True stories of the 357 mag?

[handi243]

Looking for hunting stories with the 357 mag in a handgun mostly for whitetail looking for loads distance bullets and the aftermath(would channel and exit) not really looking for opinion just looking for what YOU have done. thanks

[Badnews Bob]

Well, I was sitting on the ground about 60 or 70 yards below my usual stand looking over the hill below me, I had my .45-70 beside me and my Ruger GP 100 in my lap, Just in case ya know.  So, I turned and looked toward my stand and there is a young buck standing there looking at me.  I think the mother ship dropped him off cuz he just appeared. Seeing as he was facing right at me I had no way to pick up my rifle, I waited a minute and he turned a little and put jis head down, Now he's broadside to me, I raise the GP and light one off, I can see the hit just behind the shoulder as he jumps straight up about four feet and runs dead at me, He pulls up about 10 or 15 yards to my right and stops. He stands there for a moment then lays down. Watching him for a little bit but he don't put his head down, I hate to see one suffering so I pull the GP up and put one in his head, Nice young 8 pointer, weighted about 130 or so.

I was using my own hardcast LBT style 180gr LFNGC over a max load of H110, 6" ruger GP 100, I paced it off to where he stood and it was 65 paces, The bullet passed clean thru the chest taking out both lungs, just missing the heart a little high. Busted a rib on the way out leaveing a nickle size exit wound, both lungs were pretty much mush, the head shot went in under his eye and came out his ear nothin but mush left there also.

That Revolver has takin several deer and all have really been one shot kills, I do not count a mercy shot. Those are a moral issue not gun performance, I will not make an anaimal suffer needlessly.

BTW I love my rugers.

[Graybeard]

Hunt down posts by Jerry Lester. He uses the .357 Mag in both handgun and rifle for most all his hunting. He has commented on it many times here tho not much lately. Last I heard from him he had lost his job and was going thru hard times.

[handi243]

thanks GB will do i hate hearing people on Gb outdoors having problem with jobs i am very lucky to have mine. Hope things pick up for him.

[Mohawk]

 I used a 4" S&W Model 28 .357 Highway Patrolman last deer season and it did dandy. First whitetail was hit in the lungs, ran 40yds, and died outright. Second deer did the same, hit in the lungs. Load was the Remington 158gr Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point(SJHP). Both bullets exited leaving .55-.60 caliber holes. Great deer medicine.

[BrianB]

My son shot his second deer with a .357 GP100 6" at roughly 30 yards or so, as I recall.  I was watching the deer when it was hit, and it absolutely dropped.  Double-lunged with a 158 XTP HP over 16 gr. Lil' Gun.  Hopefully, I'll take one with it this year. (I hate being one-upped!)  Bear in mind, this was a small deer, probably 75 pounds or so.  Even so, anyone who says the .357 is inadequate is clearly wrong.  But, it obviously has it's range limitations.  Because we hunt densely wooded areas and swamps, a 60 yard shot is about as far as we ever shoot any deer. A 100 yard shot would be somewhat unusual here, so the .357 doesn't limit you much more than the vegetation and trees.  Wish me luck this season!

[222]

I have two experences with 357 mag on deer
1) Hunting whitetail doe in January it was cold -O at best was checking traps and carrying 357 encase I saw a deer. I saw her at about 40 yrds and put a 158 gr swc cast threw her shoulders and taking out lungs and major vein leading to the heart. Maybe ran 20-25 yrds and dropped. Text book style.

2) Hunting for an extra doe during regular season in Nebr. muly doe walks out at about 85-90 yds hit her square in the ribs right behind front leg with a hot Rem. 180 gr hp. she runs off 4-500 yrds and drops no blood trail nothing had she not been in sight would have lost her. Found out why when field dressing her bullet hit a rib square and bounced off never entered deer, but a small peice of rib broke off and damaged a lung.
Will 357 mag work yes but I now use a 44 mag with heavier bullets and only cast bullets. If I had to use 357 I would use 180 -200gr wide flat nose cast bullet and take out a shoulder. My .02 worth.

[kynardsj]

While scouting for deer movement about 18 years ago I had about a 120 pound 6 point come by me at about 60 yards. I had a 6 1/2 inch Blackhawk loaded with 125 grain JHP's. Hadn't planned on hunting that day but had it for protection from the wild dogs that roamed our land. I took the shot and he fell like a rock. On cleaning him I saw that the bullet entered the shoulder on one side and ended up under the hide on the other side. Lungs and heart were mush. I still hunt with my 357's but 158 grain is as small as I go on bullet weight.

