There has been some discussion lately about 357 revolvers and how shooting lots of hot 357 ammo could/might accelerate wear. If you used M.E. out of a 6" barrel as a reference, when would you consider the ammo "hot"? 600 fpe and above?......
Curious...
You can 600fpe a lot of different ways. If you handload.
If you load up to max pressures with Red Dot, the load will be hot, performance, not so much. W296 or 2400 will net pretty fair energy levels with less pressure. Factory .357 stuff is loaded to comply with SAAMI standards, and pretty much independent of bullet weight, is "hot" as pressures go.
I am a big SP101 fan since I brought my 4" model home. But as several have noted, a continuous diet of full power stuff will eventually take it's toll. I load most of my SP101 ammo to a moderate level, as I'm hoping to pass it to my daughter on my way out of this world. I use 2400, 2gr below max, for any given bullet 110-160gr. It's a combination that nets 90% performance, with 75% pressures with jacketed bullets. For Cast bullets, I use Unique at 75% of max, and those loads run about 50% of full power pressures, and net 1000fps. My mild load is the Hornady 140gr Cowboy bullet, 4.5gr of Red Dot, for a very tame load anyone can handle. Most of my shooting has been and will be with cast and swaged/extruded lead bullets.
My thought is that the SP101 I have is a top notch trail gun, suitable for bumping off varmints and even small game. Accuracy in SA is very good. If I need to stop someone at the door, I'll bring my .45 to the game. If large mean critters are on the list, the .357 BH and .44 SBH are a better answer.
I can shoot full power stuff, but I'd rather not.
