Just curious since I have a lever action as range gun, does anyone know what are the ballistics out of a 16" plus barrel as far as wounding; It appears the velocity can jump by 800 fps but unsure what that means as far as wounding effects say compared to 30 carbine or .223?Originally Posted by Rich
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/357mag.html
Thanks
Doug
Doug, a 125 grain Remington soft point load will be doing something like 2100 fps at the muzzle. A .30 carbine will be running something like 1970 fps with a 110 grain bullet. The .357 mag should penetrate very well and the soft point probably will expand to around .50 caliber, which will make it a fairly effective round.
However, a 125 grain bullet doesn't have a lot of bearing surface, and perhaps for that reason I haven't been impressed with their accuracy out of a carbine. 158 and 180 grainers are more accurate in my experience and loaded correctly can be fairly potent. A 158 grain soft point at 1800 fps will take pretty much anything you can find in most areas of the country, and while I had had my doubts about them at carbine velocities, some people report that standard 158 gr. SJHP's perform well out of a carbine as well.
Finally, Underwood ammo has a 180 grain hard cast load that is said to do 1800 fps out of a carbine. I haven't tried it, but if correct (and if it isn't overpressured) that should be a pretty formidable round with excellent penetration--similar ballistics to the old .351 Winchester but with hard-cast type penetration.
Unfortunately I don't have any gel test results, but I have been impressed by the amount of penetration that soft point rounds get when fired out of a .357 carbine. I think it is an under-appreciated weapon that can come fairly close to some 30-30 loadings (and I think the 30-30 is under-appreciated these days also).
i read somewhere recently that the lever gun load in 357 uses a slower burning powder optimized for a carbine and doesn't perform particularly well in a revolver barrel.
cant remember where I read it and it could be bollocks , can't vouch for its authenticity.
Welcome to Africa, bring a hardhat.
I prefer Winchesters 145 gr Silvertip, or Corbons 125 gr DPX. Hornady has a .357 magnum loading in their Critical Duty line up coming out at some point. I'm looking forward to see how it stacks up.
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/p...s_id/411555593
It's out now
$19/25rds. Not bad.
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That could be? I'm sure the L,N,GP100 can handle the pressure though
Its to bad we don't have that many modern 357mag bullets that will consistently expand (after barriers)
The emphasis on barrier blind service handgun ammo happened after the .357mag fell out of favor with the cops. Just not much money in it now.
That said, even the old school plain vanilla .357 loadings ain't bad for the most part if you pick well.
4"bbl is minimum for wringing out max 357mag potential, anything less is wasting money. Stick with 38spl in snubbies, they work better! As for load weight in 357mag, go with what it was designed for, 158gr bullets!
The .357 mag is a tremendously versatile chambering and allows the user great latitude depending on need. From your question, I am assuming you want a defensive load instead of a general purpose load.
In all honesty, I keep most of mine loaded with .38 special 135grn Gold Dots. But, when I want to step things up, I go old school - Federal 125grn for me. The Silvertip is a great GP load as another option, though in the GP category, there are a lot of good contenders.
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