I've been doing research into what it will cost to shoot my 686 when I get it. Seems .357 magnum ammo is expensive and hard to find. So where do y'all buy your ammo?

Also, I'm looking at Speer Gold Dot for personal/home defense. For target shooting, I'm wide open for suggestions.

I know it will be cheaper to shoot .38 special out of my .357, but I'd like to practice with both.

Your input is appreciated,

.357 is more expensive than .38 special. That said, I usually can find the stuff for between $20 and $24 per fifty round box. I'm not talking about premium rounds, but JSPs and JHPs for target practice. Try the Midway site or Cabella's. Also, check out your local Walmart, they usually carry something in .357.

Personally, I prefer 158 gr. rounds for target shooting. Sometimes suppliers will run out of that stuff and I wind up with the much hotter 125 gr. rounds. Although not my personal preference (too much bang for the buck!), they work just fine.

I've been shooting .357 Magnum revolvers for 30 years. I don't know of anyone whose routine round of choice for the range is the .357 Magnum. Most everyone uses .38 Specials for the range and even for home defense. If your just starting to learn to use a revolver, you may find the .357 Magnum to be a bit much for starting out. I'd suggest you start out with some basic .38 Special loads... maybe the 158 gr. lead round nose loads offered by Federal, Winchester or Remington. Winchester has some 130 gr. FMJ loads that you might want to consider. The Speer GDHP is outstanding for any purpose. And just from my perspective, i like the Winchester Silver Tip load in .357 Magnum. I've found the .357 to be a fine cartridge... very effective and accurate... well suited to the range or field. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.

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Try ammoman.com has PMC, 357 Mag. 158 grain JSP for $199 for 500 rounds (10 boxes) delivered price.

Also, SGAmmo.com, has some good prices on UMC, 38 spl.

consider reloading...i can load what i want,when i want it...357 range ammo costs me about $5.00 per fifty rounds...the hot self defense loads just a tad more...easy decision for me if you plan on doing much shooting

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

38 sp for the range, I load mine to +p levels, 125 gr magnum loads for PD.

What Kennyb said. I reload nice powder puff loads or I can Load screamers. Also when you have lots of componets you're not out of luck is the store doesn't have the ammunition that you want.

Hard to find? Not for me, if I need more I just go outside and cast up some bullets, lube them, size them and then I am ready to go. I have enough .357 brass to last me years along with some good +P .38 brass if I want to make up some .38-44 loads which will work just as well. Between the powder, the amount of lead I have lying around, the primers and the brass I won't need to buy ammo for a very long time.

Reloading is the way to go.

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Vaya con Dios

Hard to find,no. Expensive, yes. Why in the world would you go and buy a 686 and want to shoot 38 spl's in it? That gun is made for fullhouse 357 use it for what it is. If you want to shoot 38's buy a 38 spl.

Aguila .357 Magnum SJHP Ammo Box of 50 Rounds | Pistol Ammo | Weapons World

good ammo and great customer service

My Walmart always seems to have practice ammo in Winchester white box or Remington. They usually have the Remington in .357 and the .38s in WWB. Good prices too.

yepper....agreed...the walmart here certainly has the practice ammo in most cases...i certainly cannot agree however that it's "good prices"

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

What he said. Example:

Brass = Use over and over. Call it free.
CCI 550 Primers = $30/1K
Alliant 2400 powder = $19/pound metered to 15 grains/round.
Hornady XTP 158 Grain Bullets = $20/100.

Cost per round to make XTP Clone = $.27 or $13.50 /50
Cost per round to buy Hornady XTP Ammunition = $.85. or $42.50 /50

I recently came into a quantity of the good Remington green and yellow box .357 magnum ammo.
I also live close to you and am willing to sell some at a good price if you are interested.
PM me.

save your once fired brass now.


Look into handloading.

I use only .357 brass, I have giant bags of it saved from the 1980's-1990's when it was cheap and easy to find ( thank God)

I can load everything from bunny-farts that feel like 22LR, to super hot magnum loads and everyting in-between.

My DILLON can produce high quality ammo in little time

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NRA Life
USPSA/IPSC

I reload, it's very hard for me to find .357 ammunition I want. My local Wally World has very limited choices and they all seem to use featherweight bullets. I prefer 158 grains of bullet or more in my .357s.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

One more reason I love this place.

