JOHN TAFFINThe 1930's were tough times. The roaring '20's became the depression'30's putting many honest men out of work, and the dishonest ones had causedbootlegging and bank robbing to reach epidemic proportions. Police officers,already overworked and underpaid, found themselves facing a better armed,better organized adversary. Suddenly the peace officers at all levels wereinadequately armed with double action .38 Specials from Colt or Smith &Wesson, while the other side had gone to .45 semi-autos and the infamous"Chicago Chopper", the Thompson sub-machine gun.
The two major firearms companies immediately went to work to providenew handguns for the nation's peace officers. Colt seemed to sense whatcoming, and was first on the market introducing the .38 Super in 1930.This was simply the Model 1911 .45, chambered for a new high speed .38.The .38 Super pushed its 130 grain full metal jacketed bullet at 1300 fpsand did it ten times before reloading was necessary. It seems that neithershooters nor police officers were yet ready for a modern semi-automatic,and Smith & Wesson stayed with the tried and true traditional revolver.After the .38 Super was introduced, the Springfield firm started workingwith their .44 frame (now N-frame) revolver in a hotter version of the.38 Special. Both gun and ammunition were dubbed the .38-44 Heavy Duty.Those .38-44 Outsdoorsman Models with adjustable sights and fixed sighted.38-44 Heavy Duty double action sixguns were some of the finest revolversever turned out by Smith & Wesson.
Elmer Keith reported his testing of an early batch of .38-44 ammunitionthrough a five inch .38-44, and Phil Sharpe, noted ammunition expert ofthe 1930's also worked with the new .38 with the end result being botha new gun from Smith & Wesson and ammunition from Winchester as theMagnum was introduced in 1935. The new sixgun was nothing more thanthe .38-44 with specially heat treated cylinder and frame and chamberedfor a new cartridge that was one-tenth of an inch longer than the .38 Specialand named, of course, the .357 Magnum.
Those first .357's were in reality custom-made, one at a time and inaddition to being serially numbered, they were also registered by Smith& Wesson, that is marked with a second number and a special certificatemade out to the original owner. They were available in barrel lengths from3 1/2 inches up to 8 3/4 inches and virtually any length in between. Thelongest and shortest were the most popular with two groups of people: outdooorsmanand peace officers.
Colonel Doug Wesson promoted the first Magnum by using it to take antelope,moose, elk, and grizzly bear. The age of handgun hunting had arrived. Early3 1/2 inch .357 Magnums became popular with FBI agents after one of thefirst was presented to J. Edgar Hoover. And no less a future personalitythan soon-to-be General George Patton, purchased a 3 1/2 inch .357 Magnumin Hawaii in 1935. Fitted with ivory grips to match his Colt Single Action.45, Patton called his .357 his "killin' gun." Patton used theivory gripped mis-matched pair as a trademark and actually had two holsterrigs made up by S.D. "Tio Sam" Myres so he could wear eithergun on either side as desired. This caused much confusion as it is stilloften erroneously reported that he carried a pair of Colt Single Action.45's.
The first Magnum became an instant hit and Colt chambered both theirSingle Action and New Service Model for the .357 Magnum. Many of the ColtSingle Action .357 "pre-war" models went across the Atlanticto take part in the Battle of Britain.
While the guns chambered for the first Magnum were successes, the earlyammunition was not. The first .357 Magnum ammo was powered by a large rifleprimer, a plus, but the bullets were so soft as to cause serious barrelleading with the use of a cylinder full or two, a definite negative. Handloaderswere able to overcome this problem by using hard cast bullets to replacethe soft swaged factory bullets; jacketed bullets for the .357 were stilloff in the future.
The .357 Magnum, the first, and to many appreciative shooters, the bestof the Magnums, has been a steady seller for the past fifty plus years.Of all the Magnums, it delivers the most muzzle energy in exchange forthe least felt recoil. While it was looked upon as some kind of magicalround in the 1930's, one that would penetrate any automobile or down anygame animal, it has been put into proper perspective over the years, andhas become a favorite of shooters who also realize its limitations. Itis at its best as a defensive round; a varmint and small game round forhunters and outdoorsman; and is only pressed into service for big gameoccasionally, and is generally regarded as a round that should only beused by expert shots for hunting anything above the size of coyotes. Inrecent years, it has proven to be an excellent round for both long- andshort-range silhouetting when used with the proper guns and loads.
