I was going to purchase a .357 revolver, but I just realized I can't legally buy .38 spl ammo for a .357 magnum in my Europoor country. I know that at this point a semiauto would be a better option but I really want a revolver. My options are 3 inch barrel .38 spl revolver or a 9mm 2 inch snubnose (I can't find a 3 inch 9mm revolver here). What would be a better option for concealed carry? Also I will use moonclips and the ammo price is similar.
Can you reload ammo in your country?
>>64614974>Can you reload ammo in your country?I can, but I need an extra loicense for that and I live in an apartment.
>>646149699mm and .38 spl are nearly identical ballistically. there's no practical difference here.
>>64614976If you can store the powder in a good spot and clean your brass outside you can reload in an apartment.
>>64614994I will take a look at reloading, but the amount of ammo I can have at home is very restrictive even with a reload license. I would have to buy primers in small quantities constantly to not exceed the maximum amount. But I'm considering it because shooting a non magnum cartridge from a revolver is gay as fuck.
>>64614983isn't 9mm +P hotter than most .38 spl +P loads?
You're not going to be fighting a team of ninjas or paramilitary operators. If you ever use it, it's gonna be in close range (2-4 meters) against an unarmored target. The difference between the two rounds is minimal in these instances.
just shoot a steady diet of full throat .357
>>64615364Just do this. Or if you really can't handle 357 reload the 357 brass to 38 spec
>>64614969>out of a revolverYou have your answer. Get the .38 spl if you want a revolver. That way if you ever run out of moon clips, you can still load the revolver no problem.>>64615026I'm not the anon you asked, but modern 9mm is marginally stronger than .38 spl (during the World Wars, the Germans loaded the cartridge hot for the Luger and MP40, but the Allies loaded the cartridge weaker for the Browning Hi-Power); the difference is so small it's negligible. That's why the other guy said there's practically no difference.
>>6461496910mm out of a 4.25" 1911
>>64615364>>64615372the problem is that I would only be able to purchase .357, it would be really expensive
>>64615671.357 is not appreciably more expensive than .38 special where I'm at
>>64615671What country are you in that you can CC, but have such retarded ammo restrictions? If you're talking self defense, the extra cost of .357 really doesn't matter since you're not shooting it a ton. If it really is that big of a deal and you really don't want an autoloader then .38 is the better revolver choice. You're still better off getting a .357 magnum and reloading though, you don't need a ton of space to handload.
>>64617743Pretty sure anon's legislation only allows you to buy ammo exclusively for the gun you own and nothing else, and if his revolver has "caliber .357 Mag" written in paperwork, he's not allowed to buy .38 Spl for it even though it fits.Anyway, I'd recommend OP to get a .38 Spl revolver, there's nothing wrong with it and the gun+caliber combination works well for anything from snubnosed J frames to 6 inch K frames.
>>64614969I really hate people like you who won't identify the country. This really fucks with trying to help you, or even caring about helping. I've never even heard of any law that tells you that you can't run .38 through a .357. This is a whole new level of retardation I never even imagined.But, anyway, get a .38 with at least a 3" barrel and buy or handload the hottest .38 loads you can. You will outperform 9 mm handily with the extra powder plus barrel length. If you find an acceptable revolver for your needs in 3.25" or 3 1/2", go for the longest barrel you can. At these short lengths, every little bit makes a performance difference. Once you get past 4 1/2" and get into 5" & 6" barrels the differences are incremental, but the difference between 2" and 3" is similar to the difference between vanilla .38 and standard .357 mag. 9 mm will limit you much more than your post implies you want to compromise, .38 will give you a much wider set of options.>t. burger with .357 4.25" barrelYou can get .38 P+ loads up into (standard) .357 performance range, especially if you minmax handloading. Make sure your revolver is rated for P+, or even P++ if available, don't settle for less than 100% stainless steel. You should be able to handload to whatever quantity your laws allow and also be buy a few boxes off the shelf. Plenty to get lots of practice in and still have a stash of defense loads that fuck hard. Spend some time reading handloading threads (search up past threads in the archive, there's a hell of a lot of great info in them). They will teach you a lot about bullet weights & types plus ballistics and loads. You don't have to handload to use that info to select off the shelf to fit your needs.
>>64617743>>64618181>What country are you in that you can CCSpain, I can CC because I will be joining the police. It's called an "A license", I can CC but the retarded ammo restrictions still apply (I can buy as much as I want in the shooting range and I don't need to pay for a membership tho). Also I'm only allowed one handgun and I want to go to the shooting range often, a .357 magnum would be too expensive for that. To buy more handguns I will have to compete officially in IPSC to justify owning them, but it's a lot of paperwork and money.
>>64617680>.357 is not appreciably more expensive than .38 special where I'm atNTA, but OP has already specified he's not in the US. Wherever he is, he can only buy .357 magnum ammo if he has a .357 gun or only buy .38 spl if he has a .38 gun. Much like how in the US .380 ACP is the third most commonly sold round (I always thought it was .45 acp until a gun shop proved me wrong with statistical data); in most places outside of the US the .38 spl is the third most commonly sold round, which is why they might have cheaper .38 than us but at the same time much more expensive .357 Magnum than us.After writing all that, I scrolled down to >>64618315 to see that he's in Spain. I rest my case.
