Thanks to everyone who voted. The results are a little surprising, but when you think about it for a minute, it starts to make sense. The .380 ACP came in first with 16 votes, followed closely by the .38 Spl with 15 votes, then the .357 Mag rounding off the top three at 13.
The .45 ACP at 10 votes and the 10mm at 9 both beat out the 9mm with 7 votes. The.357 Sig came in last at 4 votes and the .40 S&W was second to last with 5. Even the .38 Super beat out the last two with 6 votes.
The .380 is understandable, a lot of people carry around those small pistols in their pockets and want to know how they may perform. The .38 is in much the same boat, small, lightweight and still very popular. The .357 on the other hand is kind of a surprise. I know and see people daily who carry or use firearms, and none of them use a .357.
I think people have seen enough of the 9mm to get an idea of what works, and that explains why it came in as low as it did.
General Cartridge 
I definitely vote for .357 sig, but I’d be happy to see any new content.
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What I think is that people want to know what those lower powered rounds are going to do with their various loadings, because pretty much all decent defensive loadings these days, chambered in anything with enough power, works well. Its the little guns most folks have issues with finding a good load for, and hence, want to see more actual ballistics gel tests of.
The .357 is interesting, and its weird you don’t see too many people carrying it. I have a 649 in my own rotation and love it.
I think the reason why people want to see that is because alot of people carry snubnose magnums despite their reputation. For me at least, my J’s get more carry time than my tiny 9’s. J’s just carry really easy for me. Ballistically speaking, we’re always trying to find a magnum load that isn’t a rip roaring full house hunting load, but delivers more then a .38 +p.
I’ve found a handful of these loads, with Speers’ Gold Dot Short Barrel and Remingtons’ Golden Sabre being the top two.
Thank you, by the way, for performing this service.
This blog should be getting way more attention than it does.
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Hey, on another note, while you’re running tests of .38 special, why not see if you can find the FBI load, a 158 grain lead semi wadcutter hollowpoint, +p. The Remington issue is supposed to be the better one for expansion due to it being a softer lead alloy, supposedly.
Lucky Gunner did a run of different brands of this load but the results were disappointing, probably because they used that simulation gel that you’ve learned isn’t the greatest for test results.
Again, thank you for being as meticulous as you have been in presenting your results.
Too bad Lucky Gunner doesn’t amend their tests the same way you have, after you learned about the problems with sim gel.
Good work, my friend.
Cheers.
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