Author Topic: 357 Magnum Carbine  (Read 531 times)

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Offline JW/OK

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357 Magnum Carbine
« on: January 06, 2008, 06:14:59 PM »
Made it to the gun show today in OKC and found a new 21" Contender barrel in 357 Magnum on Ed's table . Does anyone have any favorite loads for this combination? I have H110 and will probably try some 158 grain lead bullets. This will be an all purpose gun for armadillo other varmints and probably whitetail doe season. Thanks ahead of time!

Offline spinafish

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Re: 357 Magnum Carbine
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2008, 09:29:39 AM »
Get a box of Hornady XTP in the 180 grain weight..you'll want close to a max load for your deer hunting,,maybe not so stout for the possum on a half shell..lots of good load info at the Hodgdon web site.
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Offline Jerry Lester

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Re: 357 Magnum Carbine
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2008, 06:20:21 PM »
For general shooting, and hunting animals up to around coyote sized, I prefer a mild load. My current "all purpose" load is a Remington 125g SP at around 1380 fps(muzzle). I'm pretty sure this is gonna change soon though as the cost of bullets has sky rocketed, and the Remington bulk bullets are getting harder to find. I'll be casting some sort of all purpose bullet soon.

For deer, the Remington 158g SP at around 1700-1900 fps is just about as good as it gets. I've killed a LOT of deer with a 357 rifle using a wide array of bullet designs, and this bullet/combo has been the deadliest as far as balancing trajectory, penetration, expansion, and terminal performance in general.