Smith & Wesson's Model 627- 5 357 Magnum Part 2

Rural living – When the weather gets really chilly, sub zero not factoring in wind chill, I tend to pull the shooting bench just outside the back door of the garage and set up. There is a straight hundred yard lane for shooting and, if I fall face down in a snow drift and can’t get up, it is a short crawl back to the house. When I was setting up for this S&W Model 627 conclusion, I opened the double doors and a big Tom turkey on the other side blew right past me on his way into the garage, then settled into a slow strut while he walked around inspecting vehicles and equipment.

Too cold to examine the juxtaposition of existential man and Descartes animal automata, I left my feathered  guest to wander and experience…a little turkey Zen, while I huffed and puffed and hauled my gear outside. Unfortunately, discharging a checkout round brought an abrupt end to our burgeoning friendship and sent Tom beating feet for the woods, going airborne as he cleared the door like a STOL aircraft. What does all of this mean? Not a thing, other than to note that life isn’t always all guns and shooting. Sometimes it is just a good laugh at the expense of wildlife.

Trying to do justice to a good firearm…

The S&W 627-5 357 Magnum is a very nicely done revolver with lots of potential for the highly skilled competitive shooter or hunter. Not a person who shoots in sanctioned competitive events, my results are based exclusively on more moderate handgun skills, so it would be reasonable to conclude that the S&W can deliver more the highly proficient. The handloads indicated are are based on mature components and combinations.

Bullets selected L-R; Hornady 110 grain HP/XTP, Remington 125 grain SJHP, and Hornady 158 grain FP-XTP. New Remington brass and CCI 500 primers were used for all handloads, even though H110 is most often paired with magnum primers. These are not really compressed loads or even large charges.

Hornady 140 FTX bullets were passed on for this project. Based on direct experience, they don’t bring much to the party at this barrel length and I prefer to not trim brass that is specified as 1.270″~1.290″ down to 1.240″ solely to accommodate the FTX bullet. The modification renders the brass useless, or at least requiring non-standard load data, for any other bullet type.

Examining 357 Magnum handload data, there are substantial differences in charge levels and in reported performance. Most component manufacturers hold to the SAAMI pressure limit of 35,000 psi. A few advance to CIP’s 43,511 psi maximum pressure. Some sources provide pressure data, others do not. Additionally. there are some data sources that only list 10″ barrel loads, rather than the more typical 6″, which skews the numbers considerably and clouds the powder selection process a bit.

And so…

I couldn’t help but think that the S&W Model 627-5 is an excellent firearm for centerfire handgun training. With 38 Special target ammo, recoil and report are minimal and would present little physical challenge. With 357 Mag ammo it is one of the softest shooting revolvers I’ve experienced. For most folks, too large for concealed carry, but not too large for home defense, hunting or days at the range.

Smith & Wesson’s Model 627- 5 357 Magnum Part 1
Smith & Wesson’s Model 627- 5 357 Magnum Part 2