I was first issued a Ruger Secutiy Six SS 4″ with the Border Patrol in the mid 80′s and carried the Federal 125 grain JHP pushing 1450 feet per second. A very stout load and still today one of the best. In the mid 90′s we were mandated to .40 cal autos, (Beretta). I was very fond of my revolver and never felt undergunned in all of those remote areas we patrolled. With the revolver we qualified 4 times a year out to the 50 yard line, 72 rounds and with the auto also 4 times a year 72 rounds but only out to the 25 yard line.
The revolver made us better marksman, the number one priority.

The .357 is very versatile for Outdoorsman, .38s, .357s, snake shot ect. In retirement I carry a Ruger SP 101 SS 2.25″ 5 shot. I still maintain my marksmanship proficiency and feel very secure with it. All you can do is try to stay as prepared as you can. Badder, tacticool high cap pistols doesn’t mean you will always win. A cool head and steady aim will put your threat down and a .357 will do that!

I just did my job and retired with my integrity and dignity.

In regards to a 9 MM over a .357 Magnum, I reload. I much more prefer to have a .357 Magnum than a 9 MM. @ Justin – I’ve heard that joke before too, it’s a good one. But – it is not substantiated (even though it’s funny.) The fact is that the .357 Mag loads we see for sale today, have been scaled down from it’s original power over the last few years. This is because many ammunition makers didn’t want to suffer liability suits for chambers/revolver cylinders popping open for weaker made guns, over penetration suits from CWP scuffles and more so, because alot of people are getting a hold of .357′s in snubbies for concealed carry – it’s just too difficult to load the right round for everyone. At 1500 feet per second, a .357 Magnum load out coming of snubbie – with a traditional 158 Grain bullet – has a ridiculous recoil for a 2″ barrel (and smaller) J frame.

They do, however, make rounds that still make yo mamma cry (like Buffalo Bore Ammo)

I carried pistolas al dues when I was in bear country. I lived out in the woods by myself with my dog for about two months (just to see if I could). I had two revolvers with me always. My specialty load was a 180gr. Winchester Supreme JHP Partition Gold in .357, which got about 1100 FPS out of my 4″ 66 – plenty fine for black bear. And contrary to what folks hear, grizzlies have been killed with .357 Magnums. The difference is that many JHP’s shot from a .357 Magnum won’t punch skull like an old hard cast bullet (Elmer Keith, who designed the .357 Magnum, shot big bear with it, but it was with his own 173 Grain FN-SWC solid bullet, not a 180 gr. JHP.) Stated, had I known yhrn what I know now, I would have carried a larger, cast bullet instead of slightly larger JHP. Still, with a .357 in 180, that’s not under-armed for eastern black bear.

While one did come up on my camp for a few nights, it never came so close I had to shoot, but I had both pistols in hand when he did show up (Got that idea from the 5 Rings Japanese Sword Parable).

Given, today, I cast my own bullets and load cartridges for almost all of my guns (save for the 22 Rimfires). Cast bullets don’t work at faster speeds as well as copper jacketed ones do in some rifles – same goes for .357 Magnum loaded leverguns, but they don’t have to if the shot is accurate and the pattern, firm. A rifle chambered in .357 Magnum is a great, great low to mid range solution for many needs.

In a pistol, I have a 125 gr. JHP in 357 Magnum I can push up to 1800 (MV) FPS, a 158 JHP or LSWC or LSWCHP I can push to around 1600 FPS and a 180 gr. JHP bullet I can get to around 1300 fps, all of those loads, well over 500 foot pounds, with the 125 Gr. giving close to 800 foot pounds out the barrel. But the 180 gr retains it’s punch of nearly 500 foot pounds at 100 yards – that’s alot when we are talking pistols.

From the make, Michael’s gun could handle those loads, no doubt.

Regardless, either a 125 Gr. JHP .357 Magnum or a 158 Gr. LSWCHP .357 Magnum will not fail you when it comes to self defense, especially in a revolver. (They do make a full .357 Magnum Automatic, it’s called a Coohan, designed by an Irishman no doubt.)

Like many things in life, you have to roll your own to get a good .357 Magnum load. (There are plenty of good factory self-defense 9 MM loads out there).

Factory ammunition in the .357 Magnum just can’t do what hand-loaded ammunition can and I do need to add this caveat, those loads mentioned above do require a larger L – N frame .357 Magnum, with at the minimum, a 4″ barrel.

Just remember, when it comes to mass, if the bullet has a decent ballistic coefficient (the higher, the better), slower doesn’t always mean worse. Sometimes, a heavier round will do a lot more damage. (Google ‘cat sneeze loads’ and you’ll see exactly what I mean. That’s a slow moving, larger, sub-sonic rifle cartidge – I’ve seen these made for the .308′s and they are awesome. Done right, sounds like an air gun, hit’s like a cannon.)

I’m a ballistics monkey (love my math when it comes to this stuff), when I started reading my first wound and ballistics reports and the old gun writers like Elmer Keith, Skelton, Paco Kelly and Bill Jordan – it became clear to me the .357 no longer realizes the potential that it once had, for hunting and for law enforcement. This is sad. It’s such a great, great gun.

http://www.guns.com/what-happened-to-the-357-magnum.htm
[Also has links to a guy killing a grizzly with a .357 Magnum snubbie, btw]

On the topic at hand, we jokingly call the 9 MM a ‘europellet’ in my cirlce of friends, but truly, it’s not a bad round and it does meet the first rule of a gun fight – have a gun. Plus, those are some pretty nice ‘dents’ in those steel plates from the picture there. (Which, due to that over penetration, is why law enforcement officers are sometimes made to carry a 9 MM and hardly anyone has a .357, cept maybe as a backup – and one should always have a backup gun.)

There is alot of BS on the internet – glad to see more folks are on the road to gun ownership, but more importantly, gun wisdom.

Hope I didn’t boggle anybody, just google/search on any abbreviations, hope I could help in this debate a little. If just one person reading this gets inspired to start hand-loading or casting bullets, I’ve done my job.

Keep up the good work man! Love Freedom Feens. Blessings to Neema and your wife!

Ballistic Artist : the target is my canvas, the lead – my paint. The press forms my pallet of bright brass & fine powders. My ideas are expressed through the straight brush of a barrel. Due to a ‘lack’ of ‘professional training’, some might label my art; ‘folk ballistics’. But really? To them I say, “As the proverbial proof is found in the pudding, beauty is in the eye of the target”.

Yup,

The longer the barrel, the more the power. In handguns, some of the powder is unburned. In rifles, it’s mostly all burned. A .357 rifle has twice the energy of as a .357 snubbie with the same ammo. And a six-inch .357 has about 1.5 times the energy of a snubbie.