.357 Magnum Round

The .357 Magnum round is a type of ammunition in Fallout: New Vegas.

Characteristics
The .357 Magnum round, a Magnum handgun cartridge manufactured by Big Chief, has a significant powder load making it a very powerful cartridge for a pistol round, and acceptable for use in carbine length lever-action rifles.

Production
.357 Magnum standard and JFP rounds can be crafted at a reloading bench. A single cartridge requires the following:

Breakdown
Breaking down a standard .357 Magnum round yields:

Weapons using this ammunition

 * .357 Magnum revolver
 * Lucky
 * Police pistol
 * Cowboy repeater
 * La Longue Carabine
 * K9000 cyberdog gun

.357 Magnum, hollow point
Hollow point bullets are designed to mushroom out, expanding up to 1.5 times their original size. This results in a jagged, gory wound significantly larger than the actual round. Hollow points lack the penetrating power to punch through denser material because their force is distributed over a larger area, drastically reducing the weapon's penetrating power.

.357 Magnum, JFP (hand load)
JFPs (or jacketed flat points) are blunt, copper-wrapped bullets designed to flatten on impact like a hollow point, but retain the penetrating power of a copper-jacket slug. As such, they inflict greater damage, penetrate enemy armor better, and even fly straighter than normal .357 rounds. They require the Hand Loader perk to craft.

.38 Special round
.38 Special rounds are a less powerful cartridge than .357 Magnum rounds. They can be fired from any weapon capable of firing a .357 Magnum because the latter was developed from the .38 Special round, and, despite the name, they share all the same dimensions except case length. Though the reduction in powder means less damage inflicted on the target, it also means less wear and tear per shot on the gun.

Locations

 * Cliff Briscoe at the Dino Bite gift shop in Novac randomly stocks .357 Magnum rounds.
 * Chet often stocks ammo boxes of .38 Special Rounds.
 * Sierra Madre vault - An armor locker in the main vault can contain up to 2000 rounds.
 * Sierra Madre vending machines can produce 12 rounds of .357 Magnum for 48 Sierra Madre chips if the relevant vending machine code is acquired from the Villa police station.
 * Occasionally found on Fiends, Kings gang members, Powder Gangers and NCR Rangers.
 * Passing guns skill checks with the Think Tank during the initial meeting with them will award increasing amounts of .357 Magnum ammo, including JFP.