barrel wit 222 ft/lbs of energy.

.357 Magnum 135gr Short Barrel Gold Dot:
990 fps from a 2" barrel wit 294 ft/lbs of energy.

As you see there isn't much of a increase in velocity from the .38 Special +P to the .357 Magnum. Actually, their SB .357 Magnum ammo probably produces less felt recoil in a Stainless J frame than their .38 Special +P ammo does in an alloy J frame. For comparison, the numbers for their 125gr and 158gr .357 Magnum Gold Dots are 1450/584 and 1235/535 respectively.

AA, I'm thinking the SB velocity figures you posted are from a two inch barrel? No doubt the nonSB stats are from a four inch tube.

Those are the short barrel figures for those two Gold Dot rounds. A three inch barrel on a Model 60 should yield around 1080fps for the .357 GDSB, same as the Remington .357 GS load. Beyond that, there may be bullet deformation problems for the GD in a four-inch tube, whereas the downloaded GS bullet is built to take the G's.

quote:

Originally posted by flop-shank:
AA, I'm thinking the SB velocity figures you posted are from a two inch barrel? No doubt the nonSB stats are from a four inch tube.

You are correct on all points. Sorry I didn't make that clearer.

My choice would be Buffalo Bore's Tactical Short Barrel, Low Flash, Reduced Recoil 357 Magnum load, Product Number 19E/20. It uses a 158 gr. Gold Dot @ 1,097 fps from a 2.5" barrel, 1015 fps from a 1 7/8" barrel. Average penetration in ballistic gelatin is 13"-15".

quote:

Originally posted by ArchAngelCD:

quote:

Originally posted by flop-shank:
AA, I'm thinking the SB velocity figures you posted are from a two inch barrel? No doubt the nonSB stats are from a four inch tube.

You are correct on all points. Sorry I didn't make that clearer.

No problem, bro. I got your six covered. Just back me up next time I brain fart.

Ditto on the "low recoil" - recoil does not bother me much but I definitly would not describe it as "low".

I have a couple of boxes of Federal 125 Classic JHP that just happen to clock around 1275 fps from a 4" barrel (uncharacteristically low). They go about 1150 from my 2 1/8" 640. Not too bad.

I have not tried Speers .357 Short barreled load but that looks promising. I have tried the Short Barreld +P .38 and in a 3" barrel it did as much damage as the full powered Remington 125gr Magnum load in some old meat I was testing it in. So the Speer short barreld .357 might be just the ticket.

Cor-bon's 125gr DPX Magnum load is not too hot (about 1250 in a 4") and might be OK also.

One of my favorite all time loads was the Federal Classic 140 but I missed out on the deal and dont see them much anymore - they were not exactly mild though.

Riposte