357 mag factory ammo

[lubbockdave]

what kind of 357 factory ammo should i be looking for to hunt deer with? I just lucked into a ruger gp 100 and a marlin both in 357!!  Any one use gold dot bullets?


Thanks

dave

[Jerry Lester]

If you can find Remington 158g SP factory loads, I know for a fact you'll have good luck with them on deer in both guns. Just about any good 158g SP should give you decent results. The 158g XTP-FPs are also hard to beat.

I know that some fellows use HPs on deer with success. I too have killed deer with 158g HPs in both a revolver, and an 1894C, but I'm not too crazy about them. I like an entry, and an exit which lets more blood out. I also like breaking shoulders. If you trying to shoot through a deer, and break the far shoulder, a HP will let you down nearly every time(especially from a rifle). A good tough SP bullet will break that off shoulder, and usually result in a deer hitting the ground very quickly.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Buffalo Bore makes some very stout .357 factory loads.  Although many of Buffalo Bore's other calibers have a restricted list of guns capable of handling their ammo, their .357mag ammo is suitable for any gun capable of .357mag pressures.

Their 158grain loads creep in on the .30-30 from an 18" rifle barrel.

[Robert357]

Any suggestions on Remington 180 grain semi-jacketed HP versus Hornady 180 grain Jacketed HP XPT versus Speer 200 grain total metal jacketed bullets?

I have two Ruger Blackhawks.  One has a red-dot scope on it.
I am toying with the idea of possibly using it to hunt, Western Washington Blacktailed deer.  

These are really small deer and typical Western Washington brush is such that you typically don't get clean shots at long distances, so I am thinking that a 357mag should probably be just fine for most possible shots.  (It would also probably be a lot easier to carry through the woods than my Model 70 30-06 feather-weight, I have used in the past)

I handload and have on my reloading bench Alliant 2400 powder, Remington 180 grain semi-Jacketed HP bullets, 180 grain Hornady Jacketed HP bullets, and some Speer 200 grain total metal jacketed silhouette bullets.    All seem to shoot well in my Blackhawks.

My thought is to work up either the Hornady Jacketed HP (XTP) or Remington Semi-Jacketed HP 180 grain bullets.  The Speer 200 grain bullets would probably provide the most penetration, but least mushrooming, so I am not thinking of using them.

Any suggestions on the which bullet might be better for hunting small blacktail deer, assuming equal accuracy on target?

Thanks.

[Mikey]

Robert:  If you reload then I would like to suggest the Colorado Cast Bullet in 200 gn SWC.  A second to that would be a 200 gn RNFP.  Either bullet over 12.4 gn of WW296 is reported by Winchester Loading data at 1335'/sec from a revolver, at 35K psi - which is less than a lot of factory loads that go to 40K psi.  It's an easy shootin' load in my 3.5" revolver and breaks the shoulders on whitetail within 50-75 yds.  You can get passthrough at 100 yds with a broadside shot, especially from a rifle.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Jerry Lester]

The 180g XTPs are good, but the 158g XTP-FPs will penetrate just as good, and offer you a flatter trjectory. I've killed a lot of deer with the 158g XTP-FPs, and they're good performers out of a rifle, or revolver.

This past year I switched over to Remington 158g SPs(bulk from Midway), and I think this will be my deer bullet from here on out. They shoot great, and seem to penetrate even better than the XTP-FPs.

There's no doubt that the heavier cast bullets will penetrate better than anything else, but I like a little expansion with my 357 deer loads.

[Robert357]

Thanks for the comments

[Robert357]

It sounds like you are in a state with a minimum "bullet energy requirement" for deer hunting.  Since you said that you have a Blackhawk, and you want commercial ammo, I would suggest purchasing some Buffalobore ammo.


http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#357

It is very expensive, but besides shooting enough to know where to aim, I am not sure this is stuff I would want to shoot that often due to excessive speed.  Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

[Frog123]

I've got a box of the Fed Premium 200gr hard cast to try but I couldn't find anything on their site. The local sporting goods store stocks Cor-Bon 180gr SP and it shows a ME of 640 ft/lbs. I also plan on trying a box of those out of my revolver.