Right now I use a Ruger .380 because i can slip it in my front pants pocket. I’ve not shot off any of my vital parts yet...
My daughter shoots both, but she is most deadly with the 357. I agree that the 45 is probably a knockdown at close range, however.
Both are great rounds. 357 for hunting small/medium game and 45 for SD although I prefer the 9mm with modern bullets for SD.
I give .357 the nod because I prefer revolvers. Call me old-fashioned. These new-fangled semi-automagics get me all twitterpated.
:^)
There is a lot more than close vs range on .45 vs .357.
Capacity is a big deal. You get 6 shots before a reload on a .357.
That said, .357 Magnum has around 50% more energy than a .45, all things equal.
I have both guns. I keep my .357 with Buffalo bore 180gr hard cast bullets in case a black bear invades the house again. (one came through the kitchen window in 2007). With a hardcast bullet, you get significant penetration, something necessary to kill bears.
While I would rather shoot a bear with a .45 than nothing, I’ll take the .357 of the two. I wouldn’t want to piss off a brown bear with either though.
I think that anyone who gets shot buy either of these calibers, close range or far range, will not fare very well. Run hollow point ammo through both of them, and no person shot with either of them will be able to do much damage to you.
But if I had to choose, .357, just because I prefer revolvers.
5 rules of a gun fight:
1) gun beats no gun
2) hit beats a miss
3) fast beats slow
4) bigger holes beat smaller holes
5) If it is worth shooting once, shoot twice
FBI statistics show that the .32 acp is by far, the best at ending a fight. It had the lowest number of rounds to incapacitate and highest accuracy. .380 and .38 special ran a close second.
I believe that is a direct correlation with rules #1 and #2. I also believe that far too many people carry too much gun.
How can you compare a .357 to a .45.
Two different platforms. A .357 is the most effective ballistics wise. No doubt about that. Both long and short range.
It’s really semi vs. revolver.
I reload and have safely pushed 158 grain .357 bullets to 2000 fps from a Marlin 1894C carbine. That's good enough for deer out to 50 yards, which I've done.
I like both, I prefer My 45 because the hole hollow points make coming out and the bullet won’t kill someone else the next block over.
Answer: 15 rounds of 9mm.
The several "ACP" designated cartridges were obsoleted by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures Institute (SAAMI) prior to WWII and replaced with the nomenclature "AUTO" Where have these people been for the last seven decades?
The basic problem is that most gun writers obtained their entire education about guns and ammo from reading other gun writer's tripe.
It is no more appropriate to use obsolete cartridge designations than to address a married woman by her maiden name.
And don't be fooled by the charlatans that the .45 ACP and .45 Auto cartridges are the same. They are not! They are built to entirely different technical data packages and different pressure testing systems and different pressure specifications. The fact that they looks similar is meaningless with respect to safety considerations. Same with .223 Rem vs. 5.56mm, Plus P vs. standard pressure loads, etc.
Please don't waste your and others time be seeking out and posting a list of other people or off-shore companies that are also ignorant of proper cartridge designations.
If you have a computer, you can Google saami.org and learn the proper and abbreviated names of all SAAMI approved cartridges. Or go to the American National Standards Institute for the same information.
It's the head stamp, stupid!
I clicked on the link and was greeted with a picture of a .357 Mag and a cartridge which in probably .45 caliber but is not a .45 ACP. Looks like maybe a .45 Long Colt (A caliber I don’t shoot)
If you can’t decide, then you should own at least one of each.
Get both, practice a lot; hope you never have to use either.
That said, I received a Smith 29 recently, and I'm still working on the script. Before you shoot somebody you gotta say, "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, in all the excitement I kinda forgot myself. But being as how this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world...oh, wait, that isn't true anymore, but it's one of the most powerful...well, that sort of depends on the load, but it can be one of the most powerful handguns in the world with the right ammo and can blow your head clean off...well, I mean, not really all the way off but pretty near..." By the time you're through the disclaimer the guy has crawled away.
Get the best of both worlds. Go Coonan Classic:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2010/07/robert-farago/the-return-of-the-coonan-357-automatic/
Desert Eagle 357 is bigger than a 1911. No way I packing that every day unless you are paying me.
Have carried 1911s and a Browning Hi-Power. My best and current warm and fuzzy is a Dan Wesson .357 with the snubby barrel and small grip.
Every day.
For later.
L
not a very good test..
should have both guns clamped on a table at the same time where the bullet paths make a triangle with the top cut off and hit the same target in two places.
insure that the head of the bullet is the same width
the BEST Target for them would be three reams of paper in the package...
then you count the pages that are pierced as each page is the same thickness, no grain, and three reams is enough to stop bullets.. (but not arrows, which have greater penetration than a 30.06)
if they use the reams of paper, they have a match for every test they do, and its a cheap test too... but much better