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S&W Revolvers: 1980 to the Present All NON-PINNED Barrels, the L-Frames, and the New Era Revolvers


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Old 02-02-2020, 09:03 AM
ptf18 ptf18 is offline
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Fellows. I handload, mostly rifle, which is what I shoot the most. Brought out a M65 3" I have and various handloads that I had made up. I chronographed them and by the end of the day at the range found that a 357 magnum load I had loaded was extremely accurate at 25 and 50 feet.

What I would like to know is, long term, how determental is the use of ANY 357 Magnum ammo on this K-Frame gun if using 357 Magnum ammo excusively.
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Old 02-02-2020, 09:30 AM
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Any gun shooting a steady diet of .357 Magnum ammo is going to have more wear-and-tear. How much that'll shorten a gun's useful life is hard to tell, but if you maintain the gun properly there's a good chance the gun will outlast you.

Specifically to the K-frames like the 65, you want to limit, or avoid, full-power loads with bullets 125gr or less (i.e., 125gr @ 1450fps). Heavier bullets, or lighter-powered loads, should be fine. FWIW, I had a 3" 65 and my favorite magnum load to shoot was the WWB 110gr SJHP (~1250fps, IIRC).
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Old 02-02-2020, 10:30 AM
Babysitr Babysitr is offline
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in my 65-2 I shoot .38 158gr. handloads....very accurate revolver! suprizes me all the time....If the .357 itch comes up, scratch it with an N frame
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Old 02-02-2020, 11:45 AM
buck460XVR buck460XVR is offline
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My guess is that the gun will outlast your wrist.
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Old 02-02-2020, 01:04 PM
ptf18 ptf18 is offline
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Originally Posted by buck460XVR View Post
My guess is that the gun will outlast your wrist.
Buck... Yes indeed. Was noticing that after firing about 30 rounds of the various charge weights of .357

Maybe more so being that gun features its original (smallish) wooden S&W grips.

On the other hand I was amazed at the tight group the gun shot....so I kept firing until I was out of my handloads.
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Old 02-03-2020, 03:37 PM
hatchet jack hatchet jack is offline
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I have a model 65 with 4" barrel. I shoot handloads in mine to. But I shoot more of a mid range power loading. I like anything from 6.6grs of Unique up to 7.5grs of Unique. I also use 158gr lead bullets in 357 cases.

I don't have a leading problem at that speed and the bullets are either Lasercast or my Lee tumble lube SWC bullets. They shoot to the sights. I don't know the exact speed but they should be in the 1150fps range. So about what the original 38-40 loads were.

I don't think that gun will ever wear out with those loads. And they are cheap to shoot and have all the recoil I want for a days worth of shooting.
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Old 02-03-2020, 04:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ptf18 View Post
Fellows. I handload, mostly rifle, which is what I shoot the most. Brought out a M65 3" I have and various handloads that I had made up. I chronographed them and by the end of the day at the range found that a 357 magnum load I had loaded was extremely accurate at 25 and 50 feet.



What I would like to know is, long term, how determental is the use of ANY 357 Magnum ammo on this K-Frame gun if using 357 Magnum ammo excusively.


It would help substantially to know what the load is.
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Old 02-03-2020, 05:02 PM
The_Truth The_Truth is offline
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I practice with Speer Lawman 158gr +p and exclusively carry Underwood 158gr SJHP .357 in my Model 13 3" FWIW
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Old 02-03-2020, 07:23 PM
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Details on your handload would help us answer your question.

I've been shooting a Ruger Blackhawk with a 155 grain cast lead SWC gas checked bullet over 7.0 grains of Unique for about 40 years now with no ill effects .
I don't believe this load would be hard on a S&W model 65 .

Gary
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Old 02-04-2020, 08:30 AM
kaaskop49 kaaskop49 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ContinentalOp View Post
Any gun shooting a steady diet of .357 Magnum ammo is going to have more wear-and-tear. How much that'll shorten a gun's useful life is hard to tell, but if you maintain the gun properly there's a good chance the gun will outlast you.

