Last week, while visiting one of the local gun shops, I struck up a conversation with a salesman. He said the trend of the day is for a semi-auto primarily in the 40 S&W for concealed carry. When I mentioned the 5 shot Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 special he wasn't impressed. His preference for a carry gun is a 5 shot stubby in .357 Mag. His rational is "why wouldn't I prefer the power of the .357 Mag?"
To each his own I guess. I couldn't shoot many holes in his rational, but I wonder if a 2" barreled revolver actually realizes the power of a .357. Will the inevitable velocity reduction of a short barrel reduce the magnum round to that of the 38 special? I tend to think it will, that's why I recommend newbies buy the 357 but carry 38+P ammunition. My thinking is less recoil, less flash and similar velocity.
I know through experimentation that I loose 150 feet/second just by shooting my .45acp loads from a 3" barrel instead of the standard 5". That doesn't bother me because the old .45 is effective because of bullet size, and not necessarily velocity. The advantage of the .357 over the old .38 is velocity, so a significant reduction in velocity just might turn it into a .38 with a large muzzle flash.
My son and I discussed this very issue this afternoon, and he had a great suggestion. Let's try it and see! He has one of the original Dan Wesson kit guns in .357 Mag. His .357 has 3 or 4 interchangeable barrels. The shortest is 2". He's going to load some Winchester 125 grain bullets at magnum levels and we'll shoot them over the chronograph using different barrels. We'll then know how much velocity is changed by barrel length.
Is there really a difference between the 38 special and .357 Mag from a 2" barreled revolver? We'll find out.
Just for the record I carry a Walther PPK .32acp, Llama MicroMax .380 or a Kimber UltraCarry .45acp depending on the situation. Most of the time it's the Kimber .45 on my hip. I have a Keltec P-3AT .380 and Kahr PM9 coming soon.
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2 comments:
The difference between .38 and .357 in a 2" barreled revolver really depends on the frame material. If the frame has Scandium, the .38 will be uncomfortable while the .357 will leave you unable to write your name for the next 72 hours.
Don't ask me how I found this out!
A few years back at the outdoor range I was teaching my grandson to shoot a .22 revolver at the 7 yard bank. Next to us was a middle aged woman, sitting with her elbows resting on the bench, shooting a light weight 38 stubby at an 8x11 sheet of paper. After about 30 minutes the paper was absent any holes.
She said here, you try it. The gun didn't fit me at all, so it also took a couple of shots before I could hit the paper. I swear that light weight 38 had worse recoil than my 357. It was worse than any 44 Mag I've ever fired.
I shoot a Ruger Super Redhawk 454 Casull pushing 240gr bullets at 1800 f/s, for fun. So I'm no recoil wuss, but that thing was terrible to shoot.
Any man that buys a light weight revolver for his woman shoud be hit in the head with a board.
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