Another .357 question

[Retired W4]

I just noticed these with some ammo a friend gave me. I have never seen this before. It has a short bullet with a wide cavity, filled with a clear amber plastic like substance. And in that stuff there looks to be three small balls of some sort. This is a new one to me. Marked R-P, 357 MAGNUM. It looks pretty mean.

 

[Mike6735]

Look like Glazer rounds to me- nasty little manstoppers, won't penetrate inside walls (I don't think).

Mike

P.S.- Was slow in correcting this post, CTG. You're right, its a Magsafe.

Mike

 

[CTG_COLLECTOR]

What you have is a Magsafe product. And unless your ammo came with its original package, it'll be difficult to determine what "load" and bullet weight it is. But I can tell you that they're light weight and high velocity.

 

[Retired W4]

Thanks guys. I checked their website and that stuff is very high velocity. The R-P head stamp had me wondering. The S-W forum is THE place to get answers.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I doubt it's a factory MagSafe load with Remington brass. Does MagSafe sell components?

 

[ogilvyspecial]

Without digging through my ammo cans, I would be willing to bet that it's MagSafe. If I
remember correctly, I have seen some MagSafe marked as the OP described, although
they also use a case marked with two stars, with a line going from one star to the
other. I just checked the ammo in my yard gun and it has the "star" marked cases.

I can't say how effective MagSafe would be on people, especially during a Michigan
winter when people are wearing heavy clothing, but can say that it is extremely
effective when it comes to dealing with "critters" like 'Coons & 'Possums.

I'm finding that one shot of MagSafe .32 H&R Magnum is more
than a match for a 'Possum, which are usually "lead sponges."

I've also had impressive results, on critters, using MagSafe 9mm, .45 Colt & .45 acp.
In one case, where I shot a 'Coon off of our roof using a Glock 26 (9mm), I had to
shoot high so as not to poke a hole in the roof, and even with bad shot placement
it only took one shot. In addition, that 'Coon was the largest I've ever seen, and
I trapped the buggers for a number of years. It was like a freak of nature!

 

[CTG_COLLECTOR]

I doubt it's a factory MagSafe load with Remington brass. Does MagSafe sell components?

During the early to mid-80's we saw many propritary bullet designs and exotic loads hit the market; Joe Zambone with his MagSafe, Jack Canon with the Glaser Safety Slug, Tom Burczynski with his Hydra-Shok and Quik-Shok, Omnishock, Onslaught, American Ballistics, National Ballistics, Personal Protection Systems and KTW to name a few. All of these ammo makers have used non-propritary headstamped cases at one time or another to load their ammo. I have numerous different handgun cartridges in my collection that use cases from all the major companies; Rem, Win, Fed, Frontier/Hornady, S&W etc. The earliest Starline ( * - * ) cases I have are by Triton from the late 80's to early 90's that are coated in Robar's NP3 nickel/teflon finish.

So, yes, Joe Zambone was loading his MagSafe ammo in R-P brass. The newer MagSafe may be currently using Starline brass, but back in the days, he was not.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Wow, I'm surprised Mag-Safe would use Remington brass. Thanks for the info...

 

[Mike6735]

While Corbon was still in Detroit, they they used Winchester and R-P brass in their 38 Specials- their 115 JHP load in this caliber is still my favorite defense round; been off the market for years but I stocked up when it first came out.

 

[358156hp]

Starline didn't exist when Joe developed Mag-Safe. Mag-Safe is still available out of Florida, try a web search for details. Joe died in a motorcycle accident in New Zealand in 2000. He was a hell of a writer and a hell of a guy by all accounts.