I tried the Hornady Critical Duty 135gr .357 rounds through my M65 3" this weekend with dismal results. It did not like this ammo at all. Terrible groups! Recoil was more than what I had anticipated. Manageable with some practice I suppose.
I am going to stick with the Speer GD 135gr +P 38 Special round in this pistol. Tight groups, very manageable recoil and a record of decent terminal performance.
I bought a couple of boxes of this and it shoots POA/POI in my WC GP100. The recoil was present but not too stout. I like it and carry it when I carry my GP100 on the property.
Originally Posted by 4given
And that's the difference between a K frame and a GP, folks.
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Not another dime.
I shot a box of Critical Defense and Critical Duty at the range a couple weeks ago.
I fired them through a GP100 Match Champion.
The sights on the revolver are zeroed for Remington 158 grain SJHP. The same zero seems to work with the 140 grain Barnes XPB all-copper and the Federal load with the Barnes bullet. According to Lucky Gunner, these all chrono'd at around 1300 fps from their 4.2" Match Champion. Lucky Gunner has the Critical Defense and Critical Duty in the same neighborhood so I was crossing my fingers I wouldn't have to make adjustments if I liked the Hornady loads.
Both hit POA within my abilities at 15 and 25 yards. However the Critical Duty tended to group around the bullseye while the Critical Defense seemed consistently to the right. I fired 5 rounds of each single action off a bag at 25 yards with the same results.
Recoil was nothing surprising or unusual for a .357 magnum. Using the Altamont wood-panel grip, I didn't have any fatigue or flinching. The blast was pronounced, though. It was definitely the boomer on the pistol range that day. I did not notice any big flash. Truth be told, I was pleasantly surprised at how naturally the sights fell right back on target after each shot.
Switching to an IDPA target at 15 yards, I had 9/9 in the center with the Critical Defense and 8/9 with the Critical Duty. I threw a -1 high and a little right. I tend to do that when I outrun my sights.
As a sidebar, both Hornady dramatically outshot the bought-in-desperation Precision One 158 grain practice load I also had that day.
I'll probably switch to the Critical Duty over the Remington SJHP. It seems to have a little milder recoil and less penetration in gel tests. It also seems to be as readily available as a .357 magnum load can be these days.
Now if I could just find an affordable, in-stock practice load that was accurate. It may be time to invest in reloading equipment.
Yep. Recoil is always going to be more in a lighter pistol. To be fair the 135gr CD is not a full house loading. It recoils less than full power .357 loads. Just more than I thought. I'm not sure it will be the .357 mag snubby load some are hoping for.
As far as accuracy goes, every pistol has it's preferences. My M65 did not like the CD 135gr. Someone else's may. Too bad it costs us $1+ per shot to find out these days.
I've been running that R-P load forever as my .357 Mag carry load. It shoots to the sights on my S&W M681. I need to get some of that Critical Duty load to try, it'd be neat if it shoots to the sights on the 681. Those full-power 158s ain't as much fun as they used to be.
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