Test your carry load! - or, alternate title, Revolvers DO jam!

[Route 45]

Never had a Speed Gold Dot jump the crimp on me in my 360PD (the lightest smallest 357 mag ever made I think) but then again this ammo was designed from the ground up for snubbies.

No wonder it doesn't pull bullets. That ammo is rated at 990 fps and 294 lb. ft. of energy out of a 2" barrel.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/en/ammun...tion/357-magnum/357-mag-135-gdhp-short-barrel

Pretty weak sauce for a ".357." How they have the cohones to call that .357 Magnum is beyond me. My pocket gun (Sig P365) launches 9mm 147 grain +P HST ammo at around 1050 fps. 13 times.

Maybe the should call it .357 -P.

 

[Dean C.]

No wonder it doesn't pull bullets. That ammo is rated at 990 fps and 294 lb. ft. of energy out of a 2" barrel.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/en/ammun...tion/357-magnum/357-mag-135-gdhp-short-barrel

Pretty weak sauce for a ".357." How they have the cohones to call that .357 Magnum is beyond me. My pocket gun (Sig P365) launches 9mm 147 grain +P HST ammo at around 1050 fps. 13 times.

Maybe the should call it .357 -P.

<br>[video=youtube;27wDLjY5JSs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27wDLjY5JSs&amp;t=103s[/video]

This video does a very good job explaining the difference between 38spl +P and 357 Magnum in a snub nosed barrel revolver. The Speer does a great job "bridging the gap" between 38spl and full house 357mag which to be honest is borderline uncontrollable in say my air-weight J-Frame. Shameless plug Paul Harrell is the best YouTube gun guy out there currently, as close to scientific as you can get with ballistics honestly since I am not a fan of the much overused and overhyped ballistic gel blocks.

 

[VERT]

I would have to read through the thread again. I don’t think anyone said the .357 was not more powerful. But as the video mentioned there is other considerations. Namely recoil and muzzle flash and cases not extracting, plus the occasional airweight gun ‘jamming’. Ultralight .357s are not toys.

I agree the Speer Gold Dot loaf is trying to bridge the gap and would be a good choice in a .357 snub.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

... as close to scientific as you can get with ballistics honestly since I am not a fan of the much overused and overhyped ballistic gel blocks.

Ballistic gel when used properly correlates extremely well with real world results. Bullets that pass the entire spectrum of FBI testing in proper calibrated gel have done very well in documented OIS shootings, etc. It is, in short, an excellent tool with strong predictive ability.

However there's a cottage industry of "edu-tainment" folks who use gel that's not shown to have any correlation to real world results, have questionable calibration, and cherry pick which of the full battery "matter". It is mostly useless, other than entertainment.

 

[04FXSTS]

I have a S&W 337pd it is a 10.6 oz .38 spl. On the barrel is says 38spl +P Jacketed. Had no idea what the deal was so actually read the owners manual. It warned that lead bullets can pull out of the case if +P because of less neck tension than jacketed.
I shoot IDPA with a S&W625 revolver and about a 180 power factor so a fairly heavy load with lead bullets. Since I also shoot 45 ACP in semi auto's I always used the factory taper crimp. Then one day my revolver locked up from bullets pulling out of the case. I still shoot lead because I am cheap but now add a roll crimp to the ones I will be running through the revolver. Jim.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

It is well to consider the inverse problem as well, the high primer.

The only time my .38 ever jammed was because of a protruding primer in a re-load.

 

[rhino]

The only time my .38 ever jammed was because of a protruding primer in a re-load.

I was shooting a S&W 629 issued to me by the instructor of the revolver portion of a class I was in and it stopped working. The trigger would go about 1/3 of way to releasing the hammer, and then stop. It wasn't ammo because it did it when it was unloaded as well. I mention this because it was the property of a well-known revolver smith and clearly maintained properly and kept in good repair. When revolvers decide to stop working, you usually need tools and parts to fix whatever is wrong.

 

[Dean C.]

Ballistic gel when used properly correlates extremely well with real world results. Bullets that pass the entire spectrum of FBI testing in proper calibrated gel have done very well in documented OIS shootings, etc. It is, in short, an excellent tool with strong predictive ability.

However there's a cottage industry of "edu-tainment" folks who use gel that's not shown to have any correlation to real world results, have questionable calibration, and cherry pick which of the full battery "matter". It is mostly useless, other than entertainment.

I was referring to when it is not used properly , IE the GET RIP ammo and many others that sell exotic bullets. They use totally bare gel (most likely probably not even calibrated correctly) to achieve their results and fool the general public. Lehigh I suspect is a prime example of this with their "hydraulic expansion" they claim to get in their essentially FMJ ammunition

 

[VERT]

The only time my .38 ever jammed was because of a protruding primer in a re-load.

Yep I have seen the protruding primer problem as well. Say that 5 times faster.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Yep I have seen the protruding primer problem as well. Say that 5 times faster.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of protruding primer problems, how many protruding primer problems did Peter Piper pick?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I was referring to when it is not used properly , IE the GET RIP ammo and many others that sell exotic bullets. They use totally bare gel (most likely probably not even calibrated correctly) to achieve their results and fool the general public. Lehigh I suspect is a prime example of this with their "hydraulic expansion" they claim to get in their essentially FMJ ammunition

Yup. Uncalibrated gel (or clear gel, which can't be calibrated as it has no proven correlation to real world results), mistaking stretch and stress cracks in gel for permanent wound channel, etc.