Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash – Smart Short Barrel Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash is a purpose built answer to a real problem: most 357 Magnum defensive ammunition is loaded for a four or six inch barrel and behaves badly in a snub nose. This one runs 1225 fps for roughly 416 ft-lbs, uses a low flash powder, and is built around an all copper Barnes XPB. Safe in any 357 Magnum firearm. Twenty rounds per box, item 19H/20.

• Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash Overview
• 357 Magnum Short Barrel Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 125 Grain Barnes XPB Load Suits A Snub
• Specifications
• Range Notes On Lead Free 357 Defense Ammunition

Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash Overview

Two design decisions define this load. The first is powder selection. Standard magnum powders are slow burning and count on a long barrel to finish the job, so in a two or three inch gun a large share of the charge burns outside the muzzle as a fireball. Buffalo Bore uses a fast, low flash powder instead, which burns more completely in a short tube and leaves you with your night vision intact.

The second is the bullet. The Barnes XPB is machined from solid copper with a deep hollow cavity and no lead core. It opens into copper petals and retains essentially all of its weight, which is how a 125 grain bullet manages to penetrate like something heavier.

The combination is marketed as low flash and low recoil, and both descriptions are accurate. This is a full power defensive load in the sense that matters, but the Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash is not trying to be the loudest, hottest 357 in the catalogue.

357 Magnum Short Barrel Ammo Ballistics

Buffalo Bore chronographs in real guns, and the published spread is genuinely useful. They list 1235 fps from a 2.5 inch Smith and Wesson Model 66, 1295 fps from a 3 inch Model 66, 1383 fps from a 4 inch Mountain Gun, 1333 fps from a 5 inch Model 27, and 1642 fps from an 18 inch Marlin 1894.

Notice what that tells you. The short barrels are not giving up much. A 2.5 inch revolver is still making 1235 fps here, which is the whole point of 357 Magnum short barrel ammo loaded this way. Compare that with a conventional magnum load, where a snub can shed several hundred feet per second and a great deal of its flash suppressed character.

The rifle figure is a bonus worth knowing if you own a lever gun in the same calibre. 1642 fps with a 125 grain copper bullet is 748 ft-lbs, which turns a pistol calibre carbine into a genuinely capable short range hunting tool, and it does it with the same 125 grain Barnes XPB load you carry in the revolver.

Why The 125 Grain Barnes XPB Load Suits A Snub

Muzzle flash is the underrated problem with a magnum revolver indoors. A defensive shooting is overwhelmingly likely to happen in poor light, and a conventional 357 load fired from a short barrel produces a fireball that will cost you your dark adaptation for several seconds. Low flash powder is not a marketing line here, it is the reason this load exists.

Recoil is the other half of it. A lightweight snub firing full house 357 is genuinely unpleasant, and unpleasant guns do not get practised with. A 125 grain Barnes XPB load at 1225 fps recoils closer to a hot 38 Special than to a barn burning magnum, which means faster follow up shots and a shooter who actually trains.

Copper solves the short barrel expansion problem. A conventional jacketed hollow point designed for 1450 fps may simply fail to open when a snub delivers it at 1150. The XPB is engineered to expand across a wider velocity window, so lead free 357 defense ammunition of this type is more predictable out of a short gun than most of the alternatives.

And the lack of lead is worth something on its own. Indoor ranges with tired ventilation, jurisdictions with non toxic rules, and anyone who would rather not have lead residue on their hands all have a reason to prefer the Buffalo Bore 357 Mag 125gr XPB Low Flash over a conventional jacketed load.

Specifications

Range Notes On Lead Free 357 Defense Ammunition

Shoot it at night if you can, or at least in a dim bay. The whole argument for this load is what it does in low light, and you will not learn anything about that under fluorescent tubes at two in the afternoon.

Check point of impact against whatever you normally carry. A 125 grain bullet is light for the calibre, and in a fixed sight revolver regulated for 158 grain loads this 357 Magnum short barrel ammo will often print low at 25 yards. Find that out on paper rather than in the dark.

Do not confuse this with the heavy 357 loads in the same catalogue. Buffalo Bore also builds a 125 grain XPB at 1650 fps, and that one is restricted to all steel revolvers. This low recoil 357 Magnum carry load is safe in any 357 Magnum firearm, which includes lightweight alloy framed guns.

Practise with 38 Special and confirm with this. That is the traditional and still the sensible approach with a magnum revolver: cheap ammunition for volume, then a box or two of lead free 357 defense ammunition to verify function, recoil and zero.

Low Recoil 357 Magnum Carry Load Availability

This low recoil 357 Magnum carry load is in stock and ready to ship from MAG5 Firearms, a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Ammunition orders ship to most states, and local customers are welcome to pick up in the shop. If you need case quantities or another 357 Magnum short barrel ammo option from the Buffalo Bore catalog, call us and we will check what our distributors have on hand.

Manufacturer details are on the Buffalo Bore site. For a heavier bullet in the same low flash line see the 357 Mag 140gr XPB, and for the full power version see the heavy 357 Mag 125gr XPB. You can also browse our full ammunition selection.