The .357 has been the favorite of some notable gun writers and lookedupon with disdain by others. Elmer Keith regarded it as barely adequate,and one got the feeling that he would never own one as it was nothing morethan a hot .38 Special. However when I recently examined all of his sixguns,I found an ivory gripped early Smith & Wesson 3 1/2 inch .357 amongthem. Skeeter Skelton held the .357 in high esteem, both in the originalSmith & Wesson .357 with a 5 inch barrel and the original Ruger Blackhawkwith a 6 1/2 inch barrel. And one cannot ignore Bill Jordan and the .357he designed in conjunction with Smith and Wesson, namely the .357 CombatMagnum.
Let's look at some of the best .357's that are available to shooterstoday and perhaps even take a short stroll down memory lane to look atsome of those that are no more. Come along and enjoy the first Magnum,the .357.
SMITH & WESSON: Smith & Wesson started it all, of course, asoutlined above. The original .357, now the Model 27, sadly has been droppedfrom the S&W lineup. A classy feature of the Model 27 is the finelinecheckering found on the top strap and barrel rib. As the checkering onthe top of a Model 27 is observed, one literally feels he has traversedback into a time when guns were lovingly assembled more by the hands ofskilled craftsmen and less by machine.
The original 8 3/4 inch barrel of the 1930's .357 was quickly "shortened"to 8 3/8 inches to conform to sight-radius target-shooting rules of thetime. Two of the most popular lengths, the 3 1/2 inch was favored by FBIagents of yesteryear, and Skeeter Skelton's favorite was the 5 inch length.
In the 1950's, Bill Jordan, then of the U.S. Border Patrol, began tobeat the drum for a smaller, lighter .357; one that a peace officer couldcarry all day with less fatigue than the N-frame .357. The result was themating of the K-frame .38 Special with a .357 cylinder and heavy barrelwith enclosed ejector rod. The resulting model, the .357 Combat Magnum,now Model 19, is one of the slickest, little carry guns ever devised. Fullyloaded, the 4 inch K-frame Magnum shaved six ounces from the weight ofthe 3 1/2 inch Model 27 plus it was much less bulky. By the 1980's, someCombat Magnum/Model 19 shooters, as well as those using its stainless counterpart,the Model 66, were complaining that the K-frame would not hold up to modernammunition. Jordan originally devised the K-frame Magnum as one to be practicedwith using .38 Specials and fed .357's for serious business. When shootersstarted pushing thousands of rounds of Magnum ammunition through the 19/66some problems developed with forcing cone wear and guns shooting loose.Since the vast majority of my loads through Model 19's have been cast bullets,I have never experienced any problems with mine. In fact, when I shot theSheriff's Department Qualification Course with the little 19 and even afteryears of use, it turned in a perfect 300 x 300 score.
But the problem was real and Smith & Wesson responded with a third.357, the L-frame Model 586 blue, and the 686 stainless, the DistinguishedCombat Magnum. The L-frame falls somewhere in between the K- and N-frameswith a 4 inch, fully loaded 586 weighing in at 43 ounces. SO the 586 weighsonly one ounce less than the N-frame .357 but the weight is in the heavyL-frame barrel and forcing cone, with the cylinder diameter in betweenthe two older models. And most importantly Smith and Wesson retained theK-frame grip size. It is very difficult for men and women who have smallhands, including peace officers, to control the larger N-frame Smith.
The original .357 loading in 1935 consisted of a 158 grain swaged bulletover 16.0 grains of #2400 ignited by a rifle primer. This load is too hottoday for most guns as #2400 has changed through the years and is bettersuited for 158 grain bullets with 14.0. to 15.0 grains.
My 8 3/8" Model 27 as it has always been a very accurate revolverbut most of its use has been with cast bullets. So out came my old standbyload, Keith's original load of .38 Special brass, 13.5 grains of #2400,and his long nosed-bullet, the 168 grain Lyman #358429. This bullet isused in .38 brass since it is too long to allow cylinder rotation of many.357 revolvers when crimped in the crimping groove and used with .357 brass.Five shots with this old load gives a groups into 1 1/8 inch at 25 yards.