I shot my handloaded .357 magnums today. What a great feeling. They were super accurate, they were about 25 cents a round with Hornady XTP 158gr bullets! I will never shoot anything but my handloads from now on!!!

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SW40VE AF
2000 rounds so far

Its not hard to find - just walked out to my shop and ran into 9500 rounds, all types. Not expensive either. The 38/357 is arguably the easiest caliber to reload, the initial investment in equipment would be recouped very soon. Nothing is more satisfying than producing ammo that outperforms factory rounds AND saving money (for more S&W's, of course)

I get mine here: 357 MAGNUM : Ammunition To Go

By the way, they are close to you and , when you order, you will usually have them the next day : ) Good folks to deal with.

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Cliff

Today in just an hour or so I cast up a good batch of 160 grain #358156 bullets that once sized (already lubed) will make a fine all around load for my 27-2. They cost me nothing as I am working off of a bucket of about 50 pounds of wheel weights that were given to me as one of the last here in NY before the lead WW ban went into affect. To buy what I cast would alone cost me over $25 in just the bullets. To buy loaded ammo with a similar bullet would be near $100.

Look into reloading, and then after that, look into casting your own. You will save a bundle.

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Vaya con Dios

I was at a Super Walmart today . They had about 500 rounds of Federal .357 158 grain jacketed soft points for $21.00 a box of 50 .

The .357 Magnum cartridge is still a fantastic SD round, but in recent times the Semi Auto Pistol has become more popular with younger shooters and since the .357 Magnum is not really an Auto cartridge (yes, I know about the Coonan) it's demand has fallen a bit. Most of the guys like us that have and shoot the .357, hand load for it, and so I would expect that the gun stores don't stock as many varieties and the quantities they once did.

I am sure that if you asked your LGS to order some of you favorite flavors they probably would. If they won't they are readily gotten on line.

Chief38

try this
Cheap 357 Magnum Ammo For Sale | Bulk 357 Magnum Ammunition For Sale Online

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Pay attention, life is a test

i think the blazer brass .357 is loaded with gold dot. not as hot as the full bore stuff.

FIN FEATHER FUR OUTFITTERS HAS 357 MAG. BLAZER BRASS ON SALE 19.99 (50) AND AMERICAN EAGLE 357MAG. FOR SAME PRICE.

I see that you live in Spring. Try Carter Country or Academy. They ought to be able to fix you up. Academy will have the best price and Carter will have the best selection.

You can handload ammo for about 25% the cost of commercial rounds. At $20-$30/box 50....it doesn't take long to pay for the reloading equipment, and from there, you are way ahead.
Terry

Aw, come on. I sold my .38 special and got a 686 because I like variety and I can shoot .38 sp, .38 sp+p and .357. I intend to do all of this any time I go to the range. I do the same thing with my rifle, too. I experiment with reduced loads and run the gamut all the way to moose loads with all different shapes and weights of bullets. Oh, and throw in some shotgun loads to boot. This to me is the FUN way to shoot.

357Mag ammo can be expensive but it's not hard to find it by such manufacturers like ATK (Independence, Blazer, Blazer Brass, Lawman), Prvi Partizan, Aguila, Armscor USA, PMC Bronze or even steel cased WOLF to name a few.

The only reliable source of .357 mag ammo I've ever found is my reloading bench. It's usually easier to find components than it is to find loaded ammo and the rounds you load are exactly what you want.

You don't need a bunch of money tied up in expensive progressive loaders, either. I reloaded .45LC for 20 years before getting a Dillon press.

Ammo to Go has handled my ammo needs with fast shipping. I just received 6 new boxes of Speer Gold Dot .357

You do realize this thread is a year old already, right?

If the OP hasn't bought ammo in the past year I'm fairly sure he won't be getting any now. (a year old, really???)

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I agree, and reloading is fun in itself, just adds another dimension to our lifestyle.

Most conversations are rehash of the same thing; I haven't seen a great deal of truly original threads on any gun board. Who knows, it may have kept someone else from starting a brand new thread about the exact same thing.

Exactly it has helped me considerably! Thanks!

I ordered 2K of Gold Dot SB 357 from an LE distributor as the cheapest recommended service ammo I could find. It wasn't a bad price, but it has been over 4 months and it will be shipping in a few days. The auto pistol service ammo takes up so much of the capacity of ammo makers that revolver ammo is left out n the cold most of the time.

I am starting to save brass to commence reloading for a lot of reasons; this is one.

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NHI, 10-8.