[hunt-m-up]

Shot a smallish doe about 5 years ago with a scoped 608 Taurus at about 30 yards 3X's because she was in a little bowl and kept running around in circles. Shot 1 was high in the front, under the spine, 2nd shot was in the boiler room, #3 was shoulder. 180 grain Win factory partition. None passed through. Sold the gun. Part my fault, but I understand why many preach hardcast bullets.

[Walks with Fire]

I have taken 8 doe with my 6" Colt Python using 180 grain factory Federal Classic HP's. The longest was at 100 yards from a tree stand with a solid shooting rail. The deer came out on a trail that I knew was 100 yards and stopped; I dropped the hammer and hit it square in the heart which dropped it on the spot. Another I shot offhand at 65 yards and again this one took one leap and piled up.

My revolver eventually started to go out of time so much that it wasn't grouping very well so I sent it off to Colt to be retimed. When I got it back it didn't group the 180's quite as well so I started testing some other factory ammo and found that the Hornady XTP 158 load was scarry accurate so I bought a few boxes of the same run. I have not had the opportunity to try this load on deer yet but I am sure it will work just fine.

Over the years I have used the .44 mags on deer as well; mostly the Winchester 250 grain Whitetail Supreme factory loads and I didn't think it expanded enough for me. I did take one with 180 grain bullets and that deer went down like a sack of potatoes.

[JKump]

I shot this little Button buck using a Taurus 4" Tracker with Federal Fusion 158 gr ammo. The shot was about 30 paces and he was walking right at me. I put the bullet into his chest and it exited down his leg. Needless to say it dropped right there and was down for the count.   

[Tonk]

I once hit a 10point buck at 35yds with a .357mag using Super Vel ammo! It was some 40 years ago but I remember it like yesterday. I still get a bit of a let down thinking about that deer hunt. I was using a 155 grain jacketed bullet in a factory load. I hit that buck square in the front shoulder and saw the hair fly, standing broadside to me. It jumped off forward and up, I saw the buck enter part of an unharvested corn field.

We waited for an hour before going out to find the buck. The ground was frozen and no tracks could I really make up as his. I was not much of a tracker in those days period. We found no blood and no buck lying down or standing. Now after an hour looking for that deer, we decided to get more help and returned to the original spot. Now we had 7 people looking for that buck and nobody could shed an ounce worth as to the deer being down anywhere in the area.

If it had not been for the fact I saw the strike of the bullet, I would have just chalked things up to a big MISS!!! However, I did see the strike and knew the deer had to be hit hard I thought. Never gave much thought to having Poor bullet performance back then. I went to the .44mag pistol after that hunt.

[Will_C]

I shot my first deer with a handgun last year. It was a button buck at 42 yards with a S+W 686 6" .357. The load was 16.5 grains H110 and a 158 grain Hornady XTP. The shot entered the juction of the neck/shoulder, and the deer dropped. That was the window I had for the shot.  I had to finish it off.
I was satisified with the performance of the .357. I think it is probably a 50 yard handgun for deer. At this point in time, I am a 50 yard shot, so the .357 matches my skills. If my skill dvelops so I can hit a plate at 75 yards every shot, I'll get a .44.
Will

[Terbltim]

I hunted [deer] with the 357 for nearly a decade and have many stories, most of which can be summed up like this:
Deer went down upon the shot. Deer struggled to its feet and crashes away.
Deer recovered about 60-yds distant.
Bullet went clean through "the 10-ring" (heart/lung intersection) with no sign of expansion at all, (from commercial loads of 125gr HPs during the '80s, before the "good" hollow points were common.)

Here is the story of ONE of the TWO bullets that were ever stopped by deer from my 357s.

There I was, (sorry, I couldn't resist,)
I rounded the spine of a hill and there was a mule-deer doe walking straight away. I took careful aim BETWEEN the hind legs, looking for a path to the 10-ring.
When I saw what I was looking for I fired.
The deer gave a little hop and continued walking as if undisturbed but also turned broad-side to me. I presumed a miss and re-aimed at the 10-ring from broadside and fired again.
Struck a bit high, the deer flinched at the impact but otherwise seemed unimpressed.
Confused by all of this, (it was my first mule-deer) I began to try another shot but as I did, the deer stopped and, very casually, settled itself down and died.
The first shot had been true. It "burned" one thigh on its way into the belly and proceeded in a straight line to and through the 10-ring and came to a stop in the brisket.
That bullet was whatever 125gr hollow-point was being loaded in CCI Blaser ammo at the time, ('85-ish?) When recovered, it had NOT mushroomed at all. The exposed lead of the bullet had expanded to approximately the full diameter of the rest of the bullet but the jacketed part was unchanged except for rifling marks. ( I later learned this was common performance for "ordinary" HP bullets of the decades prior to when bullet makers got with the program, the '90s. A hollow point never really meant reliable expansion in handgun ammo back then.)
Actual penetration was about 18" to 20".
The other shot went through both shoulder-blades and the top of both lungs in typical fashion. Both shots were killers.
Approximate distance for these shots, 1st shot = 20 steps, 2nd shot = 28 steps.
All these shots were made for a 4" barreled Colt Trooper Mk III.
I shot a lot of "things" with that gun until it was stolen by baggage handlers at the Denver Airport, (never recovered but the Air-Line paid for a replacement without quarrel.)
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Dee]

In 1977 I shot a baby blue 1975 Chevelle with a Model 27 357 mag. It didn't kill it, but it stopped it. Does that count?

