.357 for home defense?

[Mushroom]

If I knew I was going to attend a gun fight I would never take a hand gun. Having said that I will readily admit that it is difficult to conceal a carbine when going to the shopping mall and a hand gun is so much better than my hands I carry one of those all the time when out and about the city (.40 S&W). When at home my house gun is a bone stock .30 M1 Carbine loaded with 110 Grain Speer Hollow Points in front of 14.2 grains of Hercules 2400. Makes a .44 Magnum look like a piker and I'll guarantee I will get multiple COM hits with it at the distances that will be involved in a home defense situation.

[revjen45]

Since you already have a fine HD pistol, and say you want a .357 out of gun lust (Not a perjorative. it seizes me too,) why not get a fine old S&W or (dare I say it) Dan Wesson at a gun show? A 4" .357 is versatile in that you can use anything from .38 target loads to fire belching lightning bolts. I saw a nice old 4" M28 for $350 at the last gun show in Western WA- would have bought it if I didn't already have something similar. I know the N-Frame is probably a bigger gun than you want, but it's an example of what your money will buy. Dan Wessons are very reasonably priced and the interchangeable barrels are a nice feature. With no frame inside the grip you can shape it to fit your hand perfectly. The .357 snubbies are cool packing guns, but if you want something for fun shooting in the Great Outdoors or putting an intruder on the trailer a K-L sized gun is just the ticket.

[kwo51]

All a pistol is for is to fight your way to your rifle.Jeff Copper I believe. Have those days changed.

[Puppy]

Don't worry about over penetration. It is a bunch of over-hype.

In gun fights 8 out of 10 shots miss anyway and how is a .357 that goes through the bad guy, more dangerous than the 9mm that misses.

If you worry to much or don't want the recoil, use .38 Specials +P at home in your .357.


Me I have a .357 hanging on the bed post, a .45 by the bed and a short barreled 12 gauge loaded with 00 buck under the bed.

Tarzan

So what is going to make the 9mm miss while the .357 won't? I kinda think it has something to do with the shooter!

[kwo51]

Having a split plan home,I have made different plans for home intruders . Don't want to send anything to other end of house or down halfway.

[ronwill]

I've had a S&W 586 for many years and it remains one of my favorite guns. While my primary carry weapon is a Kimber Ultra Carry I will always have a soft spot for wheel guns.

[JC40]

I have a model 39 S&W 357 with a 4in barrel that i picked up used for $379.00.I have to say that it is fun to shoot and very acurate.Plus like was mentioned before,you can shoot ,38 caliber, or go for the big bang with a magnum round.Either way they are fun to shoot and a nice gun to own.Just my opinion.

[Tarzan1888]

So what is going to make the 9mm miss while the .357 won't? I kinda think it has something to do with the shooter!

You have to read the previous posts to fully understand. The person I was responding to was worrying about a .357 being to powerful and overpenetrating.

I was not stating that a 9mm would miss and the .357 would not. I was stating that most shots with any caliber are misses.

The point was that if the bullet does go through the bad guy it will have less velocity when it exits and thus be less dangerous than one of those misses with any SD caliber.

Tarzan :D

[tattedupboy]

Anything in a hollow point, regardless of the caliber, will perform its intended purpose (killing the BG) without overpenetrating, due to the fact that hollow points expand, and in some cases, fragment, upon contact. Not only does this eliminate overpenetration, but also, it enhances the amount of internal injury to the target.

[oscarswanson]