Thoughts on Lee 358-159-FP for SD

[youngda9]

I carry a 3" Smith 686+ for Self Defense(SD). I've shot thousands of the Lee 158gr FP cast boolits and am very comfortable with this load. The boolit has a .280" meplat and leaves my 3" gun at 1200fps (515ft-lbs energy). Muzzle blast isn't too bad and follow up shots are fast. I cast using ACWW and tumble in 45/45/10.

I've been thinking about using 125grain gold dots which come out the barrel at 1375fps (527ft-lbs energy) since 125gr in .357 is the king. The muzzle blast, recoil, and noise produced with this round is signifigantly more than the 158grain loads. I am much less comfortable with this load.

I think the 158gr FP boolit would be great for SD. What do you guys think?

(Please don't let this turn into a discussion about using re-loads for SD purposes. I just want opinions on what you guys think of boolit performance.)

[jmort]

I am of the big meplat, two hole, one in and one out, camp when it comes to self-defense. So, yes, it would work well, but you could dial it down to 1,000 fps. I agree that "The muzzle blast, recoil, and noise" of some red-line self-defense rounds are too much. One shot in a room and your hearing is seriously damaged for life.