>>64614969>but I just realized I can't legally buy .38 spl ammo for a .357 magnum why?
>>64615138i love how revolver users seem to know exactly what kind of situation they will be in.
>>64620007Retarded bureaucracy. Not only I need a loicense, the gun must be registered to have some paperwork you need to show every time you by ammo. If the paperwork says .357 magnum, you are only able to buy that.
>>64619906that's really interesting, I didn't know that in America .357 wasn't that expensive. In Spain 50 rounds of shitty .38 spl ammo cost around 20€, .357 magnum is twice as expensive
>>64620064What determines prices is mostly supply and demand. .25 ACP,.32 ACP, and .380 ACP costs less to make than 9mm so it should be cheaper but the demand of 9mm is so much higher that much more 9mm gets made, and then 9mm ends up cheaper than the other rounds I mentioned. Ask any boomer in your country, and there was probably a time in the past where .38 spl was cheaper than 9mm over there merely because .38 spl had higher demand in the mid-20th century in Europe.
>>64620064it's about 15% more expensive in the States, which is almost exactly the price of the extra brass and powder lol
>>64620021>i love how revolver users seem to know exactly what kind of situation they will be in.Who the fuck is he pissing off that trained teams of commandos are going after him? He should either NOT piss those people off or get out of shitsville.
9mm and .38 spl make very similar energy, but you’ll get a bit better muzzle velocity out of the semiauto because no cylinder gap.
>>64620112>Ask any boomer in your country, and there was probably a time in the past where .38 spl was cheaper than 9mmi remember back in the 2000s 9mm and 38 were the same price per round or within 1cent. i should have stockpiled 38 instead of 9mm back then. the amount of 9 i shot back then would have been a lifetime of revolver brass. o well.
>>64618315would it not be possible to get both rounds marked on your paperwork, as somebody with a Drilling or other combination gun would?
>>64622361>would it not be possible to get both rounds marked on your paperworkImpossible, I already called the police department and they told me the only way of having two calibers listed in the same gun are those .22lr conversion kits where you need to swap cylinders or slides in the case of pistols. I think their reasoning is that the gun needs to be specifically made for shooting a certain round.>>64614974>>64614994>>64615372>>64617743I also asked the police about reloading and I can't reload ammo for my conceal carry weapon. I would need to have a Olympic Shooting license and compete in something like IPSC to purchase a handgun with that loicense and then I would be able to reload (after getting another loicense). I will end up buying the .38 spl, I hate this gay country.
>>64614969In what fucking country can you carry a gun, but you cant shoot .38SPL out of a .357MAG?
>>64623402Lots of countries only let you buy ammo only for the round it's chambered in. BTW he already said he was in Spain.
>>64622475Might want to ask some gun stores before making the final decision. Maybe some revolvers are imported or sold as .38/.357
>>64622475Dumb situation, but it is what it is. Sounds like in your case .38spl is the way to go.
>>64624108NTA, but he already explained it isn't how the gun store sells the gun but rather how the police do the paperwork when it's being registered.
>>64614969What country?first time hearing that you need extra license for reloading.Lithuania - can buy lesser ammo for gun (.38 for .357, etc)No limit for ammo and reloading (only 3kg for powder)20 rounds clips for CCShall issue CC license.
>>64624159also who makes good leather shoulder holsters for revolvers in EU?would CC that just for lulzBFR .460 10"
>>6461496938 makes more sense. 9mm needs moon clips and is not designed for revolvers. 38 fits into the cylinder with no need for moon clips and will be more manageable than 9mm from a revolver.
>>64624167>who makes good leather shoulder holsters for revolvers in EU?etsy is the best option for holsters in general
>>64624108when you buy a gun in Spain you have to send it to the ATF equivalent here, They will do the paperwork and they will annotate the caliber that is engraved in the barrel. Search .357mag revolvers, none of them say anything about .38spl in the barrel.
>>64624434Just out of curiosity, what is the price per round difference, and is there any kind of .357 mag training ammo available in your country? If you can only have one handgun it seems really dumb to gimp yourself with a .38 revolver. In the states, who cares, you can always buy another gun. If I was limited to one gun and I absolutely had to have a revolver .357 mag would be minimum for me to justify it.
you should commission a custom barrel engraving that says .357/.38spl
>Pull bullet>reduce charge>sell extra gunpowder to anonymous buyers onlineAlthough that requires some work, you lazy Mediterranean.
>>64625169>what is the price per round difference.357 is twice the price of .38 spl. >The cheapest 50 ammo box of 9mm is 18€, >The cheapest 50 round box of .38spl is 22€>The cheapest 50 round box of .357 is 41€Also I can only buy 100 rounds per year, and I can only store 150 cartridges at home. Can't reload either, the only way of shooting regularly is buying ammo in the shooting range, which is around the same price and I can buy as much as I want (as long as I don't bring home any). But the things is that I doubt that all shooting ranges will sell .357mag, .38spl is a common round because security guards use .38spl revolvers exclusively.
>>64614969A .38 revolver is better than a .357 for cc anyway since you're going to carry it infinitely more than you use it.
>>64624159Based Lietuviai.Your CC laws looks pretty similar to what we've got in Czechia.
>>64625169DESU I wouldn't feel "gimped" by a .38...
>>64625538I would go to fucking jail if I sold gunpowder, you can't even imagine how cucked Europe is
