2007-10-05 20:54:39 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Outdoor Recreation ➔ Hunting
The .357 Magnum.
The .357 delivers about 781 Joules of energy from a 130 grain bullet.
The .40 delivers about 588 Joules of energy from a 135 grain bullet.
Both cartridges can be loaded hotter for more power, but the .357 Magnum will always have more potential than the .40 S&W.
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Oh, and a couple of side notes.
(1) Dirty Harry bragged on the .44 Magnum as the most powerful handgun in the world, not the .357. The .44 Magnum has since lost this title to the .500 S&W Magnum. (And if you want to go with custom handguns, there is a much larger one chambered in .600 Nitro Express--a rifle round used for big game, including elephants.)
(2) The .45 ACP cartridge is excellent, but it doesn't deliver as much energy as the .357. And no, it will NOT knock down a man if you shoot his finger with it. It will blow his finger off, yes, but most handgun cartridges are able, or nearly able, to do that.
2007-10-05 22:52:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
What's more powerful the .357 Magnum or the .40 S & W? The .357 Magnum hands down. The .357 Mag. is the best manstopper yet. The .40 S & W was designed to duplicate the performance of the .45 acp, a good manstopper but not as good as the .357 Magnum.
Additional notes: Dirty Harry carried a .44 Magnum (loaded down to .44 Special specs). When he bragged that it was the world's most powerful handgun THAT was pure Hollywood hype. The .454 Casull was already around and it is more powerful than the .44 Magnum.
When the US was fighting the Moro warriers in the Philipines the US soldiers were armed with .38 Auto handguns which are very poor manstoppers due in part to the slow moving solid bullet they shoot (too bad they didn't have the .38 Super which hadn't been developed yet). The .45 acp remedied this by making a bigger hole in its target: .454 diameter vs. .355; the .45 acp did NOT then nor does now knock a man over no matter where he's hit. It does not stop anyone just by shooting him in the finger. This is all pure hyperbole. Even the .10mm which has as much energy at a 100 yards as the .45 acp has at the muzzle doesn't do this.
The .45 worked merely because it put more daylight through its target than the standard pistols available then. It is early 20th. Century technology, nothing more: A fatter, slow moving bullet that makes a bigger hole merely because it is wider to begin with. This technology is ancient history.
Now we have better technology, better gun powder, and bullets that actually expand upon impact transfering energy to the target. Energy is what makes a bullet a stopper, not merely punching a hole the size of a dime in the target. This is why the .357 Magnum and .357 Sig are better stoppers than the old .45 acp. This is why the Texas Highway patrol dropped the .45 acp in favor of the .357 Sig, because the .357 is better all around: Better manstopper, better against auto glass, better at defeating barriers (doors n sheetmetal).
I am not putting the .45 acp down, it is a good manstopper. The problem is that others have elevated the .45 acp to a super legendary status that is WAY OVERSTATED: Dropping a man no matter where you hit him even if its only on the tip of a finger. Get real. This is not only cheesey, it is extremely inaccurate. The .45 acp aficionados do love the myth and the legend, but they are living in the past. The truth is that today we have superior stoppers. That said I'll only add that if the only weapon I had was a .45 acp I would just be thankful that it wasn't the older .38 Auto used in Philipines in the early 1900s. But for me today, give me a .10mm any day of the week.
Best.
H
2007-10-06 02:09:18 · answer #2 · answered by H 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
The .357 magnum is more powerful and has better stopping power. Some police departments have gotten away from it and moved to the .40 caliber though because of the .357's propensity to overpenetrate and potentially strike innocent bystanders. But if you want the more powerful cartridge, go with the .357 magnum.
2007-10-06 03:24:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The 357.
2007-10-06 09:40:18 · answer #4 · answered by Steel Rain 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
whats more powerful the .357 magnum or .40 caliber?
2015-08-06 14:23:59 · answer #5 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No brainer, the .357 Magnum. Out of a 4" barrel a 125 gr. bullet travels in excess of 1300+ fps, the best the .40 S&W can do is approach 1200fps.
2007-10-05 23:50:11 · answer #6 · answered by WC 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The .357 mag by about 2 - 4 percent.
2007-10-05 21:15:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
The 357 magnum is more powerful.....
Muzzle velocity and muzzle energy are higher in every round when compared from a 357 to a 40 cal....here is one bullet
357 Muzzle velocity - 1,235 muzzle energy - 535
40 cal Muzzle velocity - 1010 muzzle energy - 408
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=323011
2007-10-05 23:50:54 · answer #8 · answered by Stampy Skunk 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
40 Caliber Velocity
2016-12-10 11:22:07 · answer #9 · answered by inabinet 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Deffinately the .357, much more powerful than the .40!
2007-10-06 03:29:34 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