Chronographing the little .357 S&W

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JimT
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Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by JimT »

I've heard a lot of times over the years that the short-barrel .357 revolvers don't produce much velocity. Some feel that you get about as much out of a .38 Special in the short guns. I was playing with the chronograph at the range today and ran a few .357 loads through it.

The Rossi Model 92 levergun in .357 has a 24" barrel.
My load was a 125 gr. Speer JHP and 20.0 gr. of WC820 (Military Surplus H-110)
The velocity was 2184 fps.

The S&W Model 340 .357 has a 1.75" barrel.
125 gr. Speer JHP and 20 gr. of WC820 = 1339 fps.
That's not too shabby for a pocket pistol.

I did receive a nice blood blister on the web of my hand next to my thumb. About 15 shots and I had enough. Recoil is quite stout.

This is a screen capture from the video of me firing that load in the shop.
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Twodot
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by Twodot »

was it very loud?


I said, WAS IT VERY LOUD? :lol:
..
.
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JimT
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by JimT »

Twodot wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2020 5:55 pm was it very loud?


I said, WAS IT VERY LOUD? :lol:
..
.
Huh?

Actually .. no, not with earplugs.
The recoil was very fast. Of course it don't weigh much .... but the blood blister is fading and the bruise should go in a couple days. :D
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Old Savage
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by Old Savage »

Just acquired a 3" Model 60.S&W .357. Yes a little snappy with factory 357. Not bad with 38 Spl +P. Like the rubber grips that came on it.
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AJMD429
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by AJMD429 »

The decibels is the reason I went from a six-shot 357 Mag Speed Six to a 5-shot 44 Spl Charter Bulldog; for less noise if I had to defend myself; no sense going dead in the process...

Then I went to a 7-shot 45 ACP AMT 1911, for more rounds of a similar-power round...

Then I found the ParaOrdnance 14-shot 45 ACP, and after 1,000 zero-malfunction rounds with Golden Sabre hollowpoints, I was hooked. With only 3/16th more girth than a 7-shot single-stack, I'm not sure why everyone doesn't prefer the double-stack, but having long skinny fingers makes it perfect (I'd still prefer it even if it only held 7 rounds; way easier to hit accurately with the double-stack's more rounded, revolver-like, grip).

I still alternate with an 18-round 9mm Lugar Taurus PT-92,which is about 10% faster on follow-up/double-tap, but mostly cuz I'm gettin old and like the hammer-down carry option...

But as a twenty-something in pharmacy school working evening and night shifts in bad neighborhoods, my carry gun WAS a revolver, just not a loud 357 Mag snubbed....

...it was a 7-1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 Magnum... :shock: ....hey, I only owned two handguns back then - the other was a Ruger Mark-I in 22 LR.... :roll: ...'shoot em in the eye-socket.... :lol:

I imagine the drama today if a 'college student doing their externship hours' was caught with a '44 Magnum' - if that had happened I'd probably have been thrown out of school, lost scholarships, and wound up a successful (I am smart at least) drug dealer. (...I would probably have made far more money than I have by staying legitimate.... :| ).

Such is life.

I still like the 357 Speed Six, but have NEVER shot it without hearing protection...!!!
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ollogger
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by ollogger »

Jim A few years ago I shot one of them with factory 125 gr, the guy wanted to sell it fairly cheap & I was interested until
I fired it 10 times


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historicfirearms
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by historicfirearms »

That's quite a fireball! I have one of those 340s as well and it will split my hide on my hand after about 6 cylinders of full house 357s.
The noise is loud but not abusive. I'm a little sensitive to the concussion of a very loud blast, having a eustachian tube that is always closed. The 340 concussion feels like a little tap on that side of my head. The worst gun I remember shooting was my buddies AK47 pistol. When that 7.62x39 blasted off in the short barrel, well it felt like some big dude was smacking the side of my head.
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JimT
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by JimT »

This is another screen capture of the same shot in the original post above. Note the time on the video is the same. I could not see this .. all I saw was a bright flash .. but I found this interesting. I have caught the same thing from other .357's over the years when I looked at a video of them frame by frame. Note where the gun has recoiled to ... it was still moving.
Fire2.JPG
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Pitchy
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by Pitchy »

Say now that snap shot on a video is cool, never thought of that. :oops:
Cool pictures Jim and info. 8)
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by piller »

As much as it kicks you, how bad do you think the target feels?
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Grizz
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by Grizz »

i like the ring-of-fire sighting device

do you lock your wrist or elbow?
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JimT
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Re: Chronographing the little .357 S&W

Post by JimT »

Grizz wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:31 am do you lock your wrist or elbow?
Nope.
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