[sixshot]

  Shot a 3X3 muley buck in 1974 with an 8 3/8ths nickle S&W 357 using a 150 gr JHC by Sierra, I had only owned the gun 4-5 days & found it to be shooting right, my first 2 shots missed, the 3rd shot went in the shoulder & got one lung & top of the heart, he took half a dozen steps & dropped.
  In 1976 using the same gun that had since been slicked up by Sadowski of the old 300 Gunshop in Denver I took my one & only mountain lion. I was in a tree eye ball to eye ball with the cat & shot it at 5' using a 173 gr Keith slug. This was the toughest hunt I've ever experienced, 14 hrs on snowshoes with me breaking through almost every step, my lighter companion could walk on top just like the hounds. Many grouse, badgers, foxes, ground squirrels, coyotes & rabbits plus turtles, coons & opposums in Texas. My best day ever on ground squirrels I took 183 with a 6" Colt Python using 5.2 grs 231 & the 173 gr Keith in a 38 case.

Dick

[paul105]

Dick,

I have vague memories of that old Sadowski 300 Gunshop in Denver.  Must have been in the early 80s.  Can't clearly remember the exact circumstances, but I think it had to do with a Magnaport Arms M29 that I had Larry Kelly shorten to 5", action job, hard chrome, and ported which was counter rotating (common occurence berfore the "enhancement" upgrades).  Don't know why, but I periodically have "flashbacks" about visiting that shop.  As I recall, they didn't think they could do anything about the problem.  I really wish my memory was better on this one.

Paul

[Lloyd Smale]

like dee i use the 357 for what it does best. Shooting beer cans and other non living targets. to many 44s in the safe to fool with a 357 come hunting season.

In 1977 I shot a baby blue 1975 Chevelle with a Model 27 357 mag. It didn't kill it, but it stopped it. Does that count?

[Dee]

like dee i use the 357 for what it does best. Shooting beer cans and other non living targets. to many 44s in the safe to fool with a 357 come hunting season.

In 1977 I shot a baby blue 1975 Chevelle with a Model 27 357 mag. It didn't kill it, but it stopped it. Does that count?

Well Lloyd, that's sorta like shootin a Chevelle. Their both about the same metal thickness.

[Larry Gibson]

I've shot numerous deer with the .357 Magnum.  However, none were white tails.  They were mulies and black tails.  A couple were while hunnting but most were dispatching injured deer as a LEO in NE Oregon.  As such I was able to use different handguns and rifles and different bullets.  I was also most often able to pick my shot and then closely observe the effect of the shot.  

With any magnum handgun barrel length is of the utmost importance in selecting the bullet to use for hunting, especially with the .357 magnum.  Also we must consider the lessor velocity of todays factory ammuntion if that is what we are using.  If handloading then the choice is much greater and you can use safe true magnum velocities with the appropriate revolver.  Since my experiences and observations on deer with revolvers and magnum cartridges (.357, .41 and the .44) and other handgun cartridges I have found the best guide lines work best, expecially with the .357 for about 90% of all deer shooting.  If you are hunting the monster bucks of 200+ lbs then you should get something larger or go with 7 1/2 to 8 3/8" barrels;

First of all hard cast bullets of medium weight (150-170 gr) of SWC or having a WFN are the best "all around" bullet for all barrel lengths.  However, they are not the best bullet in any barrel length if you have other options if you cast and/or reload.

With 4" barrels the lighter weight 125 gr JSP/HPs are best.  These may be driven to 1400 fps with safe loads.  There are several good ones that will offer excellent expansion and penetration in deer out to 50-75 yards.  My personal favorites are the Winchester and Federal.  Againg an actual muzzle velocity of 1350 - 1400 fps is desired.

With 5-6" barrels the medium weight 140-150 gr JSP/JHPs are best here as are soft cast (WWs + lead at 50/50 is a good alloy) GC'd bullets of SWC/WFN design that are HP'd to 1/2 the nose length.  Again velocities should be in the 1350-1400+ fps range as actually chronographed.  A good bullet that will expand is necessary.  Numerous commercial SP/HPs are available to load and I favor the Lyman 358156 cast soft and HP'd as mentioned.  I drive it at 1450 fps out of my Ruger 6" Security Six and have no doubt of it's effectiveness on deer as that load has proven itself out of that revolver and a BH with 6" barrel also.  With an accurate load and a capable shooter these are deer effective to about 100 yards.

