Got to Chrono some of my Snubbies

koz5614

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After reading all the debates about .357 vs .38 out of snub nose revolvers, I wanted to test my own ammo. My wife got me a Chrono for my birthday, and today I got a chance to put some numbers up. I was pretty psyched.
I shot five shot strings from 10' away from the sky screen. Weather was overcast and in the mid 70's. Here's what I got:

-110gr JHP Winchester +P .38Spl out of my 640 got an avg. of 876fps with a ME of 187ft lbs
-125gr Federal SJHP from my 640-1 Carry Comp avg 1250fps / 433ft lbs

The same loads out of my 66-4 Carry Comp avg 1305fps / 472ft lbs
158gr American Eagle JSPs in the 66-4 avg 1156fps / 468ft lbs

I also got to shoot my 940PC. After reading the forums, I became a big fan of carrying a 9mm back up revolver.
Speer 124GDHP avg 1045fps / 300ft lbs
Federal Match .356TSW 147gr avg 1100fps / 394ft lbs
Cor-Bon 125gr JHP avg 1230fps / 419ft lbs. Impressive numbers, but I had problems with the bullets pulling forward under recoil. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but I won't be be depending on them for off-duty.

I was a little surprised at the .38 Spl. I'd like to try some 125gr +P and see what it nets.
I was happy with the 9mm GDHPs in the 940. The same round in our duty guns nets 1144fps / 360ft lbs.
The Federal SJHP generated some big numbers; better than I anticipated even out of the 2-1/8" barrel. So much for the .357 being a waste in a snubbie.
I'd like to try the same tests on a nicer day and see if my results are a lot different. Next, I'm going to try some Federal 158 JHPs and some .38 Silvertips along with some 125gr +Ps.
Hopefully, this data proves helpful to somebody; it was an eye-opener for me.
 
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It'd help to know the barrel lengths. But I appreciate the data on the Federal Am. Eagle .357 158 grain JSP load. I might use that one, particularly for defense against large animals or to hunt pigs or smaller deer at closer ranges.

Test their 158 grain .357 Hydra-Shok load in three and four-inch barrels, please, and the Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel 135 grainers in both .38 and .357. And the lead HP Plus P 158 grain load.
 
The 640-1, 940 and 66-4 guns tested were the Performance Center "Carry Comp" models. They have a single expansion expansion port forward of the front sight. The 640/940 have 2-1/8" barrels, and the 66-4 has a 3" barrel. The 640 no dash is a .38Spl and has the standard 1-7/8" barrel.
 
Your Federal .357 load's results are consistent with my testing. I have a 2.25" SP101 and ran my parallel reload over a chronograph -average was 1220 fps as I recall. I developed the reload for practice shooting, to approximate the recoil of the Federal which I carry.

Thank you for posting your results, sir.
Andy
 
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