No contest. The 38 Special is far far away the most popular revolver caliber ever. Ask any shop owner that sells ammunition or reloading equipment for confirmation. If I were buying a revolver today it would be a 357 but 90% of the ammo fired in it would be 38 Special. I shoot a lot of 22 LR, 9 Parabellum, 45 ACP, and 38 Super but mostly in semi autos. My concealed carry gun is a S&W model 60 in 357 Magnum and take it the range regularly but more often than not shoot 38 Specials in it. I own and know many others who have progressive reloading machines setup for 38 Special. No one that I know has a progressive loader set up for the 357. Go to any IDPA or NRA Action Pistol match and competitors shooting revolvers are almost always shooting 38 Specials. Go to the NRA National Pistol Championships and see the revolvers in the Distinguished Pistol and Harry Reeves matches, again the 38 Special is dominate. Go to your local range and see what most shooters are shooting. Again, the 38 Special is dominate. I teach concealed handgun classes and some students qualify with revolvers, virtually always shooting 38 Special ammunition. When I go hunting I carry a S&W 29 and I shoot 100 rounds a year through it but I may shoot 5,000 rounds of 38 Special a year. The 38 Special is the most popular revolver cartridge ever designed.

Originally Posted by Charlie

.45 Colt. If you've got a Ruger or Thompson Contender, you can load them up to .44 mag. ballistics. Very versatile round that will run from 'bout 650 fps up to and over 1400 + fps. I now own two revolvers that caliber. I am currently looking for a Winchester Model 94 Trapper in .45 Colt (probably have a better chance winning the lottery!).

I would have to agree except to say my personal choice is the Ruger SRH in 454 Casull 7.5". When i want to just target shoot i can fire the 45 Colts which in that gun is extreeeeeeemly smooth. If i want to go to Africa and hunt a Cape Buffalo at 110 yrds i just pop in a CorBon 360 grain penetrator in 454 and i don't kneed to load a 45 Colt hot which would still only be about 68% of the 454 Casull. Between the Ruger SRH in 454 Casull and the S&W in 460 and 500 the Thompson Contender should be pretty much obsolete, probably why S&W bought them out.

I shoot nine >38 Specials for every .357 round I shoot. I own more .357s than ..38s but .38 is much more useful

+1 NMpops

I own four .38 Special revolvers and three .357 Mag revolvers. The .357s have had less than 50 rounds of .357 through them and literally thousands of .38 Special through them. I may be CCWing any one of them, but it will always be stoked with .38 Special ammo. No it isn't the most powerful, but it is controllable and durn accurate!

I have the .44 Mag Taurus Tracker.I love to shoot this gun.Not very many times,
but it's power is awesome.

The always reliable and very concealable .38 special, of course ...
(how could .38 not be listed in poll)

I'd say 38/357. Just curious, but why is there 45ACP in a revolver poll?

Originally Posted by Youngster

I'd say 38/357. Just curious, but why is there 45ACP in a revolver poll?

Smith and Wesson 25 (blue) and 625 (Stainless) are both popular revolvers and they are chambered for the .45 ACP.

Originally Posted by wjh2657

Smith and Wesson 25 (blue) and 625 (Stainless) are both popular revolvers and they are chambered for the .45 ACP.

Thanks for the clarification. Sorry, new to handguns!

+1 youngster

No problem - we all were "new" at one time or another .

It's just been longer for some of us than others.

.357 Magnum, so I can shoot .38 Specials all day long and load it with .357's when I need it. A hard choice between that and .22LR because there's nothing that is as much fun as a brick of .22LRs and a six gun and bag of tin cans.

Love the 44 Special. Big slow bullet that will do anything you need it to do and is easy to shoot. I reload so ammo cost is not a factor.

Same sentiment as many others--the only revolver I own is a .357 (and yup, I usually use it to shoot .38's)

What no .40 S&W..........

like how many revolvers come in .40 cal.!

Most popular? or favorite?

My understanding is that .38 is the best selling caliber of ammo in the USA. It used to be the best selling ammo in the world, but I don't know if that still holds as there are a lot of 9mm guns out there.

But for revolvers I'm pretty sure that it is the .38.

(It's not my favorite, though.)

The J-Frame is the most popular size for a carry revolver. In that particular size the .38 Special in +P about maxes out the effective power vs handling ability. I own and have fired .357 Magnum J-Frames but they are not conducive to follow up shots. In fact they are pretty much the same as holding an exploding grenade in your hand! A lot of Macho types are going to cut me down for that remark as being a real p***y but I see many of them on the range and they fire .38 Specials out of those "pocket rockets" at the range. I don't understand where they think they are going to get of 3-5 COM in a 5" circle out of their .357 Mags in a real fight when they can't do it on the range. IMHO .38 +P is top end for a real small revolver.

I can do it with .357 in my 2 1/2" barreled 686 all day, but it is way too big for effective CCW in dress clothes. If there were to be a competitor it would be the .44 Special (i.e. CA Bulldogs) but . good 38 +P rounds exceed that cartridge's RSP in all tests, so little gain.

357 Magnum by a long shot, because of the 38 Special "dual capability". Most fun might be 22LR though.

I carry and shoot the Ruger GP100 357 I rebuilt it 2 years ago.

I have owned four revolvers in my lifetime; all of a different caliber, and all Rugers. The first was a SP101 in 9mm, the second was a Vaquero in .44mag, number three was another SP101 in the new .327 federal mag, and my current revolver is one I have been wanting for a very long time - a GP100 3" barrel with the factory grips in .357mag. I have been foolish in that I traded one for another in an effort to find the right one. In hindsight they all were the right one and I wish I had them all back. So, in reference to the original post...I prefer the GP100 in .357mag. Putting it in my hand is like putting on my favorite old pair of slippers, it's a very comfortable fit.

I have more (4) 38/357 than the others,,, by sheer count it would win.

Most of my revolvers are .38/.357(mostly because I have a weak spot for S&W J and K frame revolvers) But I also have and shoot revolvers in .22, .32, .38 S&W, .41, .44 spl. and mag., .45 acp, and 45 colt. I think I just love shooting revolvers (though simi-autos are always in the mix to)

I'm fine with .38 Specials.