You Will Shoot Your Eye Out

Let’s think about that stopping power/velocity question I hear so often. Our bullet weights ranged from 110 grains to 160 grains, and velocities of the .357s ranged from a low of 944 fps (Extreme Shock 160 gr.) in the 2.25″ Performance Center .357 J-frame, to a high of 1,496 fps (Buffalo Bore 140-gr. Barnes) in the 6.5″ Highway Patrolman. I tossed in the rifle velocities just for fun so you could see what happens when you bring a rifle to a handgun fight, even when using some pistol calibers. The Ruger gave 1,957 with that same Buffalo Bore load, and 2,080 with DoubleTap’s 110 Barnes. Once you reach near 2,000 fps, serious things begin to happen, and then velocity tends to work well — but not so much before then.

But what did we learn? As far as handgun loads go, I learned you don’t want to shoot heavy .357 loads in J-frame guns, especially in lightweight models. Muzzleblast is shocking (I can’t imagine firing one without hearing protection, like at night in your bedroom …) and the palm-slapping recoil borders on uncontrollable. Just don’t do it. But look at those velocities — any of the loads tested, from the low of 944 to the high of 1,496 would be very capable self-defense loads. And, if it were me, I’d lean toward the moderate ones, with heavier bullets, so they aren’t so much of a handful. Check out how the velocity of some loads increased with barrel length, and not so much for others. The more consistent loads often offer good performance in shorter barrels since the powders seem to burn well in shorter barrels. The penalty in recoil, muzzleblast, controllability and cost when you move from 950 fps to 1,450 fps is extreme, while the stopping power increase is hard to measure in the real world. Read that sentence again. Stopped is stopped, regardless of the velocity.

I threw in the 148-gr. .38 Special wadcutters just for fun. Note from 2.25″ to 6.5″ you don’t gain a thing. As a matter of fact, other than the slight increase in the 4″ gun (normal velocity variances) it was very consistent. That’s why that load if so accurate, and burns cleanly in short-barreled guns. Gel testing I’ve done shows 148-gr. lead wadcutters often penetrate 14″ or more, and offer mild recoil and no muzzle flash. Hmm … maybe velocity isn’t that important after all? Before you get hysterical, think this over some more and hang-loose until we run that stopping power article soon.

Unless you’re approaching rifle velocities, why beat yourself and your handguns up worrying about a gain of 100 or even 300 fps or so? A 950 fps bullet of adequate design will stop someone virtually as well as the same bullet at 1,250 fps, and sometimes better — so it’s time to stop worrying. If you’re hunting, velocity and bullet construction can be very important, but not as much as you might think. We’ll talk about that another time. A bunch of stuff to think about, I’d say?