Indians For Guns

Hi Guys

I would like to find out about a Colt Lawman .357 Mag snubnose(2 1/2 inch) which I recently saw in Delhi with a collector.Its a large frame gun in stainless steel and I really liked it but a close friend of mine asked me not to go in for it because according to him a .357 mag snubnose would feel like a canon in the recoil and it wont be that accurate obviously.He suggested that if I want a .357 mag revolver, I should go in for a 4" barrel atleast.But I need a gun for my self protection and not for shooting it at the range.

Any suggestion?

PS he said that the rounds are not that easily available.True???

Ashar

Hi Buddy,

More than the revolver u must think of the 357 magnum ammunition availability. Its ammunition is virtually impossible to find. Its not allowed to be imported under the import policy.
Buy the revolver only if u satisfy the following conditions:
1.Cartridges permitted on ur licence are atleast 50 at a time.
2.U visit USA/abroad each year from where u can bring ammo for ur personal use(which anyway is limited to 50 in a year)
If the seller is telling u ammunition is freely available check it ur self with a few shops.

AC

The revolver is in 95% condition and there are 100 cartriges with the revolver.50 hollow points and 50 imported ones.The hollow points I will have to buy it off him at Rs.600 a piece.CCI.I dont really think I will need more than 50 a year and moreover I do visit the UK and the US almost every year.To be very true, I have already paid an advance and I have to go get it on Tuesday.So i dont think I have an option of backing out now.Moreover I really love the gun.Its the kind of handgun I always wanted actually butI dont really know much about the performance of this calibre.I have heard that its good but I want to hear some experiences.

Somebody fired a .357 mag before???

hhhhhhmmmmmm,

Another collector in Delhi.....so i have competition at hand.
Its a gr8 revolver. A frend of mine in Delhi has a 357 Smith & Wesson.... a revolver can't get better...the only thing he rues about it is its ammunition. Something which is strange about this is its classification. Delhi it is NPB while in Bombay its a PB....

AC

Its a NP bore in Andhra Pradesh as well.I spoke to a dealer in Mumbai about a year back regarding this calibre and he said that its a PB in mumbai because in some makes, you can fire a .38 bore cartridge in a .357 mag revolver and thats why its prohibited.I do not know how true this is.There was a smith and wesson .357 Mag 4" for sale in Mumbai last year and the seller told me that he either had to sell it to a person with a prohibited bore arms license or had to send it to another state where it is not banned.For that I needed to get an NOC from the Commissioner of Police here in Hyd.It was too much of a hassle thats why I didnt get it.Now on my license I have a sale replacement permission for a .357 mag bore and I particularly had it written so that there may not be a problem later.

Buddy thats a sensible thing u have done ....having the bore mentioned on the licence it self

AC

I cannot take credit for it.It was suggested by the seller.

hi,

all .357 mag revolvers can chamber and fire .38 special rounds.

so technically 357 mags revolver should be PB everywhere, but basically licensing babu's dont know this so 357 is sometimes treated as NPB.


also the 38 special round is different from the 38 S&W round used in the webley revolvers. of course over the past decade the indian police have been issued 38 special ruger revolvers to be used as service fire arms, i have see one expamle of these in jaipur police lines itself.

However the arms act is very clear in this matter - any fire arm that can chamber 38 rimmed ammunition is a PB.

so anyway one who owns a 357 mag revolver should be aware of this fact.



rajat

Exactly cyrixoutside.So it cannot be prohibited in AP and other states where a .38 bore is used by the police.In the states where the .38 special calibre has been issued, it might be banned.

So basically, it is totally legal in states where the police is issued with a .38 bore and not a .38 special bore.Thats what I think personally.I am not really sure of what the Arms act says abt this.Have to look it up.Anyway there are many .357 mag revolvers in hyd so I dont think I am in that much of a problem.

hi,

I repeat again -


the arms act is very clear in this matter - any fire arm that can chamber 38 rimmed ammunition is a PB.

it does not differentiate between 38 S&W and 38 Special.


any 38 calibre rimmed cartridge is PB in all of india, no excpetions at all.

comming to your point about what is happening in a.p and what is happening in mumbai, well the licensing babu's are ignorant and gandhiji is also being used all the time help them close their eyes and clense their souls.

right now no one is bothering with such details, but ignorance of the law does not change the law.

may penpusher can give us an even clearer picture.



rajat

People, dont be so sure about the rigid demarcation of calibers in a Police dept.
I have seen every thing from 38 rimmed to 38 spl to 9mm in Browning HP clones to 9mm Glocks to 45 Thompsons to 455 Webley's!
So tread carefully and be aware of your local laws.

Hyd Nawab--You must be paying major money, wouldnt want a weapon being PNG'd by the local constabulary after all that sweat and effort

You mention hollow points and "imported"
most popular loading i've seen is 125 grn for the 357 Mag.110 and 158 grainers are carry over from the 38 spl
You should get about 1200fps/400fpe at muzzle.

Best
Axx

eljefe

I am paying a lot of money and I do have to run about a lot for the specific permission.But I think it will be worth it.Hope to get the revolver back to hyd by Wednesday.Will put up the pictures of the gun then.I dont really have much choice in the ammunition.I will find out about the grains when I get there.

Cheers

Ashar

ALL .357 Mag revolvers will chamber the .38 Special. The .357 Mag is effectively a .38 mag ..... or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the .38 Special should have been called the .357 Special.
Firing a .357 Mag from a 2 1/2" snubby is pretty nasty. A lot of muzzle blast ( and I m mean a LOT ! ) Recoil isn`t too bad but is very `snappy` - hold the gun limp wristed and it will hurt you.
4" barrelled .357 Mags are far superior. More accurate, more velocity, less muzzle blast, less recoil. A lot of bonuses for just 1 1/2" extra barrel length.

I could make money on Indian version of magna porting:)

"I could make money on Indian version of magna porting:)"

Porting - any form of muzzle brake - would ease the recoil somewhat but would increase the noise and blast. That`s something that they don`t tell you about porting .... but the greatly increased noise levels have lead to porting being banned from certain shotgun disciplines and many shooting grounds.

A 2 1/2" .357 Mag snubby is just nasty to shoot.

Asif. have you come across the 4" barrelled .44 Mag S&W `Wilderness` guns ? They are intended as a compact defence weapon against Bears and invariably are equipped with ported barrels. You don`t have to hit the Bear - the sheer noise level will drive it off !

( )