Tested -- Winchester USA .357 magnum...

[LOBO]

.357 magnum Winchester USA (white box) 110 gr JHP

Smith & Wesson model 686 4" - One gallon water jug water test

Recovered weight 62.2 grs
Recovered diameter .480"
Bullet recovered in the 3rd water jug

If you'll look on the far right of the the third picture you can see that the first water jug was nearly split in half. There were fragments in jugs 1 and 2, but they didn't make the trip home

The bullet almost made it out of the 3rd jug and into the 4th. There was a small, semi-circular divit in the back of the the 3rd jug. When the bullet made this divit in the 3rd jug, it also put a dent in the front of the 4th jug. If I had used a 6" barreled gun would it have made it? What about a revo with a 2 1/2" barrel?

 

[USAF385]

I'm a bit disappointed by this round. I'm surprised by how slow it is for such a light bullet. For personal protection purposes, I generally stick higher velocities and 125 grains.

 

[LOBO]

I haven't chronographed it, but Winchester lists it at 1295 fps.

 

[stiab]

I have chronographed it, and out of a 4" Model 28 it averaged 1283 fps.

 

[LOBO]

Hey good deal! Thanks for the chrono info

 

[flop-shank]

I'm a bit disappointed by this round. I'm surprised by how slow it is for such a light bullet. For personal protection purposes, I generally stick higher velocities and 125 grains.

That Winchester load isn't disappointing, it's just not what you (or I) would prefer. It is essentially a Managed recoil load. I think that the ammo makers (Remington and, I think, Federal have similar offerings) have figured that the 125 gr. loads are about the perfect hotrod in that caliber, so instead of recreating the same thing in 110 grain clothing, they dropped bullet weight and velocity in order to make something more controllable. And they most definately are. If you like the idea of a 110 gr. sizzling fast old school fragmenting JHP in .357, Corbon makes one.

FWIW, folks, don't forget any 110 gr. .357 is a serious no-no in titanium cylindered Scandium guns.

Lobo, thanks for sharing. My hunch regarding penetration is that a snub would have a larger expanded diameter, and/or slower, but very reliable expansion and thus penetrate less. A 6" gun would likely cause the bullet to erode a little more and end up a little lighter at recovery. I'll SWAG that it would penetrate to the same, or just slightly deeper depth.

 

[grendelbane]

Ammunition factories prefer to load these light weight bullets with a faster burning powder, since they don't know what temperatures they will be shot at, and they want their cartridges to perform well whether it is summertime, or 40 below. The slow burning powders used in the 125 and heavier bullets might not provide good performance in extremely cold weather.

This also makes for a nice light recoiling load. It works especially well for the shorter length barrels.

I will take the opposite side of the penetration arguement. If the bullet holds together well, (and it may not), then it will penetrate more from a snub, and less from a 6" tubed gun.

If the petals of the mushroom break or erode away, then the opposite could happen.

Impossible to tell what will happen without actually trying it.

 

[peyton]

I picked up two boxes of this ammo today at Walley World. Thanks for the testing, this will feed my model 66.

 

[Steve C]

If I had used a 6" barreled gun would it have made it? What about a revo with a 2 1/2" barrel?

As velocity increases so does the rapidity of expansion and that usually decreases penetration. An analogy would be a rapidly opening braking parachute on a dragster slowing its speed quicker than one that would open more slowly.

If you drive a light weight JHP too fast and it will fragment rather than expand into the mushroom shape in your picture with little penetration. You may get further penetration from shorter barrel due to this phenomenon.

 

[LOBO]

I picked up two boxes of this ammo today at Walley World. Thanks for the testing, this will feed my model 66.

You're most welcome

 

[flop-shank]

As velocity increases so does the rapidity of expansion and that usually decreases penetration. An analogy would be a rapidly opening braking parachute on a dragster slowing its speed quicker than one that would open more slowly.

If you drive a light weight JHP too fast and it will fragment rather than expand into the mushroom shape in your picture with little penetration. You may get further penetration from shorter barrel due to this phenomenon.

I fired the Remington .357 125 gr. SJHP (R357M1) into four layer denim/Perma-Gel. From my 2 1/4" Taurus 605 I got 11 3/4" penetration. From my 6" 686 I got 14" penetration, a smaller recovered diameter and a lighter recovered weight. Bullet design will dictate whether a bullet that is pushed faster will penetrate deeper or not.