Over on Bushcraft USA, a member posted the following:
So, I've had this whole .357 magnum revolver idea stuck in my head about long enough now that it's kind of becoming a serious consideration.
I have no interest in concealed carry, this would be strictly a woods bumming gun.
I've owned very few handguns over the years. the two longest running are, a Contender in 7-30 Waters scoped bull barrel for about twenty years. It was fantastically accurate, but awkward to carry and shooting offhand was difficult at best. It was very barrel heavy. I traded it for a milling machine about ten years ago and as much as I enjoyed shooting it I don't miss it. It never really fit my hunting style. For deer I've always been a still hunter in very thick cover.
I have a Ruger Bearcat .22 that it's only redeeming quality is it is light weight. I hate the fixed sights, to me that ruins the whole gun package. Also we don't have grey squirrels or cotton tails around here except in town pretty much. We can't shoot grouse with anything other than a shotgun. So snowshoe hares are the only thing to shoot with a .22.
In comes the .357.
I seem to think it would be fine for the heavy cover thick brush highly mobile style of deer hunting that I like with shots of 40 yards or less.
Loaded with .38 special it would be enough for the odd coyote or even more rare fox.
Maybe some wadcutter for small game if I wanted or just plinking and fooling around.
And realistically fooling around would probably be its primary job.
I have most of my reloading stuff yet, so handloads are an option if I decided to go back down that rabbit hole again.
...
To which I replied:
My favorite handgun cartridge is .38 Special. It handles everything I need a pistol to do, with mild recoil, useful power, and excellent accuracy.
In my opinion, the most versatile handgun you can have is a medium frame .357 Magnum double action revolver with a 4" barrel. They a full sized guns but small enough for concealed carry with the right holster.
With the right ammo you can use them for target shooting, hunting game up to deer sized, training new shooters, and self defense.
Reloading .38 Special and .357 Magnum is relatively easy because they are straight walled, rimmed cases. Carbide sizing dies eliminate the need to lubricate cases. They are usable with a wide variety of powders (even black powder, since the .38 was originally designed for it). There is a huge variety of bullets available in cast, swaged, plated, powder coated, and jacketed flavors.
If you're OK with limiting yourself to single actions, Ruger makes the Blackhawk Convertible that comes with .357 and a 9mm cylinders, further increasing versatility. Taurus sells the 692 double action that comes with .357 and 9mm cylinders.
Check out the articles by Ed Harris about the .38 Special (among other things) hosted at https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/backcreekdiary.htm.
And of course, a .357 revolver makes a dandy companion to a lever action in the same caliber. Even full house .357s are mild to shoot in a carbine and firing .38s in a carbine is much like shooting a .22.
Posts
1 comment:
The 38 Spl is probably my most shot centerfire, even though in recent years I've shot more 44 Spl and 45 Colt than 38, the ammo stock on the 38 remains greater than the other two and gets called on for starting off new shooters and general purpose use. It all comes back to purpose/bullet/load. When we lived in the Amazon Basin my most used projectile was a Lyman wadcutter cast from whatever I could scrounge and lubed with my stingless bees' wax lube concoction. That slug over a 22 LR case of Especial de Caça gave a very useful target load and didn't tear up small game - but killed them right there. It was a bit under powered for serious use on larger stuff, but that was the only failing. For serious use I had my choice of other projectiles, mostly home cast but a few jacketed hollow points made their way down. Thankfully they were never needed.
The 357 opens a new window to versatility, at the cost of a more rambunctious personality. With heavier loads it barks annoyingly but recoil is quite manageable in medium to large framed resolvers. When traveling up north I often borrow a certain Ruger Old Model Blackhawk, but end up shooting mostly 38 specials through it. I keep telling myself I "need" a 357 of my own, but find myself looking for another 38 instead.
On the "someday" shortlist is a Winchester 92 clone in 357. I can see a REAL utility in such an arm as the 357 in the longer barrel is much more mild mannered and polite. It also has a lot of power to impart, shooters who know rate it close or even equal to the 30 WCF - in a handier, more compact package.
Post a Comment