Gscuttles

How would you regard the .357 magnum as a home defense weapon? The short barrel version I have would seem to be good for that.

ALSO..there is a .357 sig listed. What is this and can it be fired in a .357 magnum?

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TScottW99

Well alot of people will tell you 12 guage <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> and that is a great weapon. BUT since you asked about pistols....

The .357 magnum is a good home defense round. A great advantage is that you can load it with .38spcl's to help reduce muzzle flash, recoil and going through your house and killing an innocent. Of course frangable ammo can be obtained for both the .357mag and .38spcl which would aid in the innocent part. I would opt for at least a 4&quot; barrel for home defense. The short barrels, 2&quot; -3&quot; have considerable more muzzle flash then the longer 4&quot; - 6&quot;. I also prefer the feel of a 4&quot; S&W 19 or Ruger GP 100.

The .357 sig is a great round in it's own right. It was devolped by Sig Sauer to replace the .357mag 125 grain round for a semi-auto pistol. I'm actually a pretty big fan and like them in the Glock 32. HOWEVER the .357sig will not work in a .357mag revolver. The .357sig round is a .40S&W round bottle necked down to hold a 9mm bullet. It's basically a 9mm +P+.

Hope the info helps.

&quot;A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.&quot;

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Bloodnativ

The .357mag is an excellent home defense round! Your gun is perfect for that purpose as well as concealed carry if your state has that. As far as the .357sig, it will not work in your gun. It is a bottleneck cartridge that is designed to work in autos. It gives comparable performance to the .357mag in an auto but is not interchangable.

Ruger-Redhawk

No need to add anything to your replies.You guys explained it well. Ruger Redhawk

Support the NRA...Protecting our Gun Rights and Freedoms is everybody's responsibility. Ruger Redhawk A proud NRA Life Member since 1977.

Vapodog

I know you asked about handguns.....but you also asked about home defence.....a 12 ga shotgun is the #1 home defense gun in the world. Further, the size of shot and the load isn't much of importance...the sound of the action closing is a devastating sound!!!

bigcountry

I had the rare opportunity to go duck hunting this weekend with a member of Marylands Special Ops policement (i.e. has plenty of experience with knockdown). He worked for 24 years near baltimore where its nonstop shooting action between police and felons. He said they shot a guy in Baltmore named Booker Washington, I believe 17 times with a 9mm and he still had life to fire shots. Thats hard for me to believe, but this guy is full of credibility. He said that way back when he carried a .357 revolver, they never had to fire more than 3 shots to the chest area to knock down a felon. He now works for gov. I believe and says the .40 was a big improvement over the 9mm, but he would only trust his Sig Saurer .357 Sig now. He claims its the best going for a policeman. But at his house in his drawer, he said &quot;Do you know what I trust in the middle of the night&quot;, and pulls out a 38 special. He is right, its small, not hard to operate, easy to swing around on. Anybody can get the trigger back. It just works. A shotgun, can be complicated, large, heavy, and not easy to swing around on someone on top of you.

It was a good conversation. His stories kinda made me edgy however.

g-duck62

the best home defense is definantly a 12ga., as a city policemen,I have known a few homeowners to take shots at would be burglars with various handguns over the years, only for the burglars to be long gone when we got there. but on tow occassion i have seen first hand what a 12ga. can do with the homeowner awaiting our arrival, and the burglar awaiting the squad. a .38 is an excellent weapon in the hand of an experienced user. a 12ga. allows a whole lot more margin for error, and remember you are more likely to use these weapons in dark or low light conditions. wouldnt you definantly rather have something that will fill a hall-way than require the accurate placement of one round. and i dont know anyone that would keep coming after being fired at with a 12ga.

Mainehunter

As some of you mentioned the .38.........I happened to catch a few minutes of a show a week or so back which explained the development of the .38 Special from the .38 S&W. They stated that the individual that developed the round used pine boards bound together to compare penetration of different ammo and that the .38 Special consistantly achieved 8 inches of penetration through these pine boards. If the .38 Special gets that degree of penetration what would you think the .357 Mag would do? Would that sort pf penetrating ability make you nervous to use it as a home defense round? It is a most awsome service handgun round and was my personal choice as a Deputy Sheriff in the early 90's. It was described to me by a local dealer as the most effective man stopper going. While I won't go that far myself the dropping power of the .357 is very proven.

I was never very impressed with the .38 though. The only role it served for me was the ability to target shoot with some cheaper ammo. It was rather disturbing to be armed with .38's in the Air Force in the 80's as a Security Policemen and later with the 9mm's while our friends in pararescue got those lovely .45's! As an armorer I was very jealous indeed.



&quot;The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.&quot;
John Adams