.357 Magnum. Does it deserve its reputation?

[WillBrink]

Another issue to consider about a duty pistol cartridge is that it is not selected solely for performance against a human attacker. The cartridge is also expected to meet certain criteria for penetrating intermediate targets, such as auto glass, dry wall and other intermediate targets that can be reasonably expected to be penetrated by a duty pistol cartridge.

Some agencies transitioned from the 9mm cartridge to the .40 S&W, because in general it performed better against intermediate targets.

My understanding is state troopers adopted/kept .357 Sig or .40 due to superior intermediate barrier performance being they have a much higher likelihood of having a vehicle to shoot into.

[WillBrink]

If it was Ranger T 127 gr +p+ it has a habit of only partially expanding or not at all through fabric. The more fabric the more it clogs and less likely to open up.

An unexpanded 127 gr 9mm bullet at 1275-1300 fps from a Glock 17 is going to punch through a lot of stuff / people.

A big agency near me uses it. They went to it after dropping .40 about 2 years ago.

Even though it clogs up going through fabrics? FBI protocol includes performing reliably through heavy fabrics. Unless the projectile designed for +9+ velocity, vs pushing a projectile designed for normal velocity to +P+ velocity, that often results in early expansion and sub par terminal performance.

More recoil, same, or even inferior, terminal performance from +P+ projectile in modern JHP designs is my understanding.

[T2C]

If it was Ranger T 127 gr +p+ it has a habit of only partially expanding or not at all through fabric. The more fabric the more it clogs and less likely to open up.

An unexpanded 127 gr 9mm bullet at 1275-1300 fps from a Glock 17 is going to punch through a lot of stuff / people.

A big agency near me uses it. They went to it after dropping .40 about 2 years ago.

The ammunition was 115g +P+. An ammunition manufacturer suggested transitioning to a 127g +P cartridge they had just developed. That did not happen, then a few years later the agency transitioned to .40 S&W.

[Ron3]

The ammunition was 115g +P+. An ammunition manufacturer suggested transitioning to a 127g +P cartridge they had just developed. That did not happen, then a few years later the agency transitioned to .40 S&W.

Ok. An unexpanded 115 gr +p+ at 1300 fps from a G17 is also going to punch through a lot of stuff.

[1168]

The fabled 9BPLE?

The ammunition was 115g +P+. An ammunition manufacturer suggested transitioning to a 127g +P cartridge they had just developed. That did not happen, then a few years later the agency transitioned to .40 S&W.

[T2C]

The fabled 9BPLE?

No. Different manufacturer. The ammunition chronographed at 1,340 fps fired from a pistol with 3-1/2" barrel. The chronograph was 15 feet from the muzzle when I collected the data.

The biggest fans of the cartridge spent very little time working in the field and viewed the cartridge as the equivalent to using a .22-250 on a coyote.

[vicious_cb]

Leave the +P+ loads for sub guns.

[T2C]

Leave the +P+ loads for sub guns.

I agree. The cartridge had a very good track record when fired through the SMG's.

[ABNAK]

As I think I mentioned a few pages back (too lazy to look at all six previous ones) the .357 shines out of long guns, i.e. lever actions. If you get hot loaded ones, like Underwood for example, a 158gr SJHP will hit around 1800+fps from a 16" Rossi/Puma. Now your standard factory loads like Remington won't go that fast, but they will still do 1700fps. That's a fairly heavy .35 caliber bullet zipping along pretty fast from a < 5lb weapon.

The SJHP's at that velocity also do some pretty cool tricks as far as secondary wounding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seef...sTVw&index=199

[T2C]

I have an EMF 1892 lever action .357 Magnum rifle with 24" barrel. Remington .357 Magnum 125g JSP chronographs at 2125 fps 15 feet from the muzzle.

(I collected up to date data on 01/08/2021).