Bullet type ??

[terry]

I was looking at some 357 reloading bullets on sale at my gun store today and had a ??. There were some 158gr Semi Jacket lead flat points which caught my eye for hunting loads. My is will these even expand any or just perform like a hard cast lead flat point?

[MS Hitman]

Different brands and even production dates have an effect on how bullets will expand at different velocities.  I'd say that if you want to experiment, soak a bunch of newsprint and fire some bullets into it.  This should give you an idea of how the bullets will perform on game.  Hard cast bullets around the 180-190 grain weight will give you very good penetration on deer sized game and may be what you are looking for.

Hope this helps.

[corbanzo]

Yes, they do perform like casts.  The semi-jacket is mostly to prevent slowing in the barrel which cast lead causes.  I use jfp's for bear protection just the same as hard casts.  I would still use them for hunting in the right circumstance though.

[EdK]

The semi-jacket is mostly to prevent slowing in the barrel which cast lead causes.

Really? I thought cast bullets were faster...

[Mikey]

terry - depending on the make of the bullet it may not expand at all and if that happens it will not act like a hard cast swc with a flat metplat, it will act like a truncated nose bullet and may give you neither the expansion or penetration you see.  

MS Hitman is correct in that hard cast bullets will give you good penetration and the semi-wadcutter desing is very good at not angling off bone structure should penetrate on through.  Harcast bullets actually give you an increase in velocity as the bullet base expands just enough to fill the bore and give you better velocity as well as accuracy.  

For hunting with the 357 Magnum, Jerry Lester is our all around expert on the use of the 357 on whitetail.  He usually uses a lever action rifle, as I understand but his experience is quite extensive.  

To go a bit further than MS Hitman did with his recommendation, if you reload there are a couple of places that make a 200 gn semi-wadcutter that is a whopper out of a 357.  It may easily overpenetrate and pass completely through a whitetail but that is what I look for in a 357 round.  Maybe Jerry will comment on your question and give you some additional advice.  HTH.  Mikey.

[terry]

 Thanks for the info. I bought a used S&W performance center 357 8.5" barrel pistol with aimpoint dot sight at my local gun shop and really like it alot it's my nicest handleing hunting pistol I own. I plan on using it this fall for whitetail deer and a few wild hogs both normally under 200lbs on the hoof here. I was looking at bullets to reload some hunting rounds with. I am not really sure if I need a cast type bullet as the animals I am hunting aren't that big and thick bodied. I was thinking maybe a mild expanding HP or SP bullet that will expand some might give me more shock or damage for fast kills and short tracking jobs. The store also has some 357 Nosler 180gr bonded HP bullets high in price but would be OK for serious hunting use.

[Jerry Lester]

Those sound like Remington 158g SP's, or Winchester 158g SP's. Either of these bullets will definately expand at revolver velocities, and perform extremely well as far as a perfect mix between expansion, and penetration from a rifle barrel. They do "not" perform like hard cast's . They don't mushroom violently like a HP, but they do expand on a deer, or other 50 lb or bigger critter.

It's possible that they're not Remingtons, or Winchesters, but I'd say they're still in the ball park as far as performance.