COLT: While Colt immediately jumped on the .357 bandwagon in the '30'sby chambering their two large frame revolvers for the first Magnum, itwould be almost 20 years before an original Colt .357 Magnum would be offeredto the public. By this time, both the New Service and Single Action Armyin .357 and all other calibers were gone from the Colt Catalog. The SingleAction would be resurrected in 1956; the New Service has stayed buried.The first Colt .357 was basically their excellent .41 frame Officer's ModelMatch .38 Special made into a .357 with a heavy bull barrel. Every kidof the time period knew that cartoon cop Dick Tracy carried a Colt .357Magnum. Then as so often happens, one gun, destined to be one of the alltime classic guns, started out as something else.
Target shooting with .38 Special revolvers was in vogue in the '50'sand Colt set out to create the ultimate target revolver. They used theOfficer's Model/.357 Magnum frame and added a very heavy bull barrel witha full underlug. The result was a very heavy revolver, so the barrel wasgive a figure 8 silhouette when viewed from the muzzle end, the rib receivedslots to further cut weight, someone decided to chamber it in .357 Magnum,and the Python was born. So with a series of changes, what was to be theultimate .38 Target revolver became, what many still consider the ultimate.357 Magnum. Advertising of the time called the Python the "cadillacof revolvers."
Will Rogers used to say that he never met a man he didn't like. Alongthe same lines, I have never met a Python owner who did not feel that hehad the best possible .357 Magnum. Myself, I would have a difficult timechoosing between a Smith Model 27 and a Colt Python especially when bothwear long barrels. They are true classic .357's and superbly accurate anddurable sixguns.
The Python was originally offered with a 6 inch barrel, later to bejoined in succession by barrel lengths of 4 inches, 2 1/2 inches, and mypersonal favorite, the 8 inch barrel length. The original finishes wasthe gorgeous Colt Royal Blue, now long gone.
The Colt .357 Magnum, the Trooper Mark III Model, The Trooper
Mark V Model, the Single Action, and the New Frontier .357's are allgone from the Colt line-up. The on again/off again King Cobra is basicallya blending of the best features of the Python and Trooper Models at a lowerprice than the Python. The King Cobra is the Trooper Mark V fitted witha Python type heavy barrel.
The 8 inch Python, equipped with Skeeter Skelton grips of Kingwood,weighs in at 52 ounces fully loaded with six 158 grain rounds and is extremelypleasant to shoot and very accurate. Pythons that I have encountered overthe years normally have very tight groove diameters that aid accuracy withboth cast and jacketed bullets.
RUGER: Bill Ruger brought American shooters back to the Single Actionmainly with his .22 Single-Six introduced in 1953 and .357 Blackhawk introducedin 1955. Graduating from high school in 1956, I purchased a Single-Sixand soon thereafter a .357 Blackhawk and have been shooting Rugers eversince. Ruger did what shooters had been urging Colt to do for years: modernizethe Single Action. Bill Ruger has an uncanny knack of knowing what handgunnerswill like, and basically took the Colt Single Action, up-dated it withcoil springs and adjustable sights, chambered it in Magnum calibers, andcaptured a significant portion of the American market in the process.
The first centerfire Ruger Blackhawk, now lovingly referred to as theFlat-top Model, was offered in three barrel lengths: 4 5/8, 6 1/2, and10 inches. The latter is very rare and very valuable to collectors. IN1963, the Flat-top was replaced by the "Three-screw" Blackhawk.The grip frame was changed from Colt Single Action style to one that allowedmore knuckle room. At the same time, the flat-top silhouette was lost asprotective ribs were placed on both sides of the rear sight. The thirdgeneration .357 Blackhawk, the New Model, came about in 1973 with the additionof the safety transfer bar, plus the size and weight of the .357 Blackhawkwas increased substantially as the .357 frame size was dropped and allcenterfire Blackhawks began to share the .44 sized frame. At 50 ounces,a fully loaded 4 5/8 inch stainless New Model .357 Blackhawk weighs a full7 ounces more than a fully loaded 6 1/2 inch First Model Blackhawk. Thatis one reason so many sixgunners still cling to their Flat-tops.
