What 357 handles hot loads smith or Ruger

[Coal Dragger]

Define "hot loads", are we talking about full power factory ammo within SAMMI specs, or actual hot loads that push the envelope of what the brass, primers, and firearm will handle?

If a steady diet of factory loads is the goal both brands will do fine as long as the Smith is an L frame or N frame. The Ruger GP100 is probably a bit stronger than an L frame Smith but not enough to matter much.

If you're really wanting to hot rod a .357 Magnum revolver, buy a Freedom Arms model 83 in .357 Magnum. Five shot cylinder, heavy frame, made from 17-4 stainless steel, super tight tolerances. There is data safe in those revolvers that would probably wreck a GP100, or any S&W. We're talking 158gr bullets at over 1700 fps.

[pinzgauer]

Define "hot loads", are we talking about full power factory ammo within SAMMI specs, or actual hot loads that push the envelope of what the brass, primers, and firearm will handle?

Max loads in the early 70s speer and sierra books. And some Keith favorites.

The issue was never safety... The smiths simply shake loose. Anything which could unscrew over time, would. And then the threads get sloppy.

Many a disappointed m29 shooter on the IHMSA ranges. High round count with full house loads to get the rams to fall at 200m.

Not that the Rugers were perfect in same conditions. Son has a blackhawk in 41 mag where the spring loaded pin that retains the cylinder pin constantly unscrews. But much less critical than the SW issues.

It's also not a fair comparison as the SAs do not have the crane.

If I ever get another Smith revolver I will extensively use locktight of the proper formula for the screw size. On every threaded fastener except the barrel. It was always stupid stuff that would come loose.

[Frailer]

...It's also not a fair comparison as the SAs do not have the crane...

An excellent point.

What's the intended use of this revolver? If it's for range use or carry while hunting/hiking there's not a thing in the world wrong with a single action revolver. A Blackhawk or even a Vaquero is likely to outlast you, even if you feed it an unrelenting diet of hot loads.

If you want or need a double action, buy the gun you like more. If you manage to break something, it can be fixed.

[Nanuk]

Max loads in the early 70s speer and sierra books. And some Keith favorites.

The issue was never safety... The smiths simply shake loose. Anything which could unscrew over time, would. And then the threads get sloppy.

Many a disappointed m29 shooter on the IHMSA ranges. High round count with full house loads to get the rams to fall at 200m.

Not that the Rugers were perfect in same conditions. Son has a blackhawk in 41 mag where the spring loaded pin that retains the cylinder pin constantly unscrews. But much less critical than the SW issues.

It's also not a fair comparison as the SAs do not have the crane.

If I ever get another Smith revolver I will extensively use locktight of the proper formula for the screw size. On every threaded fastener except the barrel. It was always stupid stuff that would come loose.

I have been shooting Smith revolvers for 30 years and never had one shoot loose.

I understand about the old M-29's and silhouette shooters. They were running tens of thousands of heavy, hot loads so there should have been no surprises there. My 2 oldest highest mileage smiths are a 13-2 and a 686 no dash both of which have tens of thousands of magnums with no issues, besides smoothing the action.

I was shooting some of my old reloads in my SP 101 the other day and had trouble extracting them, the 686 was fine with them.

[Wildcat]

Depends on what you put through them I guess. A local shooter who is a dedicated revolver enthusiast, has an 8+" 586 that has been shot a tremendous amount - all power levels (bowling pins to bullseye). He said at some point in the gun's career, he sent the gun back to S&W to have the barrel set back a thread due to the cylinder gap increasing in size.

For the Smith, get an L or N frame. The K frames will work but aren't built to take the same level of punishment as the larger frames.
The Ruger GP-100 will keep pace with the Smith but the Ruger trigger is not quite as easy to tune to the level of a finely worked S&W. The Ruger is less susceptible to peening at the cylinder stop notches if you plan to use it for speed events.

[williejc]

In the last 20 years S&W has made its entire revolver line much more hardy and robust by improving metallurgy and making certain subtle design changes. They no longer suffer from frame stretching, forcing cone splitting, and shaking loose after having fired tons of hot or magnum loads. A very few years ago our favorite 5 shot air weight would not have withstood the number of rounds that we now put through them. I don't consider the older Smiths defective by any means, but they have been improved.

When Ruger designed the Security-Six to compete with Smith's K frame, the engineers beefed up areas that had been considered weak in the Smith revolvers. That was 45 plus years ago.

[CAVDOC]

I know a lot of skilled guys and girls who shoot a lot and no one I have ever heard of subjects a gun hand or wallet to continuous magnums. This whole steady diet thing honestly is bull. And as long as you load within the proper limits set forth in reloading manuals you will not hurt anything. Unless you are using a magnum to hunt with where humane quick kills should be insisted upon ( which would then mean you would choose something better than a 357 anyway) pushing to the extreme limit with handloading is not at all a good idea.
Having said all that a smth l frame or ruger will do just fine as will an n frame. Even a k frame if limited to say 1000 rounds of full house magnum annually would give up and shoot loose about fifty years from now

[FishTaco]

Yeah, shooting a 6" revolver in .357 with .357 loads will pretty much clear the firing line at my local range. At least you'll get a lot of dirty looks. The design of it seems to reflect a lot of sound back to the line, and the corrugated tin roof doesn't help.

[newkirk]

Can't speak for the smiths, but in a lot of reloading manual rugers are good to go with the hotter loads.

[Kain]

Yeah, shooting a 6" revolver in .357 with .357 loads will pretty much clear the firing line at my local range. At least you'll get a lot of dirty looks. The design of it seems to reflect a lot of sound back to the line, and the corrugated tin roof doesn't help.

Must be a bunch of wimps, or some really hot .357 loads. A .357, even a snubbie like my friend has, has never bothered me when I am shooting next to it, even indoors, not nearly as bad as a full house .44 mag next to you from my experience, and not even the same zip code as a 5.56 with a PSW556 brake, which is one of my banes.

For personal best, if you want to clear the firing line, a .300 Win mag with a muzzle brake will do it faster than shit unless you want to jump to a .50BMG, but the BMG ends up with a crowd want to look at it, lol.