Folks:
This is the fifth installment in this series. I carried a full size revolver for 6 months as my primary defensive handgun. In my case, I used a Ruger Match Champion GP-100 stainless steel revolver in .357 magnum. In this installment I am going to talk about power or more particularly stopping power with regard to full size service revolvers. Caveat: I am not a ballistician, hard scientist etc. These are my views and opinions. Take them with a grain of salt.
Of late, there is a renewed interest in revolver shooting, at least among cops and folks of my age range. Maybe it is because these folks want to revisit their youth or some other sentimental reason. Whatever the cause, there is a renewed interest in “round” guns. One of the things that gets kicked around is the relative power of defensive rounds carried by these folks in their revolvers. The FBI recently experienced a caliber change and I think it is illustrative in terms of revolver shooters.
Within the last 5 years, the FBI has adopted the 9 mm Parabellum round as its new duty round. The theory that the folks at the FBI Ballistic Research Facility put forth in supporting the adoption of the 9mm is that bullet technology has advanced across the board significantly and even more so with new 9mm loads. I tend to agree the current versions of the 9 are way better than those of twenty or even ten years ago. I routinely carry a 9mm pistol without reservation. That said, is the 9 the equal of the 40 and 45? I don’t know. When I was a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy, I was issued the Sig P226 in 9mm. It was a great gun, but I was under no illusion about the fact that there were better cartridges for law enforcement. As soon as I could, I voted with my feet and bought a Glock 23 in 40 S&W and shortly thereafter, a Glock 21 in 45 ACP. I carried the Glock 21 for upwards of 15 years on the Job. I pointed that gun (as well as shotguns and M4s) at a pile of people and damn near had to shoot several with the 45. I had confidence in the 45. I witnessed the FBI transition from the 9mm to the 40 and now back to the 9mm. Even during the 40 caliber period, there was a significant group of agents who favored the 45. So, my question in all of this is what happened to all of the “weeds” law enforcement collectively plucked from the Lord’s Garden (To paraphrase Pat Rogers) with the 45 and 40? Did the passage of time somehow wipe the effectiveness of those rounds from the slate? I don’t believe so. The 9 may have gotten better, but that doesn’t diminish the effectiveness of the 40 and 45.
So, while the 9 is all the rage today, it wasn’t always so. There may be less of a difference today between the 9, 40, and 45, but I still think there is a difference, albeit a smaller one. The same thing appears to be happening in the revolver world. Newer 38 Special loads are better, but there is still a difference between today’s best 38 loads and 357 magnum loads. Some folks tend to think that the 38 Special in the +P version is the ultimate gunfighting round in revolvers and that you really don’t need anything else. I am not so sure about that. For the period when cops actually carried and fought with revolvers, the 38 Special was almost universally viewed as the minimum you would want to carry among those in my circle of acquaintances. Almost every cop I encountered wanted more powerful rounds. The 357 magnum was the king where I lived. The results were deemed very effective in numerous shootings. Almost no one wanted to carry the 38 Special if they could get a 357 magnum. Cops also wanted to get semiautos because they were being designed to be reliable out of the box.
From my perspective, bigger, more powerful rounds were more effective at stopping bad guys in the past. I believe the heavier rounds still outperform the 38 and 9 but the difference is smaller today. The question that each shooter has to answer is whether the increase in effectiveness of newer 38 Special bullet technology is outweighed by the gains of going to magnum ammo. Each round had its positives and negatives and you learned to work around each. For the 357, it was the large flash, loud report and heavy recoil. For those down sides, you were rewarded with excellent stopping power. The 45 was viewed as being pretty much equal to the 357 and most folks I knew carried one or the other. Even during the revolver only period in the Bureau, if an agent could qualify with 357 magnum ammo and had the necessary approval, he could carry it instead of the 38 Special load. Again, many of the heavy hitters who were serious about agent survival did this. These were the same folks who actually carried a backup gun, practiced on their own time and tended to use long guns to shoot mopes who needed shooting.
The point of all this? When I started carrying my Match Champion daily for the Wheelgun Challenge it was loaded with old school Federal 125 grain jacketed hollow point 357 magnum rounds. I weighed the options and came out in favor of carrying the heavier magnum rounds. There are cemeteries full of bad guys sent on to their reward that were done in by hard cops carrying 357 magnum ammo While people may not want to remember history, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. While the 38 Specials of today are better, if I am limited to six rounds, I want those rounds to be very powerful. The 357 does that pretty decisively.
Update: Of course, there may be a better option: The Speer 135 grain 357 magnum Short Barrel Gold Dot Jacketed Hollow point round. I have shot a small amount of it. The Speer load seems less violent than the older 125 grain loads. I believe that the reason for this is the reduced velocity of about 1,100 feet per second in a four inch long barrel. It also uses a bonded core bullet which aids in its effectiveness. I may start carrying this load once I exhaust my supply of the 125 grain Federal load.
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Originally Posted by SCCY Marshal
