NationMaster - Encyclopedia: .357 magnum

.357 Magnum
.357 Magnum ammunition
Type	Handgun
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Elmer Keith and Phillip Sharpe
Designed	1934
Specifications
Parent case	.38 Special
Case type	Rimmed, straight
Bullet diameter	.358 in (9.09 mm)
Neck diameter	.379 in (9.63 mm)
Base diameter	.379 in (9.63 mm)
Rim diameter	.440 in (11.18 mm)
Rim thickness	.060 in (1.52 mm)
Case length	1.29 in (32.77 mm)
Overall length	1.59 in (40.39 mm)
Primer type	Small pistol, magnum
Ballistic performance
Bullet weight/type	Velocity	Energy
130 gr JHP	1410 ft/s (~430 m/s)	574 ft·lbf (~781 J)
158 gr JSP	1240 ft/s (~378 m/s)	539 ft·lbf (~733 J)
180 gr Lead	1060 ft/s (~323 m/s)	449 ft·lbf (~611 J)
Test barrel length: 4 inches (vented) Source: Federal ^[1]

Marlin Model 1894C — a carbine in .357 Magnum that is a companion to revolvers

Smith & Wesson Model 686-P and 8"-barrel 686 Silhouette .357 Magnum revolvers

The .357 Magnum is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip Sharpe, Winchester,^[2]^[3] and the firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in 1934, and its use has since become widespread. This cartridge started the "Magnum" era of handgun ammunition.^[4] . ... 357 Magnum ammo. ... Elmer Keith (March 8, 1899 â€“ February 12, 1984) was an Idaho rancher, highly influential firearms enthusiast, and author. ... A M4 Carbine just after firing, with an ejected case in mid-air The article titled casing is a disambiguation page. ... Left to right: .38 Special, .17 HMR and . ... A bullet is a solid projectile propelled by a firearm or air gun and is normally made from metal (usually lead). ... The percussion cap or primer was the crucial invention that enabled firearms to fire in any weather. ... A grain is a unit of mass equal to 0. ... .357 Magnum rounds. ... Feet per second is a unit of speed; it expressses the number of feet traveled in one second. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... The foot-pound force (symbol: ftÂ·lbf) is an English unit of work or energy from the English Engineering System. ... The joule (IPA pronunciation: or ) (symbol: J) is the SI unit of energy. ... A grain is a unit of mass equal to 0. ... Feet per second is a unit of speed; it expressses the number of feet traveled in one second. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... The foot-pound force (symbol: ftÂ·lbf) is an English unit of work or energy from the English Engineering System. ... The joule (IPA pronunciation: or ) (symbol: J) is the SI unit of energy. ... A grain is a unit of mass equal to 0. ... Feet per second is a unit of speed; it expressses the number of feet traveled in one second. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... The foot-pound force (symbol: ftÂ·lbf) is an English unit of work or energy from the English Engineering System. ... The joule (IPA pronunciation: or ) (symbol: J) is the SI unit of energy. ... Image File history File links Marlin1894C.jpgâ€Ž Photo Â© by Jeff Dean File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Marlin1894C.jpgâ€Ž Photo Â© by Jeff Dean File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Category: ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Smith & Wesson (S & W) Model 686, is a six or seven shot double action revolver chambered for the . ... rEVOLVEr (2004) is the fourth studio album release by Swedish thrash metal band The Haunted. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Elmer Keith (March 8, 1899 â€“ February 12, 1984) was an Idaho rancher, highly influential firearms enthusiast, and author. ... Winchester is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3 mile radius of its centre. ... A Glock 22 hand-held firearm with internal laser sight and mounted flashlight, surrounded by hollowpoint ammunition. ... Smith & Wesson NASDAQ: SWHC (S&W) is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. ... Left to right: .38 Special, .17 HMR and . ... Look up magnum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

1 Design
2 Performance
3 Comparisons
4 Factory loads
5 Synonyms
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Design

The .357 Magnum was developed over a period of time in the early to mid-1930s in a direct response to Colt's .38 Super Automatic. At the time, the .38 Super was the only pistol cartridge capable of defeating automobile cover and the early body armor that was just beginning to emerge in the post-World War I "Gangster Era"^[2]. Tests at the time revealed that those early ballistic vests defeated any handgun cartridge traveling at less than about 1000 ft/s. Colt's .38 Super Automatic just edged over that velocity and was able to penetrate car doors and vests that bootleggers and gangsters were employing as cover. The . ... ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street in the Birmingham city centre in 1979. ...