Specifically to the K-frames like the 65, you want to limit, or avoid, full-power loads with bullets 125gr or less (i.e., 125gr @ 1450fps). Heavier bullets, or lighter-powered loads, should be fine. FWIW, I had a 3" 65 and my favorite magnum load to shoot was the WWB 110gr SJHP (~1250fps, IIRC).
^^^what he said. As usual, ContinentalOp is on the mark. Not a handloader, I like the moderate .357 Blazer load for practice. Re the WWB 110gr SJHP: somehow, it has gained the reputation of being a 'gun-eater' like the 125gr planet-wreckers. It is anything but. When introduced in the 80s IIRC, it served as an acceptable load in K-frame mags to lessen wear. Still does, IMO.

Moderate loads seem to be the way to go.

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Old 02-04-2020, 09:55 AM
ptf18 ptf18 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle View Post
Details on your handload would help us answer your question.

I've been shooting a Ruger Blackhawk with a 155 grain cast lead SWC gas checked bullet over 7.0 grains of Unique for about 40 years now with no ill effects .
I don't believe this load would be hard on a S&W model 65 .

Gary
Fellows. The 357 Magnum load that I shot was this. 6.7gn WW231 and a 158gn jacketed HP (purchased 25ish years ago, unkwn MFT) WW primer.

Very surprised by the extremely small group I fired (at both 25 and 50 FEET) with this load, 2 handed and unsupported. This was thru a Model 65 3"bbl.
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Old 02-04-2020, 12:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ptf18 View Post
Fellows. The 357 Magnum load that I shot was this. 6.7gn WW231 and a 158gn jacketed HP (purchased 25ish years ago, unkwn MFT) WW primer.
My Speer #10 would indicat that to be a mild magnum load. Using 158g Speer JHP it shows 7.2 to 7.7 grains of W231.

It lists the same bullet in a 38 Special as 4.5 to 5.4 grains of W231.

Blast away, it sounds like an enjoyable load.
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Old 02-04-2020, 12:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ptf18 View Post
Fellows. The 357 Magnum load that I shot was this. 6.7gn WW231 and a 158gn jacketed HP (purchased 25ish years ago, unkwn MFT) WW primer.

Very surprised by the extremely small group I fired (at both 25 and 50 FEET) with this load, 2 handed and unsupported. This was thru a Model 65 3"bbl.

That's a relatively mild load for a 357 Magnum revolver. I think you are just fine with that load in terms of wear and tear on a K-frame S&W.
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Old 02-04-2020, 01:54 PM
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Blaze away until your hands can't take it anymore!!!

You have found what works well for YOU and YOUR revolver....

Randy
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Old 02-04-2020, 02:49 PM
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The issues I've seen with K-357s have been caused by 125-grainers going really, really fast. Much more prevalent were issues caused by idiots flicking the cylinder closed or pulling the trigger super-fast for a long time.

I kept my 3" 65-5 hiking gun stoked with handloaded 180-grain hard casts over a max load of Blue Dot - they would give 1230 fps from the short tube at this altitude, and did no harm that I could see to the gun. Figured it would leave a mark on anything I might come across on the trails.
My brother's wife liked it, so he has it nowadays:
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Old 02-04-2020, 04:01 PM
ptf18 ptf18 is offline
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Fellows. Thanks for the additional info. Not being a pistol shooter and thus not really doing much in the way of handloading for them, I was concerned about this load, being that I'm using WW231. Having read various forums about the use of WW231/HP38 with the "heavy" bullets I wonderd if its "too fast" of a powder. But the results were quite surprising.

The average velocity is 790ish. Thats a 3" barrel.
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Old 02-04-2020, 04:27 PM
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W231/HP-38 is fine as long as you are not looking for magnum velocities. Just be sure that you don't double charge a case, it's easy to do with fast burning powders in the large capacity magnum cases.
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