Perdition Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 One of the advantages of a .357 firearm is the use of less expensive .38 Spl ammunition for practice. Does this include the 38 Spl + P Ammunition? Is this 'Hot' load safe to use in a .357 rifle or revolver? Thank you for your comments, Perdition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody, SASS #26190 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Any gun that is SAAMI approved for 357 magnum will easily handle the pressure of +P ammo. SAAMI Specs 38 +P 20,000 psi 357 Magnum 35,000 psi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Howdy Goody beat me to it. Standard SAAMI spec for 38 Special ammo is purposely kept very low. This is because there are still a lot of old 38s out there that do not have modern heat treated cylinders. SAAMI max pressure for 38 Special is 17,000 psi. Relatively speaking, 38 Special +P ammo is not all that hot, Max pressure for 38 +P ammo is 20,000 psi. Max pressure for 357 Magnum is 35,000 psi. Any 357 Mag firearm can easily digest 38 Special +P ammo. In fact, most 38 Special revolvers manufactured today are rated for 38 Special +P ammo. Check the manufacturer's specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickahominy Charlie Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Not to beat the dead horse, but lots of folks (my wife bein' one of 'em) prefer the .38 +P in her CCW over the .357 because of the ability to handle the recoil in that type of situation without "giving up" the effectiveness of the round. That's not to say that .38 +P has as much muzzle velocity as a .357 -- it don't -- but it is better than a straight .38 special. It's a trade-off....like a lot of things. Chick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 A 158 gr. Soft lead semi-wadcutter hollow point loaded to +P pressures (Dominion loads clock 1,060 Pps. out of a RCMP service revolver the Domminion load is not even rated as +P )in a 5 inch gun has a very good stopping reccord on humans.... With a lot less flash and muzzle blast ... Winchester loaded +P+ loads for the RCMP ( before autos) also with 158 gr. bullets that clocked a little over 1,100 FPS. called "Police Loads" and sold here in canada to the RCMP and other police forces ... Jabez Cowboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucson Jim Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Let me add a couple more details: * 38Spl+P and 45LC+P are very, very different situations. There's a standard specification for 38+P - 20,000psi as stated. A few outfits take it to 21k but that's it. 45LC+P has NO standards at all. Weirder yet: there's actually two different "+P" standards. SAAMI spec is 14,000 - but virtually all the guns made after WW2 (including 2nd gen Colt SAAs, more or less all the Italian stuff, Ruger NewVaq45, etc.) can easily take 20k or 21k so you see loads of that type NOT marked "+P"! They're instead marked "for modern guns". Typical loads involve 255gr hardcast @ 1,000fps or 200gr JHPs doing 1,100ish. And then there's real 45LC+P going up as high as 33k for guns that are as strong as a 44Mag - original Vaquero, Blackhawk 45s, Colt Anaconda 45, etc. BUT there's still some guns being made in 45LC that need to stay down around 14k - the break-opens, the open-tops, the percussion conversions, a few really low-grade turkeys. Upshot: you have to be a LOT more wary of 45LC+P than you do 38+P. And because the 45LC is so common in SASS circles, it's not surprising that this "wariness" will carry over into everything marked "+P". * +P+ is yet again another critter - completely unregulated in all calibers so you better know what the heck you're doing. 38+P+ can be fired in 357s, that's the good news. Some 38+P+ loads really should have been marked "357" for all intents and purposes...very late in the US police revolver era, actual fraud broke out wherein ammo houses were making "police only 38+P+" loads that should have been marked "357", so that law enforcement could claim to not be using that evil "Magnum" ammo. I recall one story where an officer in the late 1970s wanted to qualify with his personally owned 38snubby as a backup to his issued 357 service gun. The rangemaster forced him to qualify with the 38+P+ issued duty ammo and sat there and snickered as a box of the stuff totalled the poor guy's S&W snubby as the rangemaster fully knew would happen. Not that much has changed, except now the issue has migrated to bottom-feeders. Winchester is selling a 9mm+P+ 127gr load to law enforcement that should only be used in tough, full-sized service weapons (Glock 19 or bigger fr'instance) and would probably rip the guts out of, say, a Kel-tec 9mm or even the Ruger LC9 in fairly short order. Hope this helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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