Is there anyone who carries, or would carry, the 125gr. magnums of yore?
I know RexG used one to spectacular effect. A lot of the old guys in my Dept. when I started swore by it. "It blows motherfuckers up" is a direct quote. Pre-1980, when
a civil rights goober managed to get elected and hired an NYPD Captain to be our chief, the department had the second highest use of force in the US.
A couple of brothers had 30 kills between them. Lot's of old timers had 5 or more fatal shootings. One old gunsmith I knew killed 3 robbers on Halloween.
Point being, none of these guys considered .357 125s to be all bark no bite.
edit:and to RevChuck's point about 9mm development, will the .38 get similar development(can it be developed?) to raise it to a top tier round? Once Gropy Joe outlaws everything
besides sixguns and two shoots?
Last edited by feudist; 11-30-2020 at 04:27 PM.
Several local agencies had very high opinions of Federal's loading for its track record against charging pit/rottie class dogs. Liked to step out with the 12 gauges usually stoked with 00, #1, or Foster slugs for larger problem critters. They never really shot people 'round here but covered a number of suicides and homicides with them that made them.comfortable enough with the selection.
I'd not feel bad about carrying hot 125 SJHP but have cast my lot with 158 grain SJHP for reasons from car-based carry and whitetail to stubbornly using the same bullet mold as for my .38 reloading. If going with 125 grain pills in a daily carry rig, I'd likely prefer to channel the late Stephen Camp and run midrange magnums. Mostly to save wear and tear on the gun given it'd be reasonable to cook up a comparable practice handload. It'd also help the ol' splits on the ever-present timer.
It’s a shame that actual science and calm analysis of real world results show us that 125gr JHP from a 357 Mag is exactly as effective as 124gr JHP from a 9mm.