I'd like to have seen Federal's Vital Shok 357 included in the review. It uses the Barnes 140 grain copper bullet and I think is about as fine a self defense round as you're going to find.Originally Posted by Tokarev
I'd like to have seen Federal's Vital Shok 357 included in the review. It uses the Barnes 140 grain copper bullet and I think is about as fine a self defense round as you're going to find.
Isn't the Vital Shok a hunting load? It is probably loaded hotter than it needs to be for personal defense. What's the minimum expansion velocity for that bullet? A 357 Mag loaded to a bit above that velocity would probably make an excellent general defensive load. Something at around 1,000 FPS perhaps. It probably wouldn't pack so much wallop that it is too difficult to control.
Barnes does have a 125gr 357 load that might be close in performance to the GBW load tested here. It would likely be a solid choice.
As it stands now, I would probably choose the 357 Critical Duty for my 357 snub and 38 Critical Defense for my 38 snub.
For police duty use, or concealed carry I heartily agree. I still think it has utility in a "woods gun" role though.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
I don't think the Vital Shok is a hunting round in .357. I could be wrong.
The only test results I could find quickly were those published by Lucky Gunner:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/rev...s-test/#357mag
Out of a 2 inch barrel the Vital Shok penetrates 16.7 inches and expands to .67 inches with a velocity of 1106 fps. Pretty close to ideal, I think.
Out of a 4 inch barrel, 19.9 inches penetration and .63 expansion, 1300 fps.
In what context?
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Buffalo Bore has both a "tactical" and "heavy" 140gr load. The "tactical" might be a very good option for defense ammo.
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.ph...t_detail&p=324
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The 140 gr. Barnes XPB bullet should be a good choice for hunting and protection. The Buffalo Bore "Tactical" loading is 50-100 fps slower than the Federal or Barnes offerings from a 4" barrel. Federal considers their Barnes Expander (P357XB1) suitable for medium game such as hog and standard whitetail deer. In the Lucky Gunner test the XPB expanded perfectly at 1090 fps; therefore, with Federal's advertised 1400 fps muzzle velocity from a six inch revolver, the bullet is capable of expansion at 125 yards or further.
It would seem the perfect 357 Mag snub load already exists in the form of the 135gr Critical Duty. It worked well in these tests. 2nd choice is anything loaded with a 125gr Barnes that gives 1150ish feet per second whether it is loaded by Buffalo Bore, Barnes, GBW, etc.
Next question is how these loads shoot in your particular gun. Will either load be close to aim if you are stuck with fixed sights?
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I had an email response from one Paul Nowack(sp?), a or the lead designer on the Winchester Ranger Talon, in which he states 147gr variant (RA9T) would expand as low as 660fps. A snub will produce higher velocities than that.
Expand or sort of smoosh? I doubt we'd see full-on flowering at that low speed.
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