What year can it be said that the .357 Magnum became a relatively common chambering?

Thanks

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I'll play--------------------1955, counting only S&W; 1959-60 with Ruger in the game.

Did I win a cookie?

Ralph Tremaine

I carried a Python when I came on the job in 1974 and all the guys that came on before me from about 1964 on had them.Mostly Pythons but a nice mix of S and W K frames too,mainly 66s and19s.

I'm going to say late 60's. By that time there was a decent installed base making them fairly common. Colt came out with a modernized design (Trooper MK III) and S&W was adding more variations. Ruger was cranking them out at a pretty good clip by then. The 70's is what I term "The Golden Age of Revolvers". You could make the case it lasted into the 80's.

Considering the fact that it came to light in 1935 I would think that it would have been pretty common by the late 40s or early 50s.

I'm going to say that the 357 Magnum craze started in the late 1960's. The late 60's and early 70's was a time of social unrest and increasing drug trafficking. I think it was about this time that many law enforcement agencies were looking for something more powerful than the old standard in law enforcement, the 38 Special. The 357 Magnum was an obvious choice as a 4 or 6 inch K-frame 357 would fit in duty holsters that were carrying 4 or 6 inch K-frame 38's and armorers would not need to be retrained as the lockwork was the same.

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I’m going with after WWII.
The caliber was available in more Smith Models and more Brands- Colts, Rugers, etc.

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Skeeter Skelton wrote about wanting one post WW2 and finding them very scarce. They were popular in the sense that many wanted one or more, just not to be found until the introduction of the Model 19.

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Front sight and squeeze

Yes, I think the introduction of the Models 19 and 28 turned the Tide.
And you throw in some Colts and Rugers, 357s for everybody!
Have posted about my Elation in finding the Model 19 in Guam.
Special ordered, the buyer turned it down.
Why? Price increase from $95 to $105.
At that time I was stationed in Indiana and the only new Smiths I could find were 10s.

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Depends on what you think “common” means. The 357 came about in the 1930’s and was very strong until the trend switched to auto’s in the LE community but still remains an excellent cartridge.

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I would say it was when Phil Sharpe took one to Africa and killed everything
that walked with an 8 3/8" mdl. 27.

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S&W Accumulator

I remember that the .357 was the Magnum in the early 60's. I bought a Ruger blackhawk and was leery about shooting it. Recoil was said to be ferocious. I had it in deer hunting came and the Guys were teasing Me about not wanting to get knocked on My butt in front of Them. So out it comes and a beer can was put on a log about 60 feet away and I shot at it. All I could do was think what a pipsqueak. Shot the remaining five and immediately sold it to one of the guys in camp. Never hit the can either. Bought a Blackhawk 44mag on return to town. Never looked back. Guy I sold it too still has it. I have owned maybe 4 .357's since then. I just remember that it was the 'it' cartridge back then.

Wasn't it touted as the "car killer" at some time? I seem to remember reading that it was the powerful way to disable a car because it could destroy an engine block.

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I would think it was in the early 50's.

These were expensive prestige guns during the Depression, when many people were earning between five and ten cents an hour, if they were lucky enough to be working at all.
When the country started on the Eisenhower expansion years, and people had some money in their pockets, they could afford toys like these.

I have about 1 1/2 boxes of Winchester "Metal Piercing" 38 Special with +P head stamps and about 8 357's of same. The 38 box specifies that they are only to be used in guns like the "Outdoorsman" The listed velocity is only 20 or 25 fps faster for 357's.

Nobody has volunteered to let me shoot their engine while driving towards me, so I don't know how well they kill cars!

My F-I-L's tests of 38's in the 1960's (for Columbus,Ohio PD) showed the FBI 158 LRN +P would go through Windshields consistently, ONLY AT 90 degrees to the glass; but from the ground they are at 45 degrees +/-! The Metal Piercing went through almost every time from any angle! I think today's windshields are less armor like than those boats from the 50's and 60's he was shooting.

Ivan

I've never shot at an engine in a car driving toward me, but I have shot at a Jeep engine (4 cylinder inline) sitting on the ground. (I say an engine, it was a "short block" (the bottom half of the engine).) I shot at it with a .357 Magnum----don't remember what sort of ammunition, but very likely the regular, everyday .357 fare you get if you don't ask for something special. The bullet passed through the exterior of the block casting, through a cylinder wall, striking a piston, and splitting it. The bullet did not pass through the cylinder wall on the other side.

Ralph Tremaine

I once took a .36 cal cap & ball and shot through both front doors of a 56 Ford.(junk yard) With the 357's much more horsepower I think it would crack an engine block. Blocks are thin with a water jacket between the outside and the inside where the oil is.

