Snub nose ammo

[JeepinSoldier]

I fell well armed with a 3953/ 9mm Speer 124 Grain Gold Dot Short Barrel or 60 with the 135 Grain Gold Dot Short Barrel .38 +P load.

Either are better than pleading for your life.

 

[Nevada Ed]

There are those that want the minimum recoil ammo for a
airweight 38 special that is a non +P loading and the only
load that I feel might work in expansion and penetration is
the 110gr Winchester Siler tip load.

The next best load would be the 125gr Federal "Nyclad load
that does well in gel and phone books but fails in some of the
4 layer Gel test to expand but is as good as it gets for those
that want a heavier bullet and can handle the extra recoil.

If you can handle these two loads that are a light +P in the
light J frames at 16 oz. or less, I would feel a lot better with
the 110gr DPX or the 125gr Rem GS that has a 100% record
of expansion......unlike the 125gr Gold Dot that has failed in
my and Youtube tests, due to a low velocity round from the box
and its heavy copper jacket made for the longer barrels and
higher speeds.

The 135gr Speer is a good SD load but there is also the new
Winchester 130gr Bonded if you can find it, for the snub nose.
Both were designed for the short 2" barrels and lower speeds
but they do carry a heavy recoil that needs to be mastered.

 

[Lt JL]

Once, while working vice back in the 70's, I had a no-shot stop with a .25acp. I stuck that muzzle in his ear, and he stopped. Call me superstitious, but I carried that vest pocket colt for the rest of my career.

 

[chief38]

Let's for a moment say that we all agree that Marshall & Sanow's results stating that the Federal C357B 125 grain JHP is the Holy Grail of stoping power (90%). I would be willing to bet that MOST here would not be able to affectively get off 3 or 4 well placed, fast shots out of a 2.5" Snubby while under attack and when the adrenaline is really pumping. I am not insulting anyone here and I would bet there are a select few that do use this load and practice with it often, but for the most part this load in a Snubby is relatively hard to use for repeated, rapid shooting. It kicks hard, has lots of muzzle flash, is super loud and I have personally fired this round from Snubby's. By the way........ just as an aside, the 125 grain .357 Magnum is famous for flame cutting and causing cracks in the forcing cone area on K Frames so lots of practice in that kind of gun and this ammo is not any longer recommended.

With the risk of sounding like a broken record, I always recommend to new CCW Guys and Gals that they use either one of two loads in their SNUBBY .357's. #1) Buffalo Bore #20A 158 grain LSWCHP-GC +P 38 Special. Out of a 2.5" - 3" barrel you will get about 1100 - 1130 fps, little muzzle flash, great accuracy (poa = poi) and will do no harm to the gun. #2) would be the Speer Gold Dot 135 grain JHP Short Barrel .38 Special offering. That will produce over 850 + fps out of a Snubby.

Remember, the best bullet in the world is useless unless it hits its intended target in the right amount of time. YMMV, and just my opinion of course........

Just wanted to add that MOST .357 Magnum data on the boxes and in catalogs of Companies is from 6" barrels or "Test Barrels" and NOT a SNUUBY. Look at BB's web site and you will see that they test their ammo through actual guns and state all barrel lengths and results.

 

[Jaymo]

I think that most of the same data (and a lot more) is contained in Marshall & Sanow's book "Stopping Power." Many people throw rocks at the M&S book about the methodology used and the published effectiveness of various calibers and cartridges given, but the fact remains that even Jesus Christ couldn't please everyone. And to my knowledge, there is no other publication which pulls all this data together.

The problem with the M&S book was that it was utter BS, because they loaded the deck for small bores and against big bores.
Up to .40 (or .40 and under, can't remember), they included CNS shots.
Over that caliber, they threw out CNS shots.
As a result, the M&S book and it's findings are utterly useless.

It appears Duckford beat me to it.
I called BS on the M&S BS back when it came out. It was easy to tell it was BS because none of it agreed with physics or physiology. Little bullets do not equal big bullets. Little bullet holes do not equal big bullet holes, no matter how much you like a cartridge.