In order to reassert itself as the leading law enforcement armament provider, Smith & Wesson developed the .357 Magnum. The new round was developed from its existing .38 Special round; it used a different powder load, and ultimately the case was extended by 1/8th of an inch (3.2 mm). The case extension was more a matter of safety than of necessity. Because the .38 Special and the early experimental .357 Magnum cartridges were identical in physical attributes, it was possible to load an experimental .357 Magnum cartridge in a .38 Special revolver, with potentially disastrous results. Extending the case slightly made it impossible to chamber the magnum-power round in a gun not designed for the additional pressure.^[2]

Much credit for the .357's development is given to hunter and experimenter Elmer Keith. Keith's work in loading the .38 Special to increasingly higher pressure levels was made possible by the availability of heavy, target shooting-oriented revolvers like the Smith & Wesson 38/44 "Heavy Duty" and "Outdoorsman", .38-caliber revolvers built on .44-caliber frames. While the .38 Special cartridge is limited to 16,500 c.u.p. (copper units of pressure), the .357 Magnum is loaded to 35,000 c.u.p. The objective was to create a handgun cartridge that combined deep penetration, flat trajectory, and long range. Left to right: .38 Special, .17 HMR and . ... Copper units of pressure or CUP, and the related lead units of pressure or LUP, are units used in the field of internal ballistics for the estimation of chamber pressures in firearms. ... Mathematically the term trajectory refers to the ordered set of states which are assumed by a dynamical system over time (see e. ...

Performance

This cartridge is regarded by many as an excellent self-defense round; it still enjoys a reputation of being the gold standard of stopping power among handgun cartridges. Some of those who have used it have described a "struck by lightning" reaction in those hit with it. For big game, such as ungulates and bears (which have a sturdier build than humans), it is inferior to the .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, .41 Magnum and other larger magnum rounds. Still, it is a fine small and medium game round and will kill deer very reliably at short range if the right loads (140 grain and heavier hollow-point bullets) are carefully used by a qualified marksman. ^[5] It has similar stopping power on game to the .45 Long Colt with a much flatter trajectory. It is a very versatile cartridge, and can be used with success for self defense, plinking, hunting, or target shooting.^[6] Self defense refers to actions taken by a person to defend onself, ones property or ones home. ... It has been suggested that manstopper be merged into this article or section. ... Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated (such as venison). ... Orders & Clades Order Perissodactyla Eparctocyona Order Arctostylonia (extinct) Order Mesonychia (extinct) Cetartiodactyla Order Cetacea Order Artiodactyla Bulbulodentata (extinct) Family Hyopsodontidae Meridiungulata (extinct) Order Litopterna Notoungulata (extinct) Order Toxodontia Order Typotheria Ungulates (meaning roughly being hoofed or hoofed animal) are several groups of mammals most of which use the tips of... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda The . ... The . ... The . ... This article is about the ruminant animal. ... .357 Magnum rounds. ... The . ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Guns in .357 Magnum caliber have the advantage of being able to fire .38 Special ammunition, with its lower cost, recoil, noise, and muzzle flash. It has also become popular as a "dual use" cartridge in short, light rifles like the Old West lever-actions. In a rifle, the bullet will exit the barrel at about 1,800 feet per second (550 m/s), making it far more versatile than the .30 Carbine or the .32-20 Winchester. In the 1930s, it was found to be very effective on steel body armor, and metal-penetrating rounds were once popular in the United States among highway patrol and other police organizations. The .357 revolver has been largely replaced by modern, high-capacity semi-automatic pistols for police use, but is still very popular for backup gun use, and among outdoorsmen, security guards, and civilians for self defense and hunting. Great Basin region, typical American West The Western United States has played a significant role in history and fiction. ... A lever-action is a type of firearm which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area (often including the trigger guard itself) to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is cranked. The most famous of such lever-action firearms is the Winchester... The . ... .303 in. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A highway patrol is either a police agency created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, such as the California Highway Patrol, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties, such as... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Comparisons

The .357 Magnum was a direct competitor with the .38 Super, which was designed for semi-automatic pistols. Ballistic performance for the two rounds is very similar. However since the .357 is usually chambered in revolvers, it can be shot in barrels longer than one would normally find in automatics, giving it an increase in performance.