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S&W Accumulator

It would have been considered common when other manufactures started making guns chambered in .357. There would have been enough interest at that time in the round, that prompted the likes of Colt to make one, or Ruger.


How many gun makers make a gun chambered in .460 R, or 400 Corbon? Not enough to label them as common rounds to be sure.

Recall hearing back in the 1950s that the 44 Magnum could crack a car's engine block at 15 yards, also recall reading that the 38 Super was meant to be effective against automobiles.
Colt introduced the .357 in 1953, the Python in 1955, that ended S&W's monopoly of that round. S&W the Highway Patrolman in 1954, presented Bill Jordan with the first Combat Magnum in November 1955, Ruger introduced the Blackhawk in 1955.

The Baton Rouge police department went from it's fixed sighted model 64's in 38 special to the adjustable sighted K-frame 357 magnum stainless steel - I think it was model 66 about 1975 ... maybe 1976 ... Prior to mid 1970's you didn't find many 357 mag. cases left at the local range ... I picked up buckets of 38 special cases but very few 357 Mag.
I reloaded and shot 38 special brass in my 357 revolvers untill Starline started making plenty of affordable 357 Mag. brass ...
I bought 100 brand new ... and still have them .

I bought my first handgun in 1970 , a ruger Blackhawk in 357 magnum. At one time the Blackhawk was only chambered in 357 mag.
Gary

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I agree, post WWII. Right after the war production number were relatively low but they ramped up big time through the 60's. Of course the 70's went to the 44mag, thanks to Inspector Callahan.

I bought my first handgun in 1970 , a ruger Blackhawk in 357 magnum. At one time the Blackhawk was only chambered in 357 mag.
Gary

Blackhawk Revolver (manufactured from 1956 to 1962) Caliber: 44 Magnum
Beginning Serial Number: Years of Production:
741 1957
5996 1958
14258 1959

Just after the time a 1935 patent would have expired. Dunno if there was one but the timing is "interesting".

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I always heard that when I was growing up. "A 357 mag will crack and engine block" is what my uncle always told me.

I know it will punch straight through the quarter inch thick + bottom of a cast iron bathtub like it isn't even there.

The Highway Patrolman and K-frame S&W "Combat Magnum" ( later the Model 19) made the .357 a everyman's and every cops gun.....................
so the nod goes to 1954-56..... as they say; the rest is history!!

Pre WWII the .357 was a rich guy's toy.... $60. Ya some Dept.'s had them but even today we talk/write about them as the exception to the rule. After the war it took awhile to sort the new normal out..............................

On the other hand my Dad had a 6 inch .357 Colt New Service tricked out by King's of Calf. in 1939........ why the Colt? Even after a trip to Calf for a makeover it was $8-10 cheaper than a S&W REG. magnum at $60 retail !!!!

I agree with BLACKHAWKNJ and BAM BAM, before mid 50s the .357 was a big$ deal: RMs followed by pre 27 nonregistered magnums. Then in just 2 years there were Combat Magnums and the Highway Patrolman. Those pre19s and pre28s were priced toward customers drawing LEO pay. I think that's when the .357 started to become THE magnum.

The 38/44 Heavy Duty and Outdoorsman went out of production in 1966, because by that time the .357 market had caught up with demand. If you wanted more than your .38 you could get a .357. If you chose a K frame you didn't even need a new holster...

When I started shooting in the late 70s the .357 RULED, 28s, 19s, all the Ruger S Sixes and Colt Troopers. Some 27s and Pythons around but not many. I remember them all under glass at the LGS, nib take your pick...
Prices back then sound low now but $s were just scarcer!

IIRC, Skeeter lucked into his first one in 1951 from another Border Patrolman who needed money for an airplane, and wrote that they were very scarce at that time.

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Read Elmer Keith, “ Hell, I was there” and “ Sixguns”.

Another good read is Elmer Keith's " Sixgun Cartridges & Loads "
published in 1936 ... still contains some useful info , especially the chapters on Casting Bullets .
It has been re-printed , I picked up a hardbound copy for $12.00 and softbound goes for $9.99 ...from Amazon .
Well worth the few dollars if you cast and reload . And you get the first hand story on the development of the Keith SWC bullet / moulds ... so much mis/dis info floating around ... interesting to read the story ...from the horses mouth .
Gary

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Good reads for sure, but if you want more than heavy reloads/reloading data try "MAGNUM" by Timothy J. Mullin.

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I'd have to agree with The Pilgrim.

Back in the '50s, I remember reading a Dick Tracy Sunday comic strip that showed him stopping a car from a helo with a .357, taking out the engine.

