Texas Star
US Veteran
I haven't shot anything alive with the 135 grain Gold Dots, but I was still a gun writer when I asked Speer about them maybe three years after they came out. Their writer contact man told me that both NYPD and LAPD had had a number of shootings with them, from two and four-inch barrels, and that they had proven very effective. These were the .38 Special version. I don't think those departments even authorize .357 guns.
I was told that the Short Barrel loads are okay for four inchers, but may over expand and underpenetrate if fired from longer barrels.
I load snubs and three-inch guns with them, but four inches and more gets conventional ammo.
That little snub is going to be fierce with full .357 ammo. A former employee of S&W, now with a different firm, told me that he fired a J-frame Magnum when they came out. He fired the first shot and thought, "Well, that wasn't so bad, after all." But by the time he'd fired the fifth round, he thought, "Thank God, that's over!"
The Short Barrel from Speer and the medium powered Remington .357 Golden Saber round were designed to be easier on the gun and on the hand. The 135 grain SB .357 lists at 990 FPS from a VENTED two-inch pressure barrel and may give that or close figures from a real snub .357. I think a three-inch barrel revolver may get about 1040 FPS.
You probably can't handle hotter .357 ammo well from that small gun.
We can't comment on this board now on The Lock, so I won't go there.
A .357 revolver will give reduced velocity from .38 Special ammo (compared to a .38 gun) , but there's some argument as to how much. The best estimate that I believe says from 25-40 feet. So you'll need to select ammo accordingly. I personally won't buy a two-inch .357 largely for that reason. But if you can handle those Gold Dot Short Barrel loads in .357 from that gun, I think you'll do fine.
I will say that I think that IF this gun is okay quality control-wise and hasn't been damaged by the prior owner, you made a wise trade. And if you don't like the gun, you can probably sell it for more than you could the Glock.
I understand that the Norwegian govt. issues 10mm Glocks to their scientific personnel who may encounter polar bears.
The Norwegian scientist who killed one with a S&W .44 Magnum may well have been using his own gun.
I guess that if your hands are large enough and you really need that arm, a 10mm Glock may be okay. It sure beats nothing. The 10mm Colt supposedly wears much more rapidly than the .45 version does. My feeling is that I have to use a 10mm, I'd want a H-K carbine.
Chances are, that little .357 will suit your lifestyle better than a Glock that 's too large for your hand, firing a ctg. that you probably won't need for most of your year.
If you do need a bear pistol, you can always buy a M-629. In the meantime, you need a small gun that'll share ammo with your M-28.
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