biggunz.45-70

Over penetration isa huge concern for a home defense gun. I used to carry a concealed .357 in a crowded building so I used a 110 grain bullet to maximize expansion.

HighDesertWolf

better yet, use frangible loads

bigcountry

See for me, I am looking for penetration. I live alone, and have a big house and alot of space around me. If I ever was broken into, I want to penetrate the wall the scumbag is hiding behind. Thats the reason I use 240gr XTP in my 44mag. Ain't no pine 2X4 going to stop that one.

the Razorhead

You'd be suprised what a .357 is and is NOT capable of... that being said, I load 158 gr Sierra JFP's (which I'm not even sure they make anymore) over Olin 296

bigcountry

Oh yea, whats it not capable of?

HighDesertWolf

A 357 magnum is capable enough in my book I loaded up some 158 grain fmj's and shooting at a piece of 3/8 inch thick iron plate from about 50 yards they were going clean through I also shot a couple of the montana gold 125 grain JHP's and they were just about going through cupping the impact side and cracking the backside enough that some of the jacket and lead was actually going through. With those results I guarentee they would have absolutely no problem going through a 2x4 or maybe 2 or 3 LOL

HighDesertWolf

Got me thinkin and i remembered way back in the day a friend had a marlin carbine in 357 mag he wanted to see how much penetration it had, he had a bunch of wall board scraps leftover from a job he stacked 30 half inch thick pieces of wallboard and shot into it from just a foot or so with a factory hornady 158 grain XTP/HP we found the slug in the 26th piece it did not mushroom at all we literally could have reused the bullet. In my book thats some serious penetration. What can it not do???