deer hunting with a Pedersoli ''baby'' rolling block .357

[ratherbefishin]

anybody deer hunting with a .357 Pedersoli ''baby'' rolling block?I know this is a pistol cartridge, but the long barrel[28''] should give a considerably  better ballistics than a revolver .I'd prefer a 38-55 but that is only available in the full size RB.If it can come close to a 30/30 I'd be confident to hunt with it under 100 yard shots-the limit I'm good for with open sights anyway.

[mannyrock]

Ratherbe,

   The .357 out of a rifle barrel is an entirely different animal from the .357 out of a pistol  With regular factory 158 grain soft point jacketed rounds (not hollowpoints!), you get 1,275 ft pounds at the muzzle and about 600 ft pounds at 100 yards.  These are very good deer killers out to 100 yards, assuming you do not put it directly through the shoulder bone joint.  (Always shoot behind the shoulder, or take a high lung shot.)  It will often drop them where they stand.  But, 100 yards is absolutely your maximum range.

   You can also buy high powered, with caste bullet, .357 rounds from Buffalo Bore company, that have 1450 foot pounds at the muzzle, and about 1,000 ft pounds at 100 yards.   Very expensive, but devastating on deer.  Very close to the .30-30, and probably more like the .35 Remington in effect.

   And, you can buy 180 grain, high powered hunting rounds from Core-Bon, these are higher powered than the regular factory load, but not as powerful as Buffalo Bore. 

   Never use a hollow point.  Always use a factory, jacketed, softpoint bullet (the Remington Core Lock are great), or one of the special hunting rounds from Buffalo Bore or Core-Bon. 

   Forget trying to use .38 specials in your rifle for practice.  They hit as much as 10 inches lower than the .357 round at 100 yards, and so you have to resight your rifle for the .38, and then resight again for the .357 at hunting season.  A big waste of time in my opinion.

  Hope this helps.

Mannyrock

[mannyrock]

Ratherbe,
 
   This is an important supplement to my prior reply.

   I don't have any experience with rolling block rifles, or baby rolling block rifles.  But, I'm guessing that these are fairly weak actions, and not as strong as modern lever actions? 

   The higher powered .357 mag loads by Buffalo Bore are made for strong, modern rifles, such as the Marlin 1894.   I would be reluctant to shoot them in a rolling block.

   The Core-Bon hunting loads are powerful, but I don't know if they create higher pressure than a standard 158 grain factory load.  You should check, and I would not shoot them in a rolling block action if they generate higher pressure.

   The good news is that the regular, Remington Core-Lokt factory loads, 158 grain round nose soft points, are very good deer killers, assuming you only take broad side shots and stay away from that front shoulder ball joint, at under 100 yards.  Since you have open sights, you may have to keep it to 75 yards to make sure you can place the shot correctly.

Regards,

Mannyrock

[Dezynco]

The rolling block action is a very strong action, or at least strong enough for anything a 357 Mag can push.  I wouldn't worry about the strength of the action, especially with any factory loads.

The 357 Mag is plenty of medicine for deer out to 100 yards or so.  If you ever decide to get into handloading, you can load some very interesting bullets for it, including 180 grain "spire points" that give the little cartridge a little better balistics.  Like Mannyrock said, I would stick to some well constructed bullets, and use the heavier bullets that are available like the 180 grain softpoints.

The first deer my dad ever killed was with 357 Ruger Blackhawk!

[ShooterToo]

Try the Hornaday Leverloution rounds.  I shhot them from a Puma M92 and haven'tlost a deer yet.

[mannyrock]

  I have no experience with the new LeverEvolution rounds in .357, but it seems to me that they probably designed these specifically for deer hunting, so actually this may be a great place to start.

  Also, remember that with cartridges that have quick burning powders, such as the .357 Mag, a really long barrel does not mean that you are adding even more velocity and energy, as compared to a medium length barrel.  At some point, the barrel is too long, and the bullet, which has reached its maximum velocity in the barrel, is actually being dragged down and slowed down by the friction of the extra barrel length.

  Years ago, I saw an article on this in either G&A or American Rifleman, where they started with pistol round cartridges, in rifles, with really long barrels, and started cutting off the barrels one inch at a time.  The velocity of the rounds actually increased as the barrel was shortened to medium lengths (approximately 24 inches), and then started slowing down as the barrel was shortened further.

Regards,

Mannyrock

[jlwilliams]

Try the Hornaday Leverloution rounds.  I shhot them from a Puma M92 and haven'tlost a deer yet.

  Great rounds.  They use a pointed bullet with a rubber balistic tip so they load safely in a tube magazine.  That part is irrelevant to a rolling block, but the pointed balistic tip bullet and high velocity means flatter trajectory, longer effective range, and impressive results.  These are designed for hunting.  Down side, expensive.  Once you are sighted in, you won't want to plink with these.  Save them for hunting, plink with cast lead reloads.

  By all means, a .357 rolling block should be fine.

[petemi]

I'm surprised at two things.  First, my .357 shoots .38's high due to more time in the barrel during muzzle rise.  Secondly, that no one has mentioned reaming it to .357 Maximum as I did with my Handi .357.

I've had great results with .45-70, .30-30 and .44 Mag Leverevolutions.  I really like them.  I haven't used them  in my .357 yet, cause I've got lots of ammo for it.

Pete