Note; I have found one caveat for 6" barreled revolvers and that is with the Hornady 125 FP/XTP.   At 1600 fps muzzle velocity it is deadly on the smaller deer of 175 or so lbs or less.  

With 7 1/2 to 8 3/8s" barrels the heavier JHP/JSPs of 180 gro or so are quite effective.  Velocities with those should also be in the 1400+ fps range.  Also the 150 gr JSPs at 1500 fps are very effective.  I also like the 558156 HP'd and cast soft as mentioned at 1500 fps.  Expansion and penetration is all that is needed on deer, including the big ones.

With 10" Contenders in .357 magnum the 150 -180 JSP/JHPs are very good choices.  Velocities can easily run to 1800 fps.  A soft cast GC'd cast bullet of SWC/WFN (not HP'd) at 1600 -1700 fps is also quite effective.  With a good rest and scope sighted the Contender with a good shooter is effective to 200 yards with such loads.

The answer to the question for the .357 magnum in particular is simply to match the bullet to the velocity obtainable with a particular barrel length.  While the hard cast bullet works ok in all barrel lengths a properly selected JSP/JHP when driven at the approprite velocity that expands in the deer will kill quicker and more effectively.  This translates into less tracking and less of a chance of a lost deer.  Of course it is the shooters responsibility to only shoot with in the limitations of the load and the limitations of the shooter.

Larry Gibson

[223fan]

I've really enjoyed this thread and hope it keeps going.

[skarke]

I'm planning on giving it a go this season.  I have always hunted with pistols, just nothing this light.  Won't be shooting over 20 yards, east texas and all.

[Tonk]

I hunted deer with a .357 Western Hawes pistol just twice back in the 1960's. I killed a buck shot behind the shoulder at 18 yards using 158 grain Supper-VEL ammo back then....hot stuff. The deer ran over 130 yards before it went down and I found it at the edge of the creek. There was no exit hole in the buck and the bullet had fraggmented somewhat inside the deer.

I shot another deer the folloiwing year using what I though was a better bullet in my handloads. The buck was hit in the shoulder and took off quickly, it's tail was down and I was told I hit it hard ok. However, we never found any blood nor the buck after looking for 3 hours and going back the next day too.

I then decided it was time to get a larger caliber pistol and did so by brining home a model 29 Smith & Wesson .44 magnum. I have never regretted the purchase of this pistol nor it's ability to down whitetail deer in the woods with it's 240 grain bullet and 21 grains of 2400 powder.

[Noreaster]

I don't have any personal experiences to offer, but I have a buddy that has shot several deer with a 357 sig P239, 125 JHP and dropped them all cleanly, (shots under 50yards.) In Maine the owner of Foggy Mountain Guide Service is a big advocate of 41 and 44 mags for bear hunting over bait, but he list his favorite deer pistol as a 6inch Python using 158HP.

I spoke with a gun dealer in Maine, KTP. People were buying up the NEF handi rifle in 357 mag for their kids to start off with for deer hunting. He said they would buy the rifle, stop at wallmart and buy a 100 round box of 38 special. The kids would shoot up a box of two of 38 special over the summer and then the dad would buy a box of premium 357 mag hunting load just before the season. People are dropping deer in the big Maine woods w/o a problem.

I believe the 357 mag gets a bad reputation from people not having proper experience, using poor bullet design and or lack of barrel length, (not enough velocity.) Just my 2 cents. I could be way off. If you make a poor shot on a buck with a 12 gauge slug or 30'06 and the deer runs off, no one blames the gun. Do the same with a 357mag and the round is not enough for deer.

[Terbltim]

... The buck was hit in the shoulder and took off quickly, it's tail was down and I was told I hit it hard ok. However, we never found any blood nor the buck after looking for 3 hours and going back the next day too.
 

In the 10 years I used a 357 I lost 2 deer that were hit "hard" with it.
In recent times I've humbly accepted the truth that if you don't retrieve the deer (or whatever) you cannot possibly know where you really hit.
The few "lost" deer I found, (mine or other guys') were NOT hit where anyone thought they were. No exceptions.
If you don't retrieve the game, the first suspect is the shot placement.
I hate it too, but there it is.
Also, while I think the 357 is adequate, I also think it requires a "surgical" hit no matter what bullet is used.
I can't bring myself to use one since I moved up to larger calibers.
The bigger the hole, the faster the ship sinks and bigger bullets make bigger holes.