Firing 357 Magnum from short barrel

I've heard for many years that firing 357 magnum loads out of short 2" barrel revolver gives only slight more velocity than 38 Special +P loads. Just exactly how much difference is there between 38 Special +P and 357 Magnum when fired from short barreled revolver?

Only comparison I've found in my records is for 125gr JHP bullet fired from 2 1/4" Ruger SP101. According to my chrono records from 1999 the 357 magnum Remington 125gr SJHP gave average of 1,182 fps. In 2009 I shot the Remington 38Special +P 125gr SJHP (Walmart 100 round pack) from the same revolver and it gave average velocity of 878 fps. That's 300 fps increase for the magnum load... more than just "slight".

Anybody else have any real world chrono data they can share?

Been a while now, but IIRC our snub M19's and M66's ran close to 1200fps with the old Federal 357B loads. Much more than any .38+P would have come close to. They could be a handful for some shooters however.

Magnums and short barrels

I instructed K frame smith's for years chambered both for the 357 mag and the 38 spl......typically in the magnums we saw a 50-75 fps difference per inch in barrel lngth.....so if you were shooting full throttle mag's in a 4 " and then went to a 2.5, you could expect a 75-150 fps difference as a rule of thumb.....of course this is not engraved in stone....as there a lot of variables....from an instructors standpoint, I can assure you that there is a world of difference in instructing full power 357's in a 2.5 vs 38's in the same bl lngth......and I am talking abt std 38's, not plus P's or +p+'s ( which I have a LOT of experience with) +P+'s came close to low end 357 performance with the +P+ 110 gr loads....the difference is easy to spot on the line.....38's go "bang" - minimal recoil and recoil....full throttle 357's have that super sonic "BOOM", and there is a huge difference in muzzle blast(concussion), recoil and muzzle flash.....especially in low light.
As an instructor one of my biggest challenges was training people to shoot full power magnums in short barrel K frame revolvers, double action, rapid fire.
Over the years I have chrono'ed a lot of 357 and 38 spl loads in bl lngth's from 2" to 10"..the data you have is pretty well representative of what I found also - across the board...and yes, I can load some stout loads into 38 brass with 2400 that I shoot in my 357's and HD's, I would not drop one of those into a 38 spl revolver. As long as you are comparing "apples to apples" the 357 mag will produce significantly more velocity / energy with the same bullet weights in comparable bl length's.

One thing I learned from my father about shooting 357Mag and 44Mag handguns is to wear ear plugs and ear muffs to minimize the sound. For some reason if you don't hear the big boom it doesn't feels as bad.

Back in the day, the comparison was the .357 Magnum in a snub not being much different than the 6 inch K38s carried by LAPD. That, of course, was like comparing apples to oranges, as the .357 would be much better than the 38 in the same barrel length.

kci-mia said:

I've heard for many years that firing 357 magnum loads out of short 2" barrel revolver gives only slight more velocity than 38 Special +P loads.

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I'll bet that somebody got several theories intertwined along the grapevine.

For your database:

My results w/M340-Win..38S+P/125-804f/s, Win..357/125-1179f/s.

Anyone who really likes godawful flash and blast is welcome to shoot .357 Magnum from a snubby on my behalf. Regardless of the velocity differential, to me the magnum cartridge isn't something most people would shoot enough from a short barrel to gain real proficiency. I certainly wouldn't have, before I had to give up shooting .357 stuff. It's rowdy enough from a barrel of four inches or longer.

kci-mia said:

I've heard for many years that firing 357 magnum loads out of short 2" barrel revolver gives only slight more velocity than 38 Special +P loads. Just exactly how much difference is there between 38 Special +P and 357 Magnum when fired from short barreled revolver?

Only comparison I've found in my records is for 125gr JHP bullet fired from 2 1/4" Ruger SP101. According to my chrono records from 1999 the 357 magnum Remington 125gr SJHP gave average of 1,182 fps. In 2009 I shot the Remington 38Special +P 125gr SJHP (Walmart 100 round pack) from the same revolver and it gave average velocity of 878 fps. That's 300 fps increase for the magnum load... more than just "slight".

Anybody else have any real world chrono data they can share?

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Your numbers are right in the ball park. The folks that use the highly technical term "Slight" usually do not own Chronographs

According to the Buffalo Bore website, and confirmed by at least two members of this board, the BB 158 grain gas checked hollow point swc .38 sp. +p attains a tad more than 1000 fps from a two inch j-frame. It runs around 1100 fps in a three inch j-frame. That is true low-end .357 performance, and makes the little j-frames viable defense guns. I had a 2.5" Model 19. I believe it might be the "sexiest" looking revolver S&W made, but I just couldn't abide the punishment of shooting full-house .357 ammo in it. I'm a wimp, I guess. The two and three inch j-frames with the hot BB ammo aren't nearly as punishing as the .357 short-barrel.

Somewhere I think I have about 8 or so 88 gr softnose 357 magnum rounds made by Smith & Wesson, when they made ammo. If you really want to see some awesome flame in a short barrel you should try those. I think they were simply 380 bullets stuck in a 357 Magnum case. IIRC, they were rated at about 2000 fps out of an 8 3/8" barrel.

