a question on home defense ammo, .357/.38 rev.

[Cal44]

I have a Marlin 357 Magnum lever gun with an 18.5" barrel.

I was wondering what ammo to use in it.

A while back I bought several boxes of 38 special 125gr Gold Dot. It's standard pressure, non plus P.

I didn't even know Speer made a 38 standard pressure Gold Dot.

It was on the law enforcement site.

There are a few tests on the web, and that round doesn't expand when shot from a snub.

But I figured it might be a good choice for HD in my Marlin carbine.

 

[Geoff L.]

yeah, the whole not enough velocity to expand the bullet properly kind of makes me lean toward the wadcutters even more. No body has mentioned a downside that would overcome all the advantages, to my mind. Course, right now the s&w is doing a stint in the nightstand, I don't want to give it an inferiority complex

 

[oink]

You're probably only going to get off one shot in a dark bedroom. After that, you won't be able to see anything for about 5 minutes.
Might as well let it be a 12 ga.
IMHO as always,
J.

No, you'll get at least two with the 2nd being more accurate. With the flash of the first shot you'll see everything including your sights and be able to adjust your aim for the second shot. As long as you keep up rapid fire you'll have a good idea where you're shooting. Obviously not as good as shooting in an illuminated room or with a weapon light.

 

[Puller]

I live out in the country so I don't particularly worry about over penetration impacting my not so close neighbors. There was a short period of time when I lived in town in a duplex while we were building our home and in that situation what I had on standby was a 20 gauge 870 with a short imp cyl barrel loaded with #3 buckshot.

 

[crazyphil]

The subject of HBWCs loaded backwards has come up before. Here is
something I posted 4 years ago. At the time Atomic Ammo was making
148-Gr. HBWC loaded backwards to create a hollow point. There was a
video on line that showed tests of the load. There were some pros and
lots of cons.

I conducted my own test. I shot some into a target with my 642 from a
distance of 3 feet. The target was 3/4" plywood with a 4" x 4" patch
consisting of a layer of leather, a layer of denim, and two layers of cotton.
In back of that was 12" of compressed sponge rubber (cut from an old
mattress). Then another 3/4" plywood back.

The shot went clean through the whole thing and kicked up dirt about
40' down range. The exit wound was a nasty looking jagged hole about
an inch in diameter.

Not a real scientific test I know, but it did tell me something about the
load.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Hey Phil- your test sounds like a Paul Harrell Meat - Orange- Clothing Target.
When my Buddy Carl discharged that Luger into the floor right near his and my feet, it was loud!
Between Guns, Airplanes and Rock and Roll, I'm amazed I can hear anything. High Freq is impaired.
Inside the house, I am prepared with regular 38 Specials in 38s and 357s.

 

[OLDSTER]

My "bedside" snub nose revolver has been stoked for years with good old .38sp. 158gr. LRN.

 

[crows]

The VA has provided me with nice hearing aids to compensate for a few very loud noises originating in too close a proximity to my person. A lot of it from gunfire. Some was inside buildings, so while I don't consider myself an expert, I disagree with some of the "it won't harm your hearing at all" statements I have heard over the years. I have a suppressor and load 147gr subsonic 9mm in my home defense gun. I have put enough through the gun to know it is reliable. Expensive and an annoyance to jump through the hoops to buy? Yes. Worth it to me? Yes. Especially sitting here listening to the gawd awful ringing in my ears.

And the idea that it hurt for a little while and/or my ears rang for a day or two, but it is all ok now? Yeah, I used to think that at one time too.

 

[crazyphil]

THE PILGRIM - I had never heard of Paul Herrell,so I looked him up on
Google. Very interesting tests.

 

[Onomea]

Buffalo Bore sells a low flash, low blast (noise and recoil) .357 round designed for short barreled, lightweight revolvers.

"Low" being relative, of course.

 

[Doug M.]

First, make your home unattractive to bad guys. The Dogo is a darned good step, and anyone who tries to get past it is pretty much certain to be a very dangerous bad guy. I have a floodlight set on the garage that runs at night, and a 6' chain link fence with the gates padlocked; darned few people need to get to the door and they have the numbers to call.

In addition to the fence, we have two rotts - same assessment as your dog. Anyone who tries to get past them is a very dangerous person and likely to have a bad experience. (They are inside pets, only outside for walks or regular pee breaks in our fenced yard.) They give warning, keep the bed warm, and discourage most miscreants. Based on a variety of observations, while they are not trained protection dogs, I am pretty sure that anyone who tries to get past them is going to be very unhappy.

This means that the odds of a person getting to a point where they need to be shot are very small, and the evidence that they need to is going to be very solid. Then, and only then, do we need to worry about firearm choices. What you shoot well under most foreseeable conditions is the likely best choice. I'll take it on faith from what I read here that you think you will do well with the Ruger. Not a bad choice. My .38/.357 load for most purposes is a standard velocity SWC. Accurate, decent ballistics, and I shoot it well. The wadcutter option is likely to do well for you based on your description, and the odds of decent performance are increased by the likelihood of good hits. I think you will be well served by the choices available to you when they are made into a system.

 

[Geoff L.]

some good thoughts Doug, and a bit similiar to my own. We had one attempted break in 20 years back, which was handled by the female pit we had back then. We then had an attempted home intrusion to the next door neighbors house, 3 years ago. I feel pretty strongly that the dogo, even if she can't handle the threat on her own, will make enough of a fuss that I will be awakened to provide back up. I think all considered the wadcutters are my best option

 

[Jack Flash]

One thing that needs saying:
I have heard that ANY NOISE that makes your ears hurt has done permanent damage. Obviously you have to do what you have to do. If you need to fire a howitzer in a concrete tunnel to save your life, well, better to be deaf than dead. But any mitigation you can do before the shot will be much more effective than anything done afterwards.

Dogs:
They are a tremendous asset. Even a little dog can make such a racket that any intruder would have no doubt that the entire house is awake and alert. Dad had a husky that he prized. He let her run loose outside on his farm. Sheba was a little touched in the head. She wouldn't go up to strangers wagging her tail but skulk around, circling as if she was trying to get into position for a blindside attack. A lot of people wouldn't even get out of the car when she was there.

 

[Geoff L.]

the dog can be a tremendous asset, even if they won't actually savage the intruder. but it could be a nice perk with some dogs, lol. Anyhow, something I realized when my neighbor had his attempted home invasion. He is a large imposing dude, with an alarm on the house. I am a small unimposing dude with no alarm. But we have the dogo. They tried his place...