[Wonder Dog]

I am considering buying a .357 mag revolver to be used by my wife & myself for home protection. We both have experience shooting semi-auto's but like the reliability of the revolver. My hands are meduim size & my wifes are small(but she is fairly strong). My concerns or questions are
(1) how is the felt recoil
(2) what model .357 mag handgun would you
recommend?
(3) what barrel lenght would you suggest using
on your recommended .357 mag handgun?
(4) any other suggestions you have on the .357
mag handgun


P.S. A shooter at our local range suggested my wife & I look at the Ruger SP- 101-.357mag revolver--any thoughts you have on this handgun/

Thank-You for your time & attention to my thread
Happy New Year! 2009!

[ScottG]

Of course many people will say Smith & Wesson is the premier name in .357 revolvers, and I'm not going to disagree. I bought a used '70s vintage Model 19 with a four inch barrel. Nice and reliable.

Recoil is snappy, get a set of rubber replacement grips.

Four inch barrel to help accuracy. For home defense you're not worried about concealing.

Blued, stainless doesn't matter.

I don't think there are any other choices, except for another Smith....

/thread closed

hee hee, sorry D

[greenjeans]

Ruger GP100 with 3" barrel. Virtually unbreakable and heavy enough to tame recoil.

[Bill of Ojai]

You mentioned wife's small hands. Ruger SP101 is good for that, plus, the rubber grips will make it more comfortable to shoot.

One of the nice things about .357's is that aftermarket grips abound and you can change the feel and size of the gun to suit.

Buy a quality brand and you'll have a very versatile and useful piece.

[freefall]

I'm a big fan of the Ruger Security Six. No longer made, a bit more expensive than it ought to be, but perfect size, weight and grip size. Bought one for my daughter when she was 12, she shot it well.

[CA357]

Smith & Wesson model 586 or 686 or any Ruger. The SP101 is 5 shots, the GP100 is 6. You can get the above mentioned Smiths as 7 shooters.

[hunter Joe]

The S & W 686 gets my vote. My daughter loves it also. H.J.

[stalkingbear]

I'll post my vote solidly in the side of Ruger. NOBODY can contest that Ruger double action revolvers are THE strongest made of ALL. Also the grip frame on the GP100 is much smaller, offering much more leeway on size of grips. I may be a Ruger freak-but if so, there's reason for it. Sure, the S&W are usually glass smooth and a VERY good revolver, but it don't take much to slick up any quality made revolver. NOW-having said that, the last new revolver I bought was an S&W. The reason was it was for wife and had to be as small and light as possible. It was a S&W model 442 airweight in .38special +P. Also the all steel frame of Rugers (S&W too) will weigh more to tame recoil better.

[mdw104]

Ruger GP100 would be my choice. 3 or 4" barrel. I prefer stainless steel because it's more resistant to corrosion. It's a solid, very strong revolver, built like a tank. It's also hefty so recoil won't be bad.

[Recon 173]

Rugers are very strong and decent revolvers. So are the old S&W Model 65s and their Model 19s. Colt Pythons are also very good revolvers. I've shot all of them over the years. For accuracy, you can't beat any of them with a 6 inch barrel. Colts though are a tab bit more accurate than the other two. The thing to remember is that a good 4 inch revolver was the basic backbone of many law enforcement agencies for many, many years. Avoid the snub nosed revolvers because they kick harder than the longer barreled models. Also remember that you can load .38 special target loads and use them in a .357 magnum revolver to your advantage.