Hickok45 - Colt Trooper MKIII

I would love to have another old wheelgun in .357 Magnum. I have an Astra Target Model in .357 Magnum that was my fathers gun. I wouldn't mind having a Trooper or a Python.

What I would really like to get is either a S&W Model 13 with a 3 inch barrel and a round butt or an older Taurus Model 65 with a 3 inch barrel.

I've contacted Taurus about ordering a Model 65 with a 3 inch barrel but I was told that unless I wanted to order 100 of them I couldn't get the pistol I want. That's not nice.

About a year ago I wrote an article for a private website about how I felt the .357 Magnum is probably the best round for a survival situation and listed the various why and what fors. I'm going to reproduce it below with all of it's spelling and grammatical errors.

Why .357 Magnum is the best all-purpose Survival Caliber

By: GreyLocke

What do you think is the best “All Purpose” caliber for survival purposes? Many will say .22 Long Rifle is the best all-purpose caliber except for one problem.

You cannot reload .22 Long Rifle ammunition.

However you can reload .357 Magnum and .38 Special ammunition. You can reload them with a variety of bullet types and weights and powder charges. You can even load it with black powder and still have an effective load.

The .357 Magnum cartridge is based upon the .38 Special Cartridge which is itself based on the .38 Long Colt which is based on the .38 Short Colt, which was originally designed for Cartridge Conversions of the 1851 Colt Navy, cap and ball revolver. It is visually similar to the .38 S&W also known as the .38-200 in the UK, but cannot be used in firearms chambered and marked for the .38S&W.

For many years the .38 Special was the round used by almost every police department and federal law enforcement agency in the United States. Even today, there are some small departments and security agencies that still use the .357 Magnum/.38 Special round in revolvers.

But how is does that make it the best all-purpose round in a survival situation?

Simple.

The .357 Magnum/.38Special is very easy to reload. I personally have loaded several hundred rounds of .38 Special with a simple Lee Loader. Using small pistol primers, Blue Dot shotgun powder and 110 grain cast Lead Round Nose bullets, I have made a very inexpensive load with light recoil, which my kids enjoy shooting and is very accurate and I have taken a couple rabbits with. I have also used the same lee Loader to load .357 Magnum loads with a 158 grain Hard cast lead using H110 powder, still with small pistol primers to make a load more than capable of taking down a deer, wild boar or a human if necessary.

With a Lee Loader, two or three good bullet molds, primers and powder, I can make a load for the .357 Magnum/.38 Special, which take most game animals in the U.S. from a squirrel upto a moose with proper shot placement.

You may notice I keep writing .357 Magnum/.38 Special. There is a reason. The .357 Magnum will chamber and fire the .38 Special round safely and easily. The only difference between the two rounds besides the power and pressure is 3.2mm. The case of a .357 is 3.2 mm longer than the case of the .38 Special. So .357 Magnum rounds will not chamber in a .38 Special firearm. However any .357 will chamber and fire the .38 Special, the .38 Long Colt and the .38 Short Colt.

So you can have 1 firearm that is capable of firing 4 different chamberings of ammunition. And you can load all of them with a Lee Loader, with some small modifications for the .38 Short Colt.

Even if you don’t have a Lee Loader you CAN reload the .357 Magnum/.38 Special with a nail, small wooden dowel and using a cast lead round ball you can buy a casting mold for or as it more commonly called 000 (Triple Aught) Buckshot. Yes you can load the .357/.38 using a round ball and it will shoot surprisingly accurately out to 30 yards.

But how to reload it with a nail and a dowel you ask…

Simple. I use a long finishing nail to fit inside the cases primer hole and tap the primer out. Then put the new primer on a small flat metal surface. Take a wooden dowel, which fits inside the case snugly, and hammer the dowel down on the primer, seating the new primer in the case. Then you add your measured charge of powder and cap it off with your round ball and tap it down to seat it in the case. It takes a bit of experimentation to get the load right but you can even use regular 3 or 4 F Black-powder as your gunpowder. Just be sure to properly clean your firearm after shooting Black Powder loads.

There are also ways of re-using a fired primer if you look for the video’s and articles available on line.

So are you still asking why I think the .357 Magnum is the best All-Purpose Survival Round?

Firearms that fire the .357 are available in Single Action revolvers, Double Action Revolvers, Lever Action Rifles and Single Shot Rifles.

If my dream of a M1 Carbine chambered in .357 Magnum/.38 Special ever comes true, I’d buy one in a heartbeat.

So the reasons why the .357 Magnum would be the best Survival round are simple.

It is powerful enough for hunting game.

It is powerful enough for self-defense

It can be reloaded easily.

Its loads can be modified to fit what you are hunting.

Components for reloading it are a little easier to acquire or in some case make yourself.

There are dozens of manufacturers making firearms in .357 Magnum. And they all can shoot the other .38 variants as well (with the exception of the .38-200).

You can reload an empty case several times as they don’t get damaged or lost through a violent ejection from a semi-auto (Unless you shoot a Coonan, L.A.R. Grizzly or Desert Eagle) sometimes over a dozen times if you are using light loads.

A good .357 Magnum Revolver and a .357 Magnum Rifle will share ammunition as well. And with a rifle or carbine a 75 to 100 yard shot on a deer is easily doable if necessary. Maybe a bit further is you have a scope and the proper load.

So you see, why I have a .357 magnum. And why I consider it the best All-Purpose Survival Caliber.

And I still believe that a .357 Magnum Rifle and Pistol combo is the best all around Survival Caliber.  Not a "Zombie Apocalypse" Caliber, but "Survival"  As in you and your family are on a long rode trip and the car broke down way back in the woods.  Or you want one caliber that allows every member of your family to be able to shoot every firearm if necessary.  I wouldn't give my mother my Dad's old Astra loaded with full power loads because the recoil is very brisk, but I would give her the same gun with light .38 Special or even .38 Colt Long rounds, as the recoil is negligible and almost non-existent in such a large revolver.


So you are not under gunned with a .357 Magnum.  Realistically you aren't going to get into a gunfight with a drug gang or terrorists.  So a revolver chambered in .38 Special or .357 Magnum with 2 speed loaders or 2 speed strips should cover 99% on any situation you might find yourself in.

Do I still carry a revolver myself?  Not any more.  I now carry a FEG in .32 ACP.  So you are probably going to say that I'm a hypocrite advocating for the revolver when I don't carry it myself now.  No, I'm not.

I have physical/health issues, and carrying a 4" revolver with the issues I have, is kind of hard.  If I can find that old style Charter Arms Undercover with the exposed ejector rod that I have been trying to locate or a 3 inch round butt S&W Model 13, I would carry it.  But until then, I carry my FEG.

My oldest daughter, however carries a Taurus Model 82 .38 Special.  Because I gave it to her since I can't carry it anymore.

And remember.  It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.