In terms of accuracy, the .357 Magnum has at least the same potential for precision shooting as the benchmark .38 Special wadcutter round—indeed, a good .357 Magnum revolver will happily shoot .38 Special wadcutter ammunition with good results. It is this accuracy and power, and the versatility of also being capable of using less-expensive, milder .38 Special ammunition, that makes a .357 Magnum revolver an excellent gun for many different disciplines, from 20 yard (20 m) precision shooting to long range falling-plate events. It is an excellent round for those considering handloading ammunition, as it is economical and consistently performs well. .32 S&W Long wadcutter round (left), next to a round nose . ... Handloading is the process used by many shooters to create firearm cartridges by assembling individual cartridge components (bullet, powder, primer and case), rather than purchasing completely assembled cartridges which have been factory loaded and offered for sale commercially, generally in packages of 5 to 50. ...

As mentioned above, the .357 Magnum was developed from the earlier .38 Special. This was possible because the .38 Special was originally designed to use black powder, which requires two to five times as much powder by weight to produce the same velocity with the same bullet as does the much more efficient smokeless powder. Thus the .38 Special has a relatively large case; the 9 mm Parabellum was introduced the same year, 1902, but was originally designed for smokeless powder, and for higher pressures (~35,000 psi). It therefore produces considerably more power than the .38, despite its case having less than 1/2 the powder capacity. Most 9 mm powder charges fill the case to the base of the bullet, and some are heavily compressed. Many .38 Special loads use the same powders, in similar charge weights, but because the case is so much larger, those charges only fill the case about half full; light target loads with fast burning powders may only fill the case perhaps 1/8 full. Filling the case with slower-burning powders produces much more power, but also much more pressure—far too much pressure for older, smaller-frame revolvers chambered in .38 Special. It was to accommodate these high-pressure, high-power loads that the longer .357 Magnum, together with the stronger revolvers designed to handle it, was developed. Black powder was the original gunpowder and practically the only known propellant and explosive until the middle of the 19th century. ... Smokeless powder Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of gunpowder-like propellants used in firearms which produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the older black powder which it replaced. ... ball and hollowpoint 9mm Luger rounds are popular handgun ammunition. ...

Factory loads

Winchester 125 gr (8.1 g) Jacketed HP = 1450 ft/s (440 m/s), 583 ft·lbf (790 J)
Winchester 158 gr (10.2 g) Jacketed HP = 1235 ft/s (375 m/s), 535 ft·lbf (725 J)

A grain is a unit of mass equal to 0. ... The foot-pound force (symbol: ftÂ·lbf) is an English unit of work or energy from the English Engineering System. ... The joule (IPA pronunciation: or ) (symbol: J) is the SI unit of energy. ...

Synonyms

.357
357
.357 mag
.357 Remington Magnum
.357 S&W Magnum
.357 Mangle'em (slang)
9x33mmR (European designation)

References

^ Federal Cartridge Co. ballistics page
^ ^a ^b ^c " The 20th Century's Top Handgun Cartridges" by Dick Metcalf in Shooting Times February, 2000
^ Barnes, Frank C. [1965] (2006). in Skinner, Stan: Cartridges of the World, 11th Edition, Iola, WI, USA: Gun Digest Books, 299. ISBN 0-89689-297-2.
^ "The .357 Magnum" by Chuck Hawks
^ "The Three-Fifty-Seven Magnum's in My Life" by Jim Taylor at Leverguns.com
^ "The Versatile .357 Magnum" by Chuck Hawks (subscription required)

External links

Coonan pistol - semi-automatic pistol in .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum Videos

Categories: Pistol and rifle cartridges | Hunting

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