Your preferred .357 carry load for 4" guns?

I just picked up a new to me M19-3 that I am now waiting on a aiwb holster from jmcustom. So it looks like I'm going to carry it some.

I'm pretty comfortable using Buffalo bore, double tap, Underwood, or load myself 180 WFN at 1200-1400 for woods loads. I'm happy with what ever cheap .38 I can find for training but I'm having a hard time picking a good SD carry load. I have some .38sp Winchester 130gr+p bonded that shoots well but all the tests I've seen has it hovering around 10-12" in gel/denim+gel and most of those were tested from a snubby. Without seeing how they do in a 4" gun I'm unsure if the extra 50-100fps would hinder penatration.

That seems to be about as good as it gets for .38 defense loads. Im having trouble finding up to date numbers on available .357 Magnum.

What do you carry?

Maybe I need to just order a couple k 180 grain wfn some more unique and call it good.

There was a thread about this a few weeks ago. The consensus was Winchester Silvertip, with some of the old school 158-grain JHPs close behind. 125s are effective but hard on K frames. Most modern 158s seem to overpenetrate.

I use Remington’s 158 JHPs because I have a fixed-sight 681. In your 19, Speer’s short-barrel Gold Dot might be a good choice.

Winchester Silvertip 145gr. and if I run out, Federal 158gr JHP for the 4"

Just finished one of Grant Cunningham's books and his recommended load for .357 revolvers is the .38 special Gold Dot 135grn +P. Coincidently, that's what I typically carry myself due to convenience as it's what is in my snubbies. It just seems to work.

Once in a while I'll get a crazy hair and use 125grn full-house Federal .357's. A steady diet is hard on K-frames, but they'll take some full-power loads without issue.

I like the looks of the Speer 135gr. .357 Magnums from what I've seen. Plus they're affordable on target sport https://www.targetsportsusa.com/spee...17-p-1599.aspx, just need to wait for them to restock.

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Originally Posted by revchuck38

There was a thread about this a few weeks ago. The consensus was Winchester Silvertip, with some of the old school 158-grain JHPs close behind. 125s are effective but hard on K frames. Most modern 158s seem to overpenetrate.

I use Remington’s 158 JHPs because I have a fixed-sight 681. In your 19, Speer’s short-barrel Gold Dot might be a good choice.

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Here's that thread.

See: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ecommendations

145-grain Silvertip is a well-liked load, but can be difficult to find. 158-grain Federal Hydra-Shok is fine, 158-grain Gold Dot is fine from a 4" gun. 125-grain Gold Dot is also quite good. Also excellent, the 125-grain Barnes Tac-XP and the 140-grain Barnes Vortx*.

*The downside to the Vortx is it tends to over-penetrate. The Buffalo Bore "Buffalo-Barnes" - short barrel 140-grain Barnes load - firing a 140-grain bullet @1250 should be damn near perfect (https://www.buffalobore.com/index.ph...t_detail&p=324).

Dad had some of the Remington 158 sjhp loads for his 4" 19, I just bought some more of them when I needed magnum loads (seldom), or the older Winchester/Western 158 gr Lubaloy wide flat point swc type factory loads. I recall favorable comments here a while back from some that had used the rem sjhp loads or seen them used, so never looked any further other than a short flirtation with 125 gr loads some time back. The 125s were nothing short of hideous to shoot in a 2 1/2" 19 and are probably the main reason I sold it at the time.

I hit a jack once with that Lubaloy load from a 6" smith, it exploded it, which rather surprised me, as I never had a jack explode even from a 223 55 gr sp load. I figured theyd be passable as bear loads, but havent shot anything large with them.

Once I shot a 29 much, I discovered shooting it was less bothersome with muzzle blast than a 4" 357. I doubt Ive shot more than perhaps 1500 357s all told. They just arent much fun in a 4" gun, and not all that nice in a 6". Ive only recently started liking the smaller calibers again, and mostly shot 38 spl for general practice and fun. Its worried me that if I found myself in a bad situation id hesitate to shoot if I couldnt get earplugs in and had 357 loads.

Thanks all. I saw that thread. The silver tips might do it for me. I do tend to prefer slightly heavier bullets.

Does anyone have any info on how Remingtons 125 grain, non bonded, golden sabers work through hard barriers? They seem to do well in lucky gunners test but I've heard a lot of reports of the non bonded bullets not doin so we'll against glass/metal.

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Originally Posted by 03RN

Thanks all. I saw that thread. The silver tips might do it for me. I do tend to prefer slightly heavier bullets.

Does anyone have any info on how Remingtons 125 grain, non bonded, golden sabers work through hard barriers? They seem to do well in lucky gunners test but I've heard a lot of reports of the non bonded bullets not doin so we'll against glass/metal.

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I don't think any ( all calibers) of the non-bonded Golden Saber stuff keeps its jacket on very well through any hard barriers. But then again, the Silvertips probably wouldn't either. If I was to carry that 19, I'd be tempted to stoke it with 135gr Gold Dot (.38 or .357 flavor, probably .38 because it's more available).

I've had good luck with a batch of RA38B so far in my little 442... $15/50 was too good of a price to pass up for premium ammo, otherwise I'd probably be using the Gold Dot load.