I don't know why this false rumor about the .357 Magnum generating only slightly more velocity than a .38 Special +P in short barrel revolvers keeps surfacing.

When you start with higher velocities you end up with higher velocities. Sure both will deliver less velocity from a 2" revolver than a 4" or 6" revolver but you can't change the laws of Physics. If you get 1450 fps from a .357 Magnum in a 6" barrel and 950 fps from a .38 Special +P how in the world will the .357 Magnum be close to the .38 Special +P in a 2" barrel? If you lose 20% of the velocity because of the short barrel that would be 1160 fps for the magnum and 760 fps for the .38 Spl +P. (give or take a few FPS) Also, the load that delivers the highest velocity in a long barrel will deliver the highest velocity in the shorter barrel too.

ArchAngelCD said:

I don't know why this false rumor about the .357 Magnum generating only slightly more velocity than a .38 Special +P in short barrel revolvers keeps surfacing.

When you start with higher velocities you end up with higher velocities.

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Why are you trying to dis a perfectly good Internet Urban Legend with LOGIC

colt_saa said:

Why are you trying to dis a perfectly good Internet Urban Legend with LOGIC

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I'm so sorry I tried to confuse the matter with facts!
I'll try to stop doing that...

I use Speer GoldDot 38spc +P that are designed specifically for Snubbies (aka short barrel revolvers), however, my first round in the cylinder is a 357 magnum full load round (for initial effect & overall pizzazz) !

vfin

I stopped worrying about this particular issue back in the 80's. Lots of chrono testing with the big name loads of the day revealed that 2" - 2 1/2" .357 Magnum snubs were producing velocities in the 1100fps-1200fps range, (with an occasional one nudging higher, sometimes attributed to a "fast" barrel in a particular gun) ... which was still significantly greater than those velocities typically realized with .38 +P's of the day.

Most of these Magnum snubs were 6-shot medium-frame guns, though (K-frames, Pythons, Security/Speed-Sixes), which really helped mitigate the muzzle blast & torque effect during recoil.

Fast-forward to today's wealth of lightweight & ultra lightweight .357's, and the improved ammunition (bullet designs), and I ended up asking myself if the increased amount of disadvantages (muzzle blast & recoil) of the Magnum loads in the itty bitty guns were outweighed by the ballistic advantages ... for me.

I decided to continue using the better +P loads in my M&P 340's ... but all the usual magnum loads in my all-steel Ruger SP101 DAO 2 1/4" snub. Of course, it's also been quad-ported, which introduces considerations in grip positioning & indexing, so I avoid getting any hot gasses, powder or jacket debris directed toward my face. FWIW, it also results in having the gun remain level when shooting full power 125gr Magnum loads. The recoil force still kicks into the palm & web of my hand, but it doesn't torque the gun upwards and whip skyward. A cylinder load of Magnum rounds can be accurately fired as fast as I can function the trigger. Talk about a balanced compromise.

So, the long & short of it is that aside from the occasional "fast" or "slow" barrel (and variable BC gap), the snub Magnums still produce significantly more velocity ... BUT ... that may, or may not, be something desirable from the shooter's perspective, or necessary in order to achieve some degree of expansion along with desired penetration.

Being able to experience a desirable rate of sustained & accurate fire might dictate the use of +P, or even standard pressure loads (including target wadcutters), depending on the gun, shooter & ammo factors.

Maybe the extra velocity of Magnum loads will be good for someone, and maybe not.

Kind of depends on the shooter and the anticipated task(s) envisioned, too.

Dunno the answer for anyone else. For me, though, the M&P 340 I brought along as my LEOSA weapon for my driving trip out-of-state is loaded with +P.

I had a 2.5" Model 19 which I mainly shot with factory 357 mag. I didn't find it hard to shoot at all, and I favored the wood magna/ T-grip combination.
Last weekend, I got a 3" Ruger GP11 fixed sight model. Now, it did come with the big Hogue mongrip, but shooting it with magnums was a breeze. In fact, I did some of my best shooting ever this week. I actually felt like Hickok45 while I nailed the 80 yard plate.
As much as I like the 38spl, I doubt this GP will see much of it.
I have since replaced the mongrip with a Ruger OEM compact GP grip. I will be interested to see if I can repeat the incredible performance I got with the big mongrip.

I have a .357 load using a 180 gr LBT cast bullet over an "adequate" load of H110. I'm not sure what the velocity is out of my 3" M66 but the length of the fireball is 36". Right at dusk it commands attention at the range.

Surprisingly the recoil is not that bad.

Is this a great thread or what! The heavyweights (all Forum buddies of mine) have already weighed in, but Paul Weston, in the '68 Gun Digest, penned a fine article on this subject. The snub Python and 19 were the only snub Mags back then and the 158gr lead Mag ammo (few other loads available)chrono'd some 300-400 fps faster than .38 service ammo in a 2" Colt bbl.

Jeff Cooper was not much in favor of the snub Mag; he always wrote of his 146gr .38 handload in a 6" bbl K frame being faster than a factory Mag 158gr load in 2.5". I believe this is where this 'chestnut' arose.

Safe holiday to all. Don't anybody get burned by the muzzle flash from a snub mag! Or do! Only live once!