357 magnum ammo- no LSWHP or SJHP 158 gr?

Malysh

Malysh

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Looking through Ammo Seek's 5 pages of 357 ammunition, I find no 158 grain loadings for LWSHP or SJHP. Lot's of SJ solid lead flat nose and fully jacketed hollow point.

In my casual research I am led to believe that 125 gr. loadings are not good for my Model of 1950 357 magnum and especially for my late 1970s 3" bbl. Mod. 13. I have also heard that fully jacketed projectiles are not good for revolvers, although I see a lot of offerings in 130 gr. fully jacketed 38 Special and 125 gr. 357. I have about 100 rds. of older Remington SJLHP ammo I could use in the rare event I might need it for self defense.
Ideally, I would like to find some ammo I described to use as target and self defense ammo in 158 grain.

It seems nobody is making lead hollow point or even SJHP, but tons of flat nose lead SJ.

Is the 158 gr. 357 LSWHP no long considered a good 357 magnum cartridge?
 
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It is here. I only shoot 158 grain bullets, cast or jacketed, and avoid lighter weight bullets offered for .357 Magnum.

Unfortunately, its a handloading proposition these days.
 
For years revolvers were made for 158 grain lead bullets. It's not that jacketed will hurt them but that they're designed with lead in mind.

The 130 grain metal jacketed bullets you see now are basically just the commercial version of the military .38 Special ammo made to comply with international agreements on ammunition. They're not that powerful but economical to make and buy comparatively.

For hollow point ammo these days...jacketed or semi-jacketed hollow points for defense is where the market and profits are at.

When in a high demand situation the ammo makers are simply following the profits.
 
My place is not practical to set up reloading equipment, no matter how economical reloading is.
 
Why so many SJSP (soft flat nose lead) 357 cartridges available, but not in hollow point?

* For the past 50 years or so everybody has pushed hollowpoints, hollowpoints, hollowpoints in all hand gun calibers. But when I look for 357 ammo there is a preponderence of semi jacketed soft point lead stuff from many manufacturers.
 
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I have no idea what Ammo Seek is, but the 158 grain SWC or the HP version at about the same weight generally shoot so well, I'm not sure why anyone would have an interest in lighter bullets unless they provided better accuracy. If you've done your load development home work followed with a little experimention, you'll likely find the regular 158 cast SWC will expand about as well as the HP version.

I realize the interest here is in factory ammo, but I'm not sure nowadays one can find what he is looking for in a commercial product. Handloading may be the only way to get there.
 
Remington Lead Semi-Wad Cutter and Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point ammo sells on Gun Broker, for about $1.25/round.

Wisconsin Cartridge sell 158 gr Hollow Point ammo rated at 1500 fps for about 60 cents/round.

I have not bought from them directly myself, but I have split case quantities of different ammo with friends who do. Most of their ammo is factory reloads, and seems pretty legit. Police Departments apparently used to order range ammo from them, and they sell hard to find rifle ammo to hunters. They almost always had .38 spl ammo when it was hard to find a couple years ago.
 
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PeteC said:
Remington Lead Semi-Wad Cutter and Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point ammo sells on Gun Broker, for about $1.25/round.
Click to expand...


Thank you for your helpfulness.
At $1.25 per round I will do without and choose alternative loads.

The only really expensive loads I buy are BB 38 Special158gr LSWCHP short bbl. ammo. They cost about 53 cents per round.
 
Buffalo Bore tends to be expensive, even before Covid. That is basically Boutique Ammo. It is a great source of specialty ammo, and I am sure they are good at it.

I think jacketed rounds are perfectly safe for all S&W revolvers made after 1950, and most S&W revolvers made after the mid-30's, or whenever cylinders were hardened. They may not be as accurate as lead projectiles of the same weight, but they are "safe" for the guns and the shooter as long as they are the traditional 158 gr, (or 148 gr wad cutter) ammo.

125 gr ammo is a different story, especially in K-frames with the forcing cone undercut, and/or a model 13 without the beefed up frame.
 
Malysh said:
My place is not practical to set up reloading equipment, no matter how economical reloading is.
Click to expand...

With a Lee Hand Press, Lee dippers, RCBS carbide dies, a hand priming tool and a few other small items, anyone can load exactly what they need.
Not much space required.
Good upper body workout is a plus as well. :D
 

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SnidelyWhiplash said:
For years revolvers were made for 158 grain lead bullets. It's not that jacketed will hurt them but that they're designed with lead in mind.

The 130 grain metal jacketed bullets you see now are basically just the commercial version of the military .38 Special ammo made to comply with international agreements on ammunition. They're not that powerful but economical to make and buy comparatively.

For hollow point ammo these days...jacketed or semi-jacketed hollow points for defense is where the market and profits are at.

When in a high demand situation the ammo makers are simply following the profits.
Click to expand...
I think that part of your issue might be with naming conventions.

The term Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point was introduced by Remington more than half a century ago to describe their scallop jacketed ammunition like the 158s in this picture

remington-357mag-158gr-sjhp.jpg


All other designs of the day were called Jacketed Hollow Point regardless if the Jacket left lead exposed or not. BTW virtually all JHPs originally had exposed lead. It was not until pre-scored jackets became a reality that JHPs had jacketing extended to the tip of the projectiles.

While most Factories pretty much still differentiate the terms that way, many shooters have gone to calling any Jacketed Hollow Point ammunition with exposed lead "Semi Jacketed"

Plated bullets have further confused the terminology with some people using the word Jacketed with Plated projectiles

Technically there is no such thing as a "Fully Jacketed Hollow Point" though some plated bullets do have plating in the hollow points

If you are truly looking for the Remington 158 grain SJHP ammunition, Ammoseek returned 25 listings for it.

If you are just looking for anybodies 158 grain JHPs, Ammoseek is showing 182 listings

To help you with Ammoseek, if you put JHP in the box that says "Match these words in search" you will only return listings that include JHP

Jacketed ammunition is safe in any firearm
 
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SnidelyWhiplash said:
For years revolvers were made for 158 grain lead bullets. It's not that jacketed will hurt them but that they're designed with lead in mind.
Click to expand...
Lead had nothing to do with a revolver's design

In 1935 when the 357 Magnum was created, there were no jacketed projectiles for small arms.

It was decades later that we learned how to make reasonably priced, concentric jackets for use in small arms ammunition
 
colt_saa said:
In 1935 when the 357 Magnum was created, there were no jacketed projectiles for small arms.
Click to expand...
Virtually all the rifle ammo in WW1 used jacketed bullets. Loading lead bullets into something like a full power 30-06 is a bad idea. Looking on the internet most WW1 9mm ammo was jacketed as well although I saw picture of what appeared to be lead bullets in some 45 ACP ammo of the era.

Jacketed bullets were not common in revolver ammo of the day but jacketed bullets were widely used in other small arms in 1935.
 
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