.357 ammo for home defense?

play627

play627

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New gun owner and new forum member here. I just purchased my first gun - a S&W 627 PC that will be used for home protection and need some advise on ammo. I did read several posts on this and other forums that .357 ammo is not ideal for home defense because they are very loud in a closed environment. Does this mean I have to use .38 special? How about the .38 special +P? Is somebody loading .357 in their revolvers for home defense? I am now in a situation that I have a gun and no bullets because I just don't know what to get - there are so many options out there. I would also appreciate any suggestions on what brand/model of ammunition should I get - my understanding is that hollow points are a beter choice for home defense (because of neighbors, kids in the house, etc.)

Any recommendations would be helpful. Thanks!
 
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Any name-brand .38 Special +P ammo will be just fine for inside the house. It's hard to tell you which because every gun is different so you will need to try a few and see which are accurate in your revolver. Accuracy is very important, more important than a few more fps.

Welcome to the forum...
 
Just buy you some good .357 mag hollowpoints and don't worry about it. Better to have some ammo in your gun than not and needing it.
In the event you have to shoot inside your home the last thing to
worry about is how much noise you will make. I just would'nt load
any full metal jacket loads to prevent over-penetration and possibly going through some walls and hitting an innocent.


Chuck
 
Also consider the .357 Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel, which will be about 2-300 fps faster than the Speer .38 Special loading but nowhere near as fast (or loud, I would guess) as a full .357.
 
chud333 said:
Just buy you some good .357 mag hollowpoints and don't worry about it. Better to have some ammo in your gun than not and needing it.
In the event you have to shoot inside your home the last thing to
worry about is how much noise you will make. I just would'nt load
any full metal jacket loads to prevent over-penetration and possibly going through some walls and hitting an innocent.
Click to expand...
I can not agree with that. Touching off a full power .357 Magnum round inside a small dark room will "flash-bang" you. It is not a pleasant experience at all and I highly suggest .38 Special +P ammo instead. I like the FBI Load for home defense. (158gr LSWC/HP +P)
 
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ArchAngelCD said:
I can not agree with that. Touching off a full power .357 Magnum round inside a small dark room will "flash-bang" you. It is not a pleasant experience at all and I highly suggest .38 Special +P ammo instead. I like the FBI Load for home defense. (158gr LSWC/HP +P)
Click to expand...
The flashbang the bad guy gets is what is important.
You shoot 38's i'll shoot my full house .357 rounds.
In a self defense situation you'll never hear the round going
off due to adrenaline anyways. And the flash will be no more
than equal to the lights in the room being turned on.
To each his own. I personally prefer a .12 gauge anyways.


Chuck
 
Shoot a guy with a .38 +P and he'll be just as dead as if you shoot him with a .357, and you'll have quicker follow up shots (that adrenaline you speak of doesn't improve your hit ratio.), without the flash bang effect and the BOOM of a .357. And not everybody who has been in a firefight has experienced the auditory exclusion that people tout as law on the internet. And even if they do experience it, the damage to you hearing is still done. You're well armed with a good .38 +P round.
 
You need to practice with both loads and see what you can reliably hit with. If you are new then the 38+P would be my suggestion as many others have said. I have been shooting for too many decades and am still learning or re-learning what works for me. So if you miss with a 357 but hit with a 38 then the 38 was the right choice. Placement is everything.
 
Remington 125 grain Golden Saber is a good medium-powered Magnum load. It is a nice compromise between +P and full-power Magnums. Golden Sabers have a reputation for accuracy and are reasonably-priced.
 
One thing to consider is to pick yourself up a pair of electronic hearing muffs and store them near the gun. In the event you need to shoot in the house, wearing the amplified hearing protection will not only enhance your ability to hear after the shot, but will prevent the temporary (and to some degree, permanent, hearing loss) if you do need to shoot.

Plus, you can always use them at the range, too. :)

Lou
 
kbm6893 said:
Shoot a guy with a .38 +P and he'll be just as dead as if you shoot him with a .357, and you'll have quicker follow up shots (that adrenaline you speak of doesn't improve your hit ratio.), without the flash bang effect and the BOOM of a .357. And not everybody who has been in a firefight has experienced the auditory exclusion that people tout as law on the internet. And even if they do experience it, the damage to you hearing is still done. You're well armed with a good .38 +P round.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY my line of thinking. No reason to deafen yourself if you don't have to.

For this very reason, I have no clue why Homeland Security went with the .357 Sig. Someone shoots one of those in an airplane and dozens of people are likely to get some pretty serious hearing damage. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
 
"For this very reason, I have no clue why Homeland Security went with the .357 Sig. Someone shoots one of those in an airplane and dozens of people are likely to get some pretty serious hearing damage. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen." You must remember, the decisions of the folks in HS as well as TSA, etc. are not predicated on what will best serve the paying customers. The choice of the .357 Sig. follows the same lines as decisions about intrusive searches, failure to profile, etc. It's not about the customer.
 
brucev said:
"For this very reason, I have no clue why Homeland Security went with the .357 Sig. Someone shoots one of those in an airplane and dozens of people are likely to get some pretty serious hearing damage. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen." You must remember, the decisions of the folks in HS as well as TSA, etc. are not predicated on what will best serve the paying customers. The choice of the .357 Sig. follows the same lines as decisions about intrusive searches, failure to profile, etc. It's not about the customer.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't want to derail this into an anti-TSA thread (personally, I take my hat off to most of those people for doing the best with what they can).

I just meant to say that the .357 Sig isn't a good choice for airplanes due to the noise level. I do feel it's a tremendous round for highway patrol, for example.
 
Lou_NC said:
One thing to consider is to pick yourself up a pair of electronic hearing muffs and store them near the gun. In the event you need to shoot in the house, wearing the amplified hearing protection will not only enhance your ability to hear after the shot, but will prevent the temporary (and to some degree, permanent, hearing loss) if you do need to shoot.

Plus, you can always use them at the range, too. :)

Lou
Click to expand...

I am just afraid that the muffs will be the last thing I will be worrying about if I am in a "situation".
 
Thank you all for the replies, I think I will go with 38+P for now. I will experiment some more at the range and I may adjust in the future. For example I can load 5x.38+p and then 3x.357 "just in case". The 8 rounds of the 627 is one of the reasons I got this gun.

Regarding the FBI load 158gr LSWC/HP +P suggestion - does it really matter which brand I buy? I do not care about the price because this will be my home defense load. Most online threads suggests Federal, Winchester or Remington. Thanks again!
 
my 2 cents... hornady critical defense in .38 spl. +p. its my fav and works as advertized in all my guns. practice is the best ammo! a .22 will kill somebody just like a .454 casul...
 
This is a pitch for the electronic muffs from another angle--they will improve your hearing and possibly your situational awareness before any shooting starts. In reactive scenerio there may not be time for them, but it the event starts with, "Did you hear something?" they might be helpful. You are on the right track in doing your thinking early. The old flying axiom went "The more thinking you do before things get exciting, the less exciting things will get!" Good luck.
 
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