I'm old and apparently a wuss too.

[RGNewell]

Well sir, you are not a wuss. I carried a 640-1 as a second/backup gun starting in late 2015. The first time I qualified I shot .357 magnum rounds and after the course, my hand hurt for a good while. After that I had the stipulation when qualifying later I would use 38 special +P and that was the round I carried on duty.



.357 magnum is a beast in a 2 inch J frame revolver.

I know I bought a 640 357 when they first came out. It was stolen from my pickup at Bass Pro Shop. In fact that's why I founded Lock'er Down and started making vehicle safes. Anyway I bought the 640 Pro Series and love it. I just picked it back up today from Ten Ring Precision where Alex Hamilton preformed his magic on it. Can't wait to take it to the range.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Doug M.]

Heavy load, light gun: staggering bunches of suck. The likelihood of the .357 having a performance advantage over a decent .38 load at that barrel length are slight. I am not a fan of J frames anyway, except maybe as a BUG/3rd gun. If you want to carry it, load it with standard velocity .38 SWC at 158 grains. Your placement will be better, and that is the first thing you have to get right in a personal defense seting.

 

[K-22]

Pressure Issues

be careful shooting 38 then 357... carbon ring can cause over pressure issues... and yes... you are NOT a wuss... J frame and 357 hurt a bit

Please explain or give me a reference regarding the pressure issues.
I know the carbon ring can cause chambering issues, but in 50+ years of shooting .357s and .38s I have not experienced, or heard of pressure issues.
Best,
Gary

 

[Pine_Worker]

Heavy load, light gun: staggering bunches of suck. The likelihood of the .357 having a performance advantage over a decent .38 load at that barrel length are slight. I am not a fan of J frames anyway, except maybe as a BUG/3rd gun. If you want to carry it, load it with standard velocity .38 SWC at 158 grains. Your placement will be better, and that is the first thing you have to get right in a personal defense seting.

What Doug M said!

 

[wproct]

I'm 75 years young now, and I will gladly use all the excuses available to avoid the pain and potential hearing loss of shooting the magnum stuff. Having said that, I have been shooting only 38 specials in my revolvers chambered for .357 magnum for some time. I can't imagine the scenario that couldn't be resolved with .38 special + P at the maximum, but that's just me.

 

[kestrelman]

I find that the grips and weight of the platform make the biggest difference.

Shooting my .357 Ruger GP100 with the fatter factory grips are much more pleasurable than shooting the blackhawk/redhawk with those miserable wood hog legs. Those hammer the B-Jenkins out of ya!

 

[oddshooter]

I freely admit I'm not a fan of recoil. I can shoot a limited amount of +P through my 642 without too much difficulty. Too much, and I'm icing my hand for a couple of days.

I once fired 5 rounds of Buffalo Bore's +P FBI load, which is like .38 Special +P+ or even low-end .357 Magnum power levels, through my 642. My first thought after was, "Well, I'm never doing THAT again!"

To me, increased blast, flash, and recoil outweigh any advantage the increase in power to full-strength .357 Magnum may have, especially in a lightweight snub.

There are light and mid-range loads available. I've used the Gold Dot SB-GDHP in .357 Magnum in a 3" 65. I might consider trying that in a steel J-frame. I was also fond of Winchester's 110gr SJHP, which was ballistically similar to 9mm 115gr +P, IIRC. That might be worth trying, though I know in some of the scandium snubs there are bullet weight restrictions. Should be fine in a steel J-frame.

Back when I used to read gun magazines, I remember one article by John Taffin. He's known for shooting lots of heavy-hitting, hard-recoiling guns. In this article, IIRC, he said he had started experiencing nerve issues in his hands from all the magnum shooting he'd done. Something to think about.

If you are a John Taffin fan, he writes a post almost every day over on singleactions.com.
Incredibly nice guy and his experience is unsurpassed. He wrote a post yesterday about his friend, Elmer Keith, and their conversations
I'm trying to finish up his Book of the 45 released last December. It has the best Pics I've ever seen in a gun book.
It's extensive and a huge volume packed with info. Expensive as well, but you get what you pay for.

and Yes, John has written about his damage from recoil.


Prescut

 

[ContinentalOp]

If you are a John Taffin fan, he writes a post almost every day over on singleactions.com.

Thanks for the heads up. While I've read some of his articles and enjoyed them, I wouldn't consider myself a fan. I've read his articles mostly because they were in gun magazines I was reading at the time. But that one article about his nerve damage definitely made an impression and stuck in my mind.

 

[LEW1943]

Shootong .357

Turning 77 at the end of this month. Don't have any J frames but can imagine the discomfort of firing .357 that such a light weight gun delivers. My 586-8 L frame is not especially pleasant so I fire mostly .38 SPL. Recently acquired a Taurus 692 with 6.5" ported barrel and full boot rubber grips (they call the grips "ribbers"). I can shoot 158 grain .357 all day long from this gun with not one bit of discomfort. Please don't call me out for mentioning Taurus here. Four of my five hand guns are Smiths. If a S&W had been available with the same features I would have gone for it (shoots 9mm and 38/357).

Lew

 

[Old cop]

I'm also in my mid 70s and a wuss. All my .357 shooting is restricted to a four inch Model 66. I foolishly fired five rounds of magnum ammo through my 340PD and never repeated that mistake. It was kind of like catching a 95 MPH fastball bare handed, and the follow up shots were all over the target.

 

[mike from st pete]

357MAG is best left to the "L" and "N" frame sizes.

 

[snowman.45]

Yep, magnums in a J-frame tend to hurt. I carry Buffalo Bore 158+p LSWCHP at about 1000 fps in mine. They are a little stiff, but not quite as bad as magnums. I agree with ADP3 above. I keep a couple of speed loaders or speed strips loaded with 135g Gold Dot Hollow Point Short Barrel in .357 magnum if I feel a potential need, but generally I stay with the .38+p in the J-frames.