Common Uses of 357 Magnum Ammo

Compared to many other popular pistol rounds, the .357 Magnum is actually relatively new to the market. Introduced in 1934, the .357 Mag outperformed the vast majority of old revolver cartridges then in use by law enforcement and quickly became a favorite among police officers due to its impressive performance. Though mostly retired from police work due to the rise of semiautomatic handguns in that field, .357 Magnum ammo is still widely used for target shooting, concealed carry, home defense, and occasionally (and somewhat anachronistically) cowboy action shooting.

Types of 357 Mag Ammo

The versatility of this cartridge means that many different types of .357 Mag ammo are available. Low-powered action and target shooting loads are designed to aid with rapid, accurate fire against paper or steel targets. Defensive jacketed hollow point (JHP) ammo is typically of medium power and designed to keep recoil and blast to a reasonable level while still achieving strong terminal performance; full metal jacket (FMJ) and lead round nose (LRN) ammo provides a cheaper, similar-handling alternative for training. The most powerful loads are often soft points are optimized for hunting applications where the fragmentation produced by a JHP would be unwelcome but high diameter expansion is crucial.