Best 38spl/357magnum loads for full sized revolvers?

[shootist26]

What are the best defensive loads for full sized service revolvers (i.e. 4" 357magnum)? I don't see a lot of reference material on this.

Is the Gold Dot 38+P short barrel still the best? Not sure if the increased barrel length would negatively affect performance in this case.

[Chuck Haggard]

In the .38 130gr version performance from a 4" gun is just fine.

If you want magnum loads then many of the 140gr and up JHPs work really well. The 145gr Silvertip is one example.

[Rex G]

A 4" barrel is not too long for Speer Short Barrel Ammo. If what I have read is correct, NYCPD issues .38 Short Barrel for use in all revolvers, and it has done well in real shootings, from 2" to 4" revolvers. My wife, a forensic investigator, worked a shooting scene in which one shot from a 4" revolver, with the .357 Short Barrel load, was immediately, devastatingly effective. (The .38 and .357 Speer Short Barrel loads are so close in velocity, I think there is very little practical difference between them.)

I have long carried the 145-grain Winchester Sivertip .357 Magnums in my small/medium-frame .357 revolvers, plus my skimpier-gripped fixed-sight GP100, and any good major-brand full-pressure 125-grain JHP .357 Magnums in my heavier-barreled GP100 sixguns. (The heavier sixguns better damp the sudden acceleration of the full-pressure 125-grain loads.) As the Silvertips became scarce recently, even before the recent scare, I have started carrying Speer Short Barrel .357 in my SP101 revolvers.

FWIW, I actually used a 125-grain Federal 125-grain Classic JHP to stop an opponent back in 1993. This not only makes me favor the .357, but validated DA revolvers as being more stress-proof in my hands.

[Rich]

For a heavy 4inch 357 magnum like a Lframe 686 or GP100

140gr Barnes HP

180 Partition or Bonded JHP

I myself would choose the barnes 140gr