Chester Gould took literary license with that.

Mr. Keith did Way More Practial Shooting in both books. He had a part in developing the .357 and more in the 44 Mag. His book on shotguns is not bad either.

To talk about magnums cracking engine blocks . I will relate a story that a seller of a 41 magnum told me . He was working at a mall in sales . Down a couple of stores a couple of young men stole some electronic equipment , they grabbed and ran out . He said they had armed security working there . One of the security men , a man of huge stature ran out the mall , saw these thieves jumped in an old caddie and start roaring off . He pulled out his S&W 57 (41 magnum), 6" barrel and fired one round . The cadillac came to an abrupt halt . The young thieves got out and looked under the car . The engine was laying on the pavement . The look on the thieves face was " memorable " as their mouths almost dropped to the road seeing their motor , shot out of the car lying on the ground underneath . He told me that story several times , word for word . He also sold me my first 41 , a model 57 S&W , nickel plated years ago . True or not I can't say , but makes an interesting story . Regards Paul

1935 with the depression followed by WWII ... a few years for life to normalize and start families, use the new GI Bill, etc. I would say 1955 before it became a day at the range gun.

Considering the number of WWII vets I encountered that insisted if it had come out in 35, they would have used it in the war ... seems to support my theory. That generation knew what they knew. If they didn't see it, it didn't happen.

Could be that one lucky shot hit the block at the motor mount, which could break the block and the engine flopped over. That would likely break the driveshaft and bring the vehicle to an abrupt stop.

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My Dad's carry gun in the late 50's was the S&W HP (pre-model) so I would say late 50's when the HP came out.

I confirm this memory. I was in my early teens then, and I am pretty sure Chester Gould is the man who informed me that the caliber existed.

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David Wilson

My Department went from personally owned revolvers (anything you wanted as long as it chambered the Remington .38 plus P 125 gr JHP issued round - 95 grain for 2 inch) to city purchased model 65s with .357 125 gr Remington JHP around 1982. We had the city revolvers for about 5 or 6 years then went to Sig p226. We were allowed to buy our model 65s for $100. We had no incidences of cracked forcing cones I was aware of but we qualified with reloads after initially shooting our 18 round duty load out of magnum rounds. After qual we were issued 18 new magnum loads.

I remember that episode of Dick Tracy.
IIRC (?) Dick Tracy's Police Department was the Chicago P.D. ?

I don't remember the city ever being named, but the strip originated in the Chicago Tribune...Tracy was in the Major Crimes Unit...

My favorite character was always B.O. Plenty......Ben

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I once owned a Colt New Service - vintage 1939 - that was chambered in .357 magnum. I don't know if this was Colt's first introduction of the round in their revolvers or not.

Jerry

Officially, Colt's first revolver designed for and chambered in .357 Magnum was exactly that: The '.357 Magnum,' introduced in the early 1950s (some say the first were made in 1951, but it may have been as late as 1953). It was basically a New Service with special heat treating and a VERY high level of fit and finish, Colt's competition to the S&W .357 Magnum and the forerunner of the Python. All had target sights, and high-polish blue, with sandblasted areas for contrast on the top of the barrel and frame.
As to a regular New Service in .357 from the Colt factory in 1939, that seems improbable, although one could have had the cylinder bored later for it; Colt had the theory that that unmentionable Springfield brand's wildcat cartridge was never going to become popular, and that most civilized revolver shooters would be just fine with .38 Special and .45 Colt.

I've still got my Dad's Colt New Service in .357 magnum he got in 1938/39... so they do exist. See post #27 above

We really have Phil Sharpe to thank for the .357 and for magnum revolvers in general. Not to disparage Elmer Keith, but Keith was a larger than life figure. Shooter, hunter, traveller, storyteller, writer. A legend in his own time, and now.

Sharpe did some of that, to be sure, but he was more of a laboratory scientist. I've read his book. The things we take for granted, like loading data, chronos, pressure testing, efficient reloading equipment-- all that barely existed when Sharpe was working. He really is underrated.

Colt offered Shooting Masters in 357 magnum in 1936

I shouldn't be surprised, after finding out that Colt made some 525 SAAs in .357 prior to WWII. What IS surprising is that they waited nearly 15 years to bring out a designated .357 model, instead of only sporadically chambering a few for the cartridge.

I shot a diesel truck steel air tank in n the ground.

The 357 mag 158gr JHP dented it.
The 44 mag 240gr JHP put a deeper dent in it.
I got pizz grab the 30-06 and the bullet went through sideways like a missle shape.
Marlin advertised there 444 going through 3/8” boiler plate at 50’

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