Ruger had a nearly complete lock on Single Actions into the '70's soit was surprising when they decided to capture a large part of the lawenforcement market with the introduction of their Security Six line ofdouble action revolvers. After over a million of these .357's have beensold, the Security Six has been dropped and replaced by the better GP-100.The GP-100 is a thoroughly modern double action revolver of modular construction,offered in stainless and blue, with heavy underlug barrel only in the 4inch model and both a heavy barrel and a standard barrel model availablewith the 6 inch length.
Like Dan Wessons, Ruger GP-100's do not have a grip frame as such buta stud that accepts the grip, in this case a rubber grip with wooden panels.And like the Dan Wesson, Ruger also offers one of the few factory doubleaction grips that are comfortable to shoot. An added bonus is the factthat the Ruger grip stud readily accepts custom grips of various sizesand can easily be fitted with grips that will mate with small hands.
The GP-100's have a reputation for exceptional accuracy. All GP- 100'shave the standard Ruger adjustable rear sight and come with black rampfront sights that can easily be replaced with Ruger front sights in red,white, blue, or yellow as the shooter desires. To me, good sights and frontsight interchangeability is a top selling point.
Every GP-100 I have handled has had an excellent double action and singleaction trigger and the design is such that good double action shootingcan be done, especially with the heavy barrelled 4 inch model which isshowing up in the holsters of many peace officers.
A third .357 Ruger is available in the Bisley Model. Once again, BillRuger reached back into the past, took the grip frame, trigger, and hammerof the old Colt Bisley, modernized them and combined them with the Blackhawkframe and action and we have the .357 New Model Bisley. And for the firsttime, a Ruger single action .357 is offered with a 7 1/2 inch barrel, areal plus for outdoorsman, hunters, and long-range shooters.
With its all steel grip frame, the fully loaded 7 1/2 inch Bisley .357weighs in at 54 ounces and is a most pleasant .357 to shoot even with theheaviest of loads. Having worked with numerous Bisleys of all calibersover the past few years, I have found them to be well above average inaccuracy, finish, and trigger pulls. These are good, strong, single actionsixguns that will give decades of tough service.
DAN WESSON: The early Dan Wesson .357 was a good design that very fewpeople wanted for two reasons: it was a radical and ungainly looking sixgun.Dan Wesson himself, left Smith & Wesson and went out on his own tobuild, what he considered, a better mouse-trap. But the world did not flockto his door until the design was cleaned up and a whole new world of shootersdiscovered the inherent accuracy of Dan Wesson revolvers. But we are gettingslightly ahead of the story.
Dan Wesson decided the time was right for a new revolver design. Completelybreaking with tradition, he offered a revolver that featured modular construction,that is it was easily disassembled for cleaning and repair; instead ofa grip frame, the grip proper, of one piece design, accepted a stud onthe frame of the Dan Wesson revolver; and most radical of all, the DanWesson revolver featured easy barrel removal and the shooter had the optionof changing barrel lengths at will and in a matter of just a few moments.
Those early guns with their slim barrels and barrel retaining nut atthe muzzle end of the barrel were unsightly to say the least. Once thebarrel nut was secreted inside the barrel shroud, and the heavy barrelbecame an option and most importantly, when silhouetters discovered theDan Wesson, success was assured.
The DW factory got into the silhouette game early, offering long heavybarrels for the .357, starting with an 8 inch and then a 10 inch barrel,plus they were willing to listen to silhouetters and improve their sightsand offer long range, Patridge-style, interchangeable front sights. Silhouettersresponded by working their way through the DW .357 and all other calibersthat have been offered by the factory.
While the .357 Dan Wesson found much acceptance with silhouetters, ithas not been looked upon strongly by law enforcement personnel. This isunfortunate as the DW .357 is perfect for right-handed shooters and theuse of speed loaders. With the cylinder release at the front of the cylinder,it is both quick and easy to shift the revolver to the left hand, openthe cylinder with the left hand and insert speed loaded cartridges withthe right hand all in a very short time.
The .357 Magnum has survived the onset of the .44 Magnum, the .41 Magnum,the .454 Casull. It was been the favorite sidearm of peace officers forover fifty years. It is still a great cartridge for most, but not all,of what we need sixguns for.
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