Revolver Ammo

I was reviewing some of my older posts and I realized that I had completely skipped over the revolver calibers in my description of what I think and what are popularly considered self-defense calibers.

Again, I'm a little biased here as I've decided to carry a revolver. Some people would say that I'm under-gunned and will be a dead man should I have to engage multiple attackers. Well...to that I say with confidence, "bite me".

6 shots, well placed, with a good carry caliber will handle 3 men. 6 shoots, not as well placed, with a good carry caliber will handle 2 men. So, unless I'm taking on an entire Mexican cartel, I should be in good shape. But I digress...

Revolvers have less choices in caliber than semi-automatics do, tis true.

.38 Special:
This is the tried and true revolver load. It's cheap to shoot and packs a good punch. If a manufacturer makes a revolver, they make one in .38, just a fact of life. The police and military carried .38s for about 3,245 years and it worked like a champ. It's simple, effective, light recoil, all in all, a good round.

The only downside is if you have an ultralight/airweight revolver, then it will buck and bark like mad and it is exactly NO fun to shoot. Just keep that in mind.

.327 Federal
I have no had the chance to personally try out this caliber, however, everything I've read says that it gives you .38+p power with 30% less recoil. To me that spells winner!

.32 H&R
A nice easy round. Not the easiest to find, but it packs a pretty good wallop and doesn't kick hardly at all. If you are recoil adverse, then this might be a good place to start looking.

.44 Special
A big, but slow, round. Not bad to shoot at all. When you get this size, however, you are really making for a bulky cylinder in your revolver. However, if you can comfortably carry it, go for it. I've shot this through a single action cowboy gun before and it's a honey. It is pricey though. The upside is that it will chamber in a revolver made for .44 Magnum... speaking of which;

.44 Magnum
Big, bad, Buick stopping power. Not too bad to shoot if you have the right pistol for it. I wouldn't suggest a 3 inch barrel for this one as it's just too hard to control and you're going to think someone took a hammer to your hand. Although the .44 Magnum will get the job done; be prepared to shell out BUCKS for this ammo.

...last but not least...

.357 Magnum
I've mentioned this one before. It will do the job. It has the answers to all of life's burning questions. This is the round that looks at Dirty Harry and calls him "punk". The only thing on two legs that this won't stop would be Chuck Norris. It is considered by most to be the ultimate, gold standard, one stop shot round.
A study found that this caliber has up 95% one shot stop capability with incapacitation in as little as 5 seconds.
Easy to find, not too bad on recoil and fairly cheap for a good solid round.

This is my personal choice, in case you were wondering.