It's much like the .5.56 fanboys who paraphrase the military's findings about small bore vs .30 cal stopping power. They like to spout that the 5.56 bullet has just as much stopping power as the 7.62 bullet.
Trouble is, that was NOT the result found. The result found was that the poodle shooter bullet COULD have the same or possibly better stopping power as a 7,62 bullet IF the 5.56 bullet had an impact velocity of 4,000 fps or more. That is something the 5.56 poodleshooter does not even do at the muzzle.

Anyway, proponents of inferior cartridges always cherry pick data to try to justify their choice of an inferior cartridge.
I don't carry and like .44 Spl/.45 ACP/.45 Colt/.357 Magnum because I like to carry a gun that recoils more and holds fewer rounds.
I like and carry them because they work better. You cannot change the laws of physics just because you don't like them.

I own more 9mms and .38s than .357s, .44s, and .45s.
I like shooting the .32s, 9s, .and .38s better because they are easier to shoot.
If I'm going to bet my life on a handgun round, it will be one that is a proven fight stopper with bullet designs ranging from the 1870s up to today, not one that only works well under perfect conditions with new wonder bullets.

 

[OldGyrene]

Took a 2" snubby .357 Magnum, made by Rossi, to a gun range. Used both .38 Spl, and .357 Mag loads in the piece.

When shooting the Magnum loads, I actually noted an audience of three other shooters (all strangers to me) gathered to watch me punch paper. It wasn't my accuracy they appreciated, but the literal "bloom" of flame which issued from the short barrel when those magnum rounds were touched off. Some of the guys had this look in their eyes, as if seeing a long lost love materialize before them. Sure made me grin to see their reaction. When I took a break, one of them asked about the revolver, so I wrote the name and caliber of my piece on a scrap of paper and passed it along.

 

[PR24]

SHOT PLACEMENT! SHOT PLACEMENT! A good snot locker shot with a .22 beats a total miss with a .44 mag. "1 shot stops" is a MYTH! I've seen a lot of gun shot wounds in my career. Two stick out as proof of the myth.

An AM/PM store caught on tape a very irate customer shooting another man just below the xiphoid process with an PMC Starfire .45 ACP JHP. The victim lived to testify against his attacker who was arrested that night. I was the 3rd unit on scene & thought the Vic was done for. Not so much.

The second was a neighborhood in my city that is like a mini Ciudad Juarez. Some puke shot is uncle in the gut with a piece of junk single action 22LR. When the police arrived, another officer & myself were assigned the watch the victim who was conscious & alert while others swept the area & apartments for the perp. The Vic was talking in Spanish to his brother then within about 3 minutes, his eyes glazed over & he turned grey then went limp. He died right there. EMS was staged as the scene wasn't secured & they did come in after we told them GET HERE NOW but no saving him. A homicide Det. told me after the autopsy that the slug evicerated his liver & he bled out. Immediate hospital transport would not have saved him. It should be noted the victim in #2 was a portly fellow with quite a bit of fat to penetrate. The small .22 did do just that.

So, there is no such thing as a 'one shot stop'. Both of the aforementioned cases are well documented and in both cases; the opposite SHOULD have happened. The .45 should have killed him and the shot placement was exactly where it should be. The second in theory should have hurt real bad but he should have survived. On top of that, each victim was shot one time.

Hit what you are aiming at. The purpose of the police bullet is to stop the threat, dying is a byproduct. Same applies for civillian self defense.

 

[PR24]

Once, while working vice back in the 70's, I had a no-shot stop with a .25acp. I stuck that muzzle in his ear, and he stopped. Call me superstitious, but I carried that vest pocket colt for the rest of my career.

That's because getting shot SUCKS!

 

[robertrwalsh]

Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Shot placement is criteria #1. Adequate penetration is criteria #2. Everything else is almost academic. If you have to shoot the odds have gone south on you already. (All of this bumper sticker philosophy is just that, but it is still mostly true.

 

[rwsmith]

I don't count on a one shot stop......

If I'm forced to pull the trigger I'm not going to just pull it one time.