quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Shooting a couple of cylinders of 125gr 357s won't kill a K-frame, but as a matter of course I use 158gr rounds in mine when I shoot boomers out of it.

Same here.

My PC Model 19 loves 125gr Speer Gold Dots, but I only fire those through it once in a while. 158s the rest of the time.

I carried 125-grain .357 Magnum loaded to full-velocity spec, in my K-Frames, during the Nineties, when I carried them on duty. (I had used the same ammo in my heavier GP100, before that, but not only was the GP100 heavier, the mandated holster was also several ounces heavier, so switching to K-Frames relieved the constant sore spot on my hip.) I limited the number of such rounds fired, through my K-Frames. (The long version is below, if one does not fall asleep while reading.)

Even then, it was well-established that full-pressure 125-grain .357 burned hotter than than the loads with lighter or heavier bullets, so were more abusive to the thin part of the K-frame barrel throat, which had been made thin at that point to allow clearance for the cylinder assembly to close. A simply solution was to avoid training very much with this particular load in my Models 66 and 19. Once I determined sight alignment was OK, there was no need to shoot the hot stuff, anymore, in a particular sixgun.

As has already been mentioned in at least one reply post, a significant reason for the development of the L-Frame, was to remedy this situation. The Python and the Ruger Security, Speed, and Service Sixes were already “L-sized,” before there was an L-Frame.

When police officers trained with Specials, and carried Magnums, their K-Magnums did not suffer. When the training paradigm shifted to the mandate to train with Magnum ammo, the K-Magnums started showing the accelerated damage, sooner. Mas Ayoob was one of many authors to document this.

158-grains actually “kicks” more than 125-grain, in my opinion, if both are at full pressure spec, so one can train with 158-grain ammo, to get the full Magnum ride, in training. Another solution is to have an identical training gun, separate from the duty gun, and have it re-built, from time to time, as needed.

Personally, I fired most of my K-Frame training rounds with a Model 17-4, .22 LR. I fired most Magnum training rounds with a GP100. I had established a base of training with L-Frames, in the Eighties, but then carried N-Frames, until the Nineties. The .44 and .41 Magnum training rounds* I fired, in the Eighties, made all .357 ammo seem mild, at least in medium and medium-large revolvers. (Small frames are a different story!)

Now that I have no need to carry a revolver on a duty belt, that is also laden with a other assorted duty gear, I have settled on using full-pressure Magnums only in GP100 sixguns. I switched to auto-loaders as duty handguns in 1997, largely to solve the real estate issues on the duty belt, and retired from LEO-ing in 2018. My only functioning K-Frame, at this time, is a .38 Special, Model 64 snub-gun. A GP100 is not too heavy, to carry, when it is the only significant thing on my belt.

*Shooting Magnums through N-Frames, with K/L-Frame-sized hands, is NOT a good idea. I had permanently affected the base joint of my right thumb, before I reached my Thirties.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rexster,