.357 mag, .44 mag or .454 casull in a 20 inch rifle

What rifles are you thinking about.

Everyone is going to tell you to get a .44 Magnum or .454 Casull because of the constant threat of being attacked by a grizzly bear en-route from your suburban home to the grocery store.

If I were told I could only have one rifle and one revolver, I'd without hesitation choose my '92 Rossi in .357 and one of my .357 revolvers. In my opinion and experience, there simply isn't anything more versatile than a .357 and a reloading press, especially if you are a handloader. My hunting load for the rifle is a 180 gr. cast bullet at 1800 fps, but it can be loaded down as light as I want.

35W

I think .44 magnum will give you considerably better terminal effect vs any .357, and their is a plethora of excellent handguns also in that chambering. .357 magnum can be effective from a rifle, but a properly loaded full power .44 magnum from a 16” or greater barrel is telling.

I have a .44M and a .45C
Lever guns and accompanied with SA revolver
Cowboy Action with mild loads, but deer and hogs with "Ruger only" loads.
Both are ballistically equivalent or slightly exceed .30-30.

The .357 with 180gr bullets will be good to 100 yards, IMHO. But, I feel that is max range. I have the SA. The lever may join it line day, but I am not willing to pay the .357 chambering brings, over the .44 or .45. Makes no sense.

A .454 would give a bit more power and be capable of .45C use, too.

A little harder to find, but .41M is right there in power and fun. A 210gr bullet will get the job done. I have the SA. The lever action may join it, one day.

I can tell you I achieved 1900 fps out of a 16” barrel .454 with 300 grain xtp mags. Handy little power house. Its a rossi 92, and im not sure if its just mine, but it only likes jacketed bullets for accuracy. I think if i were you id get the .44 mag version, probably easier to find one for sale.

I like .44 magnum. Plenty big enough for anything I will ever encounter while still being very controllable in a handgun.

I have 2.5", 4"and 8" barrels for my Dan Wesson 744 making it a very flexible handgun that I shoot quite well. The .44 mag barrel in my Desert Eagle L5 makes a very easy and soft shooter. I am kind of thinking of a stainless Thompson Contender to round out the group. I think a Contender would be a nice small compact rifle and I like single shots. I wouldn't turn down a lever action if someone wanted to give me one though. A Henry Big Boy stainless with the side gate and removable tube magazine does have a lot of appeal!

I have often thought a bigger caliber would be fun. My choice would probably be a 454 casull but then I ask myself why? Loading .44mag is considerably cheaper than loading .50ae, I am guessing the costs would be simular between 50ae and 454 casull.

I was actually looking for a S&W 625 (.45 colt) when I stumbled upon my Dan Wesson 744. I am sure I would have really enjoyed the 625 but I REALLY love my 744. The interchangable barrels on the 744 were just icing on the cake. If I found and bought a .45 lc instead of the .44 mag I would probably have been more interested in a .454 casull rifle. But .44 mag rifles are easier to come by anyway.

What is it that you will be hunting?

I'd go 44

deer season is once a year for a limited time. another 357 fan. use it the rest of the year for all kinds of stuff. cheaper than 22lr to shoot with reloaded 38s. less noise lots less recoil than the 44/45. . just saying

Since no one has mentioned it yet, be aware that for some strange reason the standard twist rate for .44 mag rifles is much slower than for handguns. This means that sometimes pistol/rifle combinations don’t shoot the same ammo well, particularly if you want to shoot heavy bullets. I have a Ruger SBH and Marlin 1894. I bought the rifle to go with the ruger. I guess I’d do it again because I don’t have a handgun in .357 or .454, but if I did, I’d definitely go .357 or .454.

Flabbergasted1776 said:

I’m trying to decide which cartridge would be the most “utilitarian” for hunting purposes.
With each one moving to a 20” barrel can net an extra 3-400 FPS with the right loads, putting them all in the same 1700-1900 FPS range, so then the differences are weight and diameter and I guess drop at range but I wouldn’t use any of these at ranges past 200 yards on anything that isn’t made of paper or steel. I’m looking at these in particular because I’ve got the (probably silly) idea of a pistol accompaniment for critters with two legs and some with none.

So what I’m asking for is any experience, anecdotes or maybe just a smack upside the head to just go with a mid power rifle cartridge like 350 legend or .30-30 or whatever.

Side note: any cartridge acquired will be with the intent of hand loading.

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My experience on the carbine side has been limited to 357.
It is the handiest gun I have. Using H110 and coated cast I get 1900 fps. With 158s I've gotten as high as 2100.
I like the 180s best. They have proven themselves to be effective on hogs. The same load did well in both my revolvers.
For reference on bullets. A 125 xtp pushed by autocomp will have jacket separation after going through the shoulder on a 150-200 pound pigs. Several failed to penetrate the rib cage after penetrating the shoulder.
If you run them in a snub they may perform better.
I can hit a 2/3 ipsc target at 200 yards offhand with my 180 grain load. It's kind of a hold on the head hit it in the low ribs/high belly proposition. I'm sure 158s would shoot flatter.

Someone else has said it, but I would go with a 41 mag. But only if I had the pistol I wanted to go with your rifle. And I don’t think you asked that so…..

357mag and forgot about it. In a long barrel pistol it’s a great caliber, but from a rifle it’s amazing! But, finding a good rifle, JM Marlin, in 357 be prepared to pay lots. I have had Rossi’s and they are decent, and even pretty good sent to have them slickened up. But lots of money and really worth it, IMHO. Had a 357/77 and it was really good, but limited to bullet selection due to shorter chambers and magazines.

Truely, it’s hard to beat the 350 Legend. $500 rifle and you are good to go. Hell some scope/rifle combos are going for less! And I don’t think the 30/30 has lost its power to kill since the newer calibers came about. But any one of the calibers you mentioned can kill out to the ranges you want. It’s just how much recoil and blast you want to deal with. Plus if you have any pistols in the same rifle caliber, I would keep the rifle loadings away from the handguns! At best, just a lot of recoil and blast. At worst…….

So if I was looking I would look at it like this……I can spent money on a subpar rifle to make it decent or pay collector’s prices for an already good rifle. Then work up a rifle only load that will tear up some pistols if it accidentally got into one of them. Or I can just get a proven midrange caliber and rifle combo like a lever 30/30 or bolt 350L, and not try to make a pistol caliber into a rifle caliber.

Good Luck,
Lefty

I get a lot of utility out of my .44's with moderate loads. My favorite Unique load runs a 240gr SWC at 1100-1200fps out of revolvers and 1450fps out of rifles. Potent but still pleasant to shoot.

I have a 357 mag, 44 mag, and some 45LC rifles. What Wombat13 said about compatibility