357 mag has kick? not really...

[ilikeguns]

Just shot my 357 magnum for the first time and am almost angry. All the research in the world boasted that, "357 magnum is a heavy recoiling round and that a 44 magnum, huh... forget about it."
The recoil of 357 magnum is more than manageable. In fact, it was child's play. I shot from a GP100 6 inch, and I can tell that a 4 inch or a lighter gun would still have been way easy on my hands. A snubby air-weight would be tough with 357, but other than that, recoil seems to be pretty easy.
Am I missing something or is the whole "357 magnum" hype simply hype. I feel a bit misled. Maybe I should have gone for a 44 magnum or a 500. Whats up?

Not saying its not effective (of course it is), I am asking specifically about the recoil. What gives?

[gorenut]

I guess ultimately, it depends on the load you're shooting and the size of the revolver. I do think most of the recoil hype is overstated (much like .40s) - but you also have the realize much of the recoil is absorbed by the platform you're firing from.

[mayo 111]

it depends on the gun. say if you shot it out of a 2 inch snub the kick would be more obvious.

the first time i shot .357 out of a 4 inch gp 100 and i felt the same way, but my smith and wesson model 36 snub, has waaay more felt recoil to it and im only shooting .38 specials out of that.. (just from my experience)

[OneSevenDeuce]

Recoil depends on many factors. Not just the diameter of the round.

[SnWnMe]

Folks perceive recoil differently.

[Kodemonkey]

357 mag has kick? not really...

Well, comparatively speaking it has more recoil than most other handguns. But I never thought it was too much too handle. My wife shoots our 686 4" pretty darn accurately with no problem. It's definitely louder than almost anything out there including a 12 gauge shotgun, and throws a good muzzle flash.

I can tell you I can't do follow up shots nearly as fast with a 357 as I can with a 9mm. But a single good placement with a 357 is all you really need.

[shooting4life]

I have a model 60 you can shoot with full house 357 rounds. Most recoil I have felt firing a handgun.

[Army GI]

Probably the load. The GP 100 is a stout handgun, but trying firing some full power 158gr or heavier loads and you will really feel it. 125gr range reloads are not much.

[sargenv]

It does really depend on the load.. I can likely load up something that could be termed as obnoxiously loud and flashy utilizing light bullets and a slow powder, or a heavier mid range bullet with a pretty good charge of slow burning powder.. Is it as powerful as a 41 or 44 magnum with their larger bullets? Not hardly.. but for most ppl, I think the loudness scares them and then it is percieved as recoil when in actuality, it is just loud and flashy.. My 7.5" 657 with 235 gr bullets launching those at 1320 fps will always have more felt recoil than a 6" GP 100 with either a 158 @ 1300 fps or a 180 @ 1100 fps.. more bullet weight at a higher speed will tend to do that even though the platform is larger (N frame Smith as opposed to a medium frame Ruger).

[TenSeven]

You want recoil?

I invite you to shoot some full-power .357 Speer Gold Dot's thru my S&W 340PD.

It's like catching a 90mph fastball bare handed.

[ArmednReady]

In my Sp101 when I fire .38 spl +p the gun itself kick, meaning the barrel rises pretty good but thats about it, but when I fire .357 mag 158 grain, you feel it throught your body and it kicks noticably more like I said you can feel the power of it but the recoild is never to much to handle.

[Hector]

10-4 on TenSevens comment !!!

My hand still hurts!

[norcal77]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. Certain rounds through my HK USPc have way more kick than the magnum...

[viet4lifeOC]

With regards to the Ruger GP 100..is there more recoil on a 4" barrel vs a 6" barrel? I've read that there's no noticable differencein accuracy.

Thanks

[Army GI]

With regards to the Ruger GP 100..is there more recoil on a 4" barrel vs a 6" barrel? I've read that there's no noticable differencein accuracy.

Thanks

Theoretically they're right, there should not be a difference. Unless one barrel is crooked or bent, they should shoot the same if you placed them both in a mechanical rest.

The accuracy increase comes from the longer sight radius on a longer barreled gun. The farther away the two sights are, the easier they are to more precisely align on the target.

Recoil will be less, sure, but not by much.

This question gets brought up a lot, and I always make a point that I prefer 6" barrels for magnum cartridges. Rounds like 9mm, 38 Special, 45 ACP, 45 Long Colt, 44 Special, all do fine with 4" barrels. The difference between a 4.75" .45 Colt and a 7.5" is maybe 50-75 fps.

But if you look at the ballistics of the 357 and 44 magnum, you will see that there is a large velocity increase when going from a 4" barrel to a 6" barrel. It can be as much as 200fps more, and this is just with factory ammo.