looking for a carry 357

[dgludwig]

QUOTE: "... For the LCR, I highly recommend checking out .327 Federal Magnum. It gives you six shots instead of five. Those shots have power upwards of 9mm +p but only recoil like .38 +p..."

My choice too but it has fixed sights. I wish they made this gun with a 3" long barrel (or at least one no shorter than 2 1/2") to help bring a little better .327 Magnum ballistics to the table.

[jfruser]

Small frame--
Taurus 651 snubbie rear sight adjustable for windage. .357mag 2in bbl titanium alloy. Own and carry one.

Small frame ti alloy .357 is like getting your open hand hit by a fastball. Most tone it down from full .357mag to loght mag or .38spl plus p. Lots of hot .38spl options between 38plus p and hot .357mag loads. Buff bore and underwood come to mind.

Medium frame--
Smith k frames of various sorts. Sometimes pack my wifes m64 snubby .38spl 2in bbl round butt. Packs easy in a don hume jit holster. She likes tgt wadcutters i like fbi load. Revolver doesnt care.

Med large
Smith l frame 2.5in snubby. I own a 4in bbl 686. Great revolver. 4in bbl sucks up recoil from hottest .357mag loads no problemo.

Good luck. Nothing wrong with a quality revolver as your primary carry. Just know that .357mag is not necessary for them to be effective and there are options ranging from mild to wild as far as ammo goes.

[Stephanie B]

3" Model 60, Model 66 or 686. Until the prices started going into low-Earth orbit, a 396 or a 696 would be good choices, for 5 rounds in .44 Special.

[Cosmodragoon]

My choice too but it has fixed sights. I wish they made this gun with a 3" long barrel (or at least one no shorter than 2 1/2") to help bring a little better .327 Magnum ballistics to the table.

Be sure to tell Ruger. Yeah, you might just be one voice but feedback is part of how markets are gauged.

[Pianoguy]

If you have to have adjustable/replaceable sights you pretty much narrow it down to the 686 or maybe a 3" Ruger GP-100. Most snub-nose revolvers keep it simple and for the close-in defense they are primarily meant for the sights are pretty much an after-thought.

I have an EAA Windicator - won't win any beauty contests but its got a pretty decent DA trigger, is surprisingly accurate and with 6 rounds of 357magnum it's certainly packs a punch - and has a very easy on the pocket-book pricetag.

I also have a Taurus Model 617 - pretty much exactly the same as the EAA but has 7 rounds (and costs $200 more!). Since it's a Taurus I'm always thinking the barrel will fly off with the next shot but until then it has a great trigger and is very accurate. It's one of my favorite guns of any kind.

Both are probably too heavy for pocket carry like a j-frame model but IWB they carry real easy and the extra weight makes them a breeze to shoot even with 357mags.

[Stargater53]

The S&W 60 is my hands down recommendation if you can afford it. But the Ruger is a good choice if cost is a factor. All Rugers come with gritty actions, so that shouldn't slow you down. Just put in new, lighter springs and dry fire it all you can during a good movie. Before you know it, the gritty feeling is gone and you've got a first rate pistol that's as strong as a tank.



The Ruger Speed-Six (bottom)
had a gritty trigger, but now it's
smooth as silk, yet it's had no action
job. The SP-101 (top) is much
smaller and is much more easily
concealed.




Ruger's LCRs are modern marvels, especially in the
.357 (top). But it is a bit heavier than the .38 (bottom),
which handles +P loads. And though many people won't
carry .357 loads, they buy the .357 LCR for the extra
control in shooting hot .38 rounds.


_

[Cosmodragoon]

Well put, Stargater53. I'd add that the LCR is an anomaly with its exceptional DA trigger right out of the box. I actually like it better than the Smith. Comparing the 38 and 357 models, I've carried both extensively and I absolutely notice that slight difference in size and weight. It's not much but it's enough. Of course, either is still a dream to carry.

[sig1]

Since you already are used to the g19 what about going to a g32, 357 sig. With the 4" barrel you will probably have more power than a short barrel wheel gun in the 357 mag. Here is underwoods load specs with a 4" barrel

357 sig
124 grain
1475 fps
604 ft. Lbs

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[chaim]

Originally Posted by Brando1972

I am selling my smith and wesson shield and I think I want to step up to a 357 revolver for carry. I typically carry a glock 19 so I figure if I am stepping down in round count might as well make it a bit more powerful.

So my two requests for it would be it doesn't have a barrel longer than 3 in and has adjustable or replaceable sights.

I have looked at a S&W model 60, a ruger sp101 and a ruger lcr... The model 60 is my favorite followed by the lcr. the sp101 had a less than pleasant trigger, the 60 felt incredible. I am hoping to keep cost down so a $800 performance center isn't gonna happen unfortunately. Am I missing any I should be looking at?


Thanks!

Most likely, you will need to compromise on at least one of your requirements. Very few guns in this category will be relatively affordable and have adjustable sights. A few will have pinned front sights, such as the current production S&W 60 and SP101, though current revolver prices aren't cheap (unfortunately, a S&W revolver doesn't need to be a Performance Center gun to reach the $800 range anymore).

