S&W 327 night guard .357 magnum

Question
i got a question about the S&W 327 night guard .357 magnum
which kind of brand is the best for this revolver and must i take FMJ or JHP or SJP? i am think the FMJ is the powerfulst but they say if you shoot somebody with FMJ bullets it OVER penetrates and it will go out of the body (and then there is a change to hit somebody that is standing behind the guy you are shooting)so can you help me with this choice ?

Answer
FMJ is normally called ball ammo (it is a ball and not a hollow point)  JHP is jacketed hollow point,  both rounds have good and bad.  Ball ammo is better for penetration, it will go through cars, windows, jackets, think clothing and doors better than hollow point. Ball also goes in deeper so if you hit bone or muscle it will continue and make a hole which causes more blood loss.  In theory, a hollow point will expand, causing a bigger hole but will not go as deep and is more likely to stay in what it hits, so if it hits jackets or other objects the bullet will stop, which means it may not penetrate as deep.

So bullet ballistics has a lot of variables.  Since most handgun shootings happen close, even a hollow point normally is not shot through a window or car or door, so hollow point is what I would carry, but as heavy as bullet as I can get.  Bigger is better, weight and size.  I think the biggest .357 is 157 grain bullet compared to a .45 you can get a 230 grain, big difference, which is why I like .45 for handgun.

HERE IS A PREVIOUS ANSWER I GAVE:  It may explain in more detail.

QUESTION: Hello, I wanted to know the effective 9mm and .45ACP, I usually keep my Glock 21C loaded with Remington .45ACP, and i keep XD9SC loaded with GoldDot 9mm +P for personal self defense, as for Glock 19 i'm planning on getting the 19 model asap, what i want to know is will XD9SC and Glock safely fire 9mm +P and safely fire .45 +P 185 grain in Glock 21C, the GoldDot 9mn +P is 124 grain, Thanks.

ANSWER: Most all newer handguns can handle plus P ammo.  If you review some Of my other answers I discuss ammo size verses ammo speed.  I am a fan of heavy bullets, your .45 is 185 grain, I like 230 grain for .45.

I would check with any gun manufacture to see if they say Don't use plus p, I know will say don't use plus P plus, but with todays guns they can handle much more than older guns.

The old saying: "it don't matter how good your ammo is or your gun is, if you can't hit the target"  

Sounds like you getting quality ammo and guns, so I am OK with what you are doing.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ah, that's great to know and yeah, i agree with you on the .45 part, i've decided to either feed Glock 19 with 9mm +P 124 or 115 grain, or the normal 9mm weighting at 147 grain, do you think that's good enough or no?
Answer:   I would go with 147 plus P if they got, not a fan of 9mm, have seen too many times that it does not stop and does not drop a person like a .45 does.  If you ever see the book 'street survival' by caliber press, it shows a shooter that was shot like 45 times with a 9mm and the person still killed 4 cops and was finally taken out with a shotgun slug.  That is the ultimate stopper, one ounce slug traveling at about 1200 fps, you are going down even if you have body armor on.  Big, heavy and fast enough.

Here is the question I talked about earlier.

Question: Self Protection...  Which grains of powder is the best to carry in a 40 cal handgun?   155 gr., 180 gr.?  I normally load the mag with every other round a hollow point, then balled full metal jacket.  But my main question is which is more powerful 150 grain or 180 grain?  hanks for your help..

rw
Answer: Depends, 155 and 180 gr normally pertain to the bullet weight.  One is heavy and one is lighter, the lighter one is faster, the heavy one transfer more energy to target when it.  A common belief, and one that I believe is Bigger is better.  I pasted another answer which may help.

Lots of good ammo out there now.  But much more to protection than just bullet type.  Bullet ballistics have varied opinion.  Most old timers believe bigger is better.  Bigger meaning two things.  Circumference basically looking down the barrel of a .22 verses a .45, the bigger the hole of the barrel, the biggie the hole in the target.  The other bigger consideration is weight of bullet.  Most .38 and .357 are about 158 grain bullet which is heavier than a 9mm which is normally 115 grain, compared to a .45 which is about 230 grains.  The heavier the bullet the more energy that is transferred to the target.  Kind like if I hit you with a marble or a bowling ball.  The marble would sting and hurt but the bowling ball might knock you down.  So most people like bigger, biggie hole and bigger weight.  The third major component is bullet speed, here is where opinions vary.  A .223 (M16) bullet is the about the same size as a .22, but it travels at about 3000 feet per second, so when it hits something at that speed it makes a bigger hole from the speed that is knocks things out of it's way (called a secondary cavity).  So if I stuck you with a needle the primary cavity would be the tiny hole that was left when I removed the needle. If that same needle went through your arm at 3000 feet per second, the hole would be much bigger, since at that speed it would push skin and flesh out of the way so fast that it would tear and rip a much bigger hole (secondary cavity).  This would do more damage and create more blood loss.  So some think speed is better than size.  The military uses M16, many think for this reason, but it uses it for carry of lots of ammo and other factors since bigger means heavier and more bulky, not just for the speed theory.

So your .38 shoots faster than a .45, but it is not as big around and does not weigh as much.  A .357 is the same bullet as a .38 but much more damaging than the .38, why.... speed.  The .357 has more powder and that generates much more speed.  A bb gun shoot the same size bb as some shotgun shells, but a shotgun sends them out much faster so they do more damage.

Of course there are many more factors like the heavier the bullet the more the kick, so many woman like the small guns that shoot smaller bullets.  In your .38 if you shoot a 90 grain bullet it will kick and recoil much less than a 158 grain bullet.  Equal force, every action reaction thing.

So when just ask about hollow point or jacketed, there is much more to consider when selecting ammo.

If I carry a .38 I want the fasted and heaviest bullet I can find.  I am not worried about accuracy, distance or other things.  Most gun fights happen within 3 feet, they are fast and violent and reactionary.  If I can stick the gun on the target and pull off as many rounds as I can that is the goal to survive.  If you are training for accuracy at 15 or 20 yards, I think it is not realistic.  It will make you more confident and give you trust in your weapon, but bullet group is never a factor in a life or death encounter, multiple hits on target stops aggression.  And no matter what the bullet if you get multiple hits on target you will survive.  The best bullet in the world only works if it hits the target.

So I would say have some light rounds for shooting practice and then carry heavy rounds.  Remember in an actual encounter, you will not feel kick as much, you will have a large adrenalin rush, your flight or fight instinct will kick in, you will have extra strength and abilities.  I see people pick ammo that is more comfortable to shoot lots of round at the range and I think that is a mistake.  You will not be shooting like that in an actual encounter. With that said, what ever ammo she carries, she should shoot at least 5 or 6 rounds at the range so she knows what to expect and that the ammo functions correctly in the gun.

As for jacketed, ball, hollow point, most all ammo is jacketed nowadays, any hollow point is good, not a fan of ball ammo but ball will penetrate more and of course that is the another chapter, so if you really want to study the ammo, go to each bullet site and read the ballistics info, speed, distance, weight -- all of which change depending on type of gun, barrel length, conditions.

Hopefully I did not confuse you more, but if I did that is good so you will research more and become more aware of the many factors associated with guns, ammo and self defense carry.