pastorp: Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. My choice of gun for the 357 is an older S&W Model 28 (Highway Patrolman) that I have owned for over 20 years and that went back to the factory for a rebarrel. It came with a 6" bbl and after wearing a hole in my hip for 20 years it went back for a 4" bbl but came home with a 3.5" instead. That was fine with me. The only load I use in that revolver is a 200 gn hardcast semi-wadcutter over 12.4 gns of WW296 that is supposed to produce 1335'/sec at 35K cup (down from 38K cup with the 158 gn swc over 14.5 of 295 for 1450'/sec.) I'm sure the velocity is less from my shorter barrel and that is why I prefer the heavier 200 gn swc.
I have taken 8 or 9 whitetail with that revolver and load to distances of 60 meaured yards. Most often I shoot for the heart/lung area with complete pass-throughs and have not yet recovered a bullet. A couple I have taken took the slug to the onside shoulder which busted through the shoulder girldle and passed through the chest and out. I don't take chance shots where I can't get a clear sight picture.
That particular load has shown to be accurate in a couple of different revolvers - a 6" M28, my M28, and a 6" Python. A friend with a 357 rifle/carbine says it's a great load, good and accurate in his rifle and completely passed through the shoulders if a medium sized buck he took last year.
The 357 with the standard weight 158 gn bullet is more than capable of taking whitetail - just ask Jerry Lester. He is really more experienced than I am with the 357 and whitetail and he prefers the 158 gn loadings. Some of the other folks here like the 180 gn loads but to me they seem to neither get the velocity or penetration I would have thought they would, yet they work just fine.
I like the 200 gn slug because it 'carries' more and from my shorter barrel gives me the penetration I want to make a clean harvest. HTH. Mikey.