The aforementioned S&W 60 and Ruger SP101 will meet both, but I am a strong believer that a small framed revolver in .357mag is not a good choice for a self-defense handgun (and I'm quickly turning away from the small frame revolver in .38spl despite having once been a fan). They are quite popular, as you can see by the recommendations on this thread. They have several advantages for carry: relatively lightweight, in .357mag they carry a lot of power in a small package (and in .38+P an adequate amount of power in a small package), small and easily concealed (they can be pocket carried and they completely disappear IWB), and comfortable to carry. However, they have some massive disadvantages in actual use: in such a small and lightweight gun the recoil is quite stout and can border on painful for many people (and even with .38+P they are pretty stout), the massive recoil of the .357mag means it is quite slow to return to target, the heavy recoil makes it unpleasant to shoot so you will probably spend less time practicing with it at the range than if you had a heavier gun, and the reduced training time can be a big issue since 2" small framed snubs are some of the hardest guns in which to become proficient. They only hold five rounds (one can see it as not a big deal to have only one fewer rounds than a 6-shot revolver, however, one can also look at the 6-shooter as having 20% greater ammo capacity, and there are 7 and 8 shot revolvers out there). Even reload speeds of the 5-shot snub don't push it above a 6 shot revolver, tactical reloads of a revolver involve using either a speedloader (one dump of the rounds either way should take the same time) or using a speed strip and loading the rounds two at a time (a 6 shot revolver will load 3 pairs at a time, the 5 shot will load two pairs at a time plus the one additional round= approx. the same amount of time to reload).

If you definitely decide to go with a small framed revolver, go with a 3" barrel. The extra weight will help a little to tame the recoil with .357mag and the .38+P will be quite reasonable. The extra barrel length will help a little with muzzle flip, and it will help quite a bit with practical accuracy. Another advantage of the 3" over the 2" is a significant ballistics advantage (revolver rounds suffer more than auto rounds from a short barrel, and while the 3" suffers compared to a 4" or 6" revolver, it is a substantial improvement over a 2").

My first choices to meet most of your requirements will probably be more expensive than you want. I'd go with a used (since they are discontinued) 3" S&W K-frame or either new or used 3" S&W 686+. A big advantage of the 686+ over the K-frame or regular 686 is that it holds 7 instead of 6 rounds of .357mag. These guns will be big and heavy enough to greatly tame the recoil, you will likely be much more accurate with it than with a small frame (especially in 2"), and they are still just light and small enough to be reasonably concealed with a good holster/belt combo (the K-frame being a tad lighter/smaller being better at this than the L-frame). The 3" L-frame (686) will have your adjustable sights, the 3" K-frame (a S&W 65 or 13) won't, but the 2.5" S&W 19 and 66 will. The 3" K-frame handles, balances, and points better than just about any other gun I own and may just be the best carry revolver ever made. If you are willing to take some time on the search you may find a used example in your price range. If you want it now, most current production 686+ revolvers go for over $700 and some approach quite close to $800 and most used 3" K-frames will be in that range as well.

The long discontinued Ruger Speed/Security/Service Six would be a good choice. Similar in size and advantages to the 3" K-frame, but they tend to command lower prices on the used market so you are more likely to find one within your price range. They should fit in K-frame holsters, and like most Rugers, they are nearly indestructible. Most of those you see advertised as 2.5" or 3" were 2.75", though I think they may have made a few true 2.5" and they definitely made some true 3" guns. The Security Six had adjustable sights. The Ruger GP100 would be a good choice as well if it isn't too bulky for you, though you'd have to compromise one way or the other (be on price but fixed sights for the regular 3", or better sights but be in the $700 range on the Wiley Clapp edition)

If you are willing to compromise the sights and go with traditional revolver style fixed sights with a front ramp, but want to stay on budget, the Taurus 617 is an interesting possibility and I personally went with a 3" Rossi 461 (I have one in both 2" and 3"). The Taurus is a 2" 7-shot .357mag revolver which is almost exactly halfway between a S&W K-frame and J-frame in size, with a 28oz weight which should help tame the .357mag. The Rossi is a blued, 6-shot, small frame .357mag approx. the size of the old Cold Detective Special. It usually comes as a 2" but is released periodically as a 3". The 462 is the same gun in stainless, but I'm not sure if it is ever released as a 3" gun. While the Rossi 461/462 is a small framed revolver, it is heavier than the S&W and Taurus, and the same weight (the 2" is 26oz) as the SP101 so it is a slight improvement (though magnums are still quite unpleasant to shoot out of a gun this light).

As for my personal choices, like I mentioned, when looking for a good carry .357mag I recently went with the 3" Rossi (and already had a 2" Rossi). It works, but it is not my favorite. I have a couple 2" J-frames/equivalents in .38spl that I used for years (a Taurus 85 and a S&W 442) but both are up for sale. Some years ago I owned a 2" Taurus 605 but hated shooting magnums in it and sold it. I have a 3" S&W 65LS which would be my choice if it wasn't my 1st .357mag, and one of my first guns (I have shot it a lot, but cosmetically it is near perfect and I want it to stay that way), and I'd get another 3" K-frame if they were still made and used versions weren't getting so expensive. My plan is to trade the Rossis on a 3" S&W 686+ within a year or two, and if Taurus ever does a 3" run of the 617 I'd consider trading them on that.