Recoil

[Jeff Bergquist]

BTW - I'm 6'3" and 240. Does that makes me 2.5 times more attractive than a 100 pound woman in a bikini shooting the same gun?

Only gravitationally.

[Fast351]

Who's got a gun I can shoot that will likely make me say, "Yikes, no thanks, I'm done!"?

Don't have one, but I have yet to find someone who will put more than one cylinder of full power .357 through an alloy snubbie.

Not the most powerful round by far, but the horsepower to weight ratio is right up there....

[Pred]

I'm committed to not ever letting this happen to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLQewe4TrY

Not even close.

Can I watch? I wanna bring a camera.

[aviator]

The Thompson Contender with .410 shotshells tends to loosen my grip a bit.

As a previous poster stated the Scadmium S&W in .357 is nasty. I have a friend who bought one and a box of .357 bullets for it and shot one. He invited me to shoot it and I shot it only once. He gave me the other 48 bullets to run through my Ruger Blackhawk.

I've heard it said that people who carry this lightweight Smith think they will use the "full house' .357 bullets for an encounter only, and at that time they don't think the recoil, noise and muzzle flash will be a distraction to them as they will be focusing on their aggressor. My feeling is that they still need to be able to hang on to the gun if they are going to shoot more than once.

[Seismic Sam]

I have an original TC contender with the octagon barrel (it may be older than mac himself) in 44 magnum, and when fired with a full power factory load will bone bruise your second knuckle and try to surgically shear your thumb right off your hand.

As far as total ft.lbs, however, a Smith 500 is still top dog.

[macphisto]

As a previous poster stated the Scadmium S&W in .357 is nasty. I have a friend who bought one and a box of .357 bullets for it and shot one. He invited me to shoot it and I shot it only once. He gave me the other 48 bullets to run through my Ruger Blackhawk.

I've heard it said that people who carry this lightweight Smith think they will use the "full house' .357 bullets for an encounter only, and at that time they don't think the recoil, noise and muzzle flash will be a distraction to them as they will be focusing on their aggressor. My feeling is that they still need to be able to hang on to the gun if they are going to shoot more than once.

I shot the 340PD at Bill's North yesterday. It was very unpleasant, even with .38's. I had to go ask for a Band-Aid after the first cylinder. Struggled though two cylinders of .357's, strong hand only for the second. It was hard just to keep my shots on the paper.

My palm hurts today and I'm definitely not in love with that gun, but feel better for the experience.

[jac714]

As a previous poster stated the Scadmium S&W in .357 is nasty. I have a friend who bought one and a box of .357 bullets for it and shot one. He invited me to shoot it and I shot it only once. He gave me the other 48 bullets to run through my Ruger Blackhawk.

I've heard it said that people who carry this lightweight Smith think they will use the "full house' .357 bullets for an encounter only, and at that time they don't think the recoil, noise and muzzle flash will be a distraction to them as they will be focusing on their aggressor. My feeling is that they still need to be able to hang on to the gun if they are going to shoot more than once.

I shot the 340PD at Bill's North yesterday. It was very unpleasant, even with .38's. I had to go ask for a Band-Aid after the first cylinder. Struggled though two cylinders of .357's, strong hand only for the second. It was hard just to keep my shots on the paper.

My palm hurts today and I'm definitely not in love with that gun, but feel better for the experience.

I have a theory that you don't gain much over a .38 +p with a .357 mag in a short barrel, I plan on getting a volunteer with a .357 j-frame and shoot both .357 and .38 out of it over a chrono and see what is gained.

I would think the slower magnum powders used in the ,357 don't have time to build up the additional pressure. It should be an interesting experiment.

[cobb]

I plan on getting a volunteer with a .357 j-frame and shoot both .357 and .38 out of it over a chrono and see what is gained.

I have an Ruger SP101 chambered in .357 with a 2 1/4" barrel.

I have a theory that you don't gain much over a .38 +p with a .357 mag in a short barrel

10 years ago I would have agreed more, but today's ammunition manufacturers are producing more ammunition for the short barreled carry weapon, so although I believe you are right in your assumption, I bet if you could find some older .357 ammunition to mix in with the modern .38 and .357, you might be surprised, maybe.

[jac714]

I plan on getting a volunteer with a .357 j-frame and shoot both .357 and .38 out of it over a chrono and see what is gained.

I have an Ruger SP101 chambered in .357 with a 2 1/4" barrel.

This might require a trip to the hustings. We need a sunny (or reasonably bright) day or will until I get around to buying the IR kit for the chrono. Preferably a weekend and a warm one and we can do the experiment, shoot 5 .357's and then 5 .38's of the same grade (PD, practice or what ever) and see what the velocity difference is. Of course if it is comfortable we can chrono any other loads you would like.

Let me know.

[cobb]

This might require a trip to the hustings.

OK, I'm always the slow one on this forum, what is hustings?

If we can do this, I can bring my CED chronograph and intermesh the screens and see what kind of variances we come up with.

Maybe Mac could make it also and he could do his recoil research with my Freedom Arms .475 Linebaugh.

[jac714]

This might require a trip to the hustings.

OK, I'm always the slow one on this forum, what is hustings?

If we can do this, I can bring my CED chronograph and intermesh the screens and see what kind of variances we come up with.

Maybe Mac could make it also and he could do his recoil research with my Freedom Arms .475 Linebaugh.

The Hutings is an old political term for the countryside, that place away fro the tall buildings of the world.

That sounds really interesting, we could develop all kinds of interesting data.

Sounds like a task for the BBQ or a warm spring day.

We probably don't want the recoil research over the chronos though, those new sky screens would get expensive.

[Pat Cannon]

I'd love to show up for this and try out my 125 grain Double Tap .357s out of both my 2.25" SP101 and my 3" GP100. The box says they go 1600 fps out of a 4" barrel. I've fired enough of them to feel confident that I can hit the hole in a chronograph.

[jac714]

We could also try them through my 4" 686 and I know a couple of people who have 6" 357's so we can also do that comparison.

[Seismic Sam]

FWIW - I also have a Millenium chrono, but I bought mine WITH the IR kit. You can shoot that thing at the 25 yard range at Oakdale under the roof on a cloudy day and it works fine.

[goalie]

I still think that betting on being able to make hits with a handgun that has ferocious recoil under stress, when said recoil is punishing enough that you don't practice with your carry load at all, is just asking for trouble.

I am perfectly willing to bet my life on 5 rounds of Speer Gold Dot +P .38 Special rounds being up to the job if I ever need to use them. In fact, I do bet my life on it. And, unlike the super-lightweight J-frame .357's, I actually like to shoot my carry load out of my 638.

Of course, in my truck, the 3" SP101 in .357 sure as hell doesn't have .38's in the cylinder, but the extra mass of that gun, along with nicely fitted custom grips, makes shooting full-power .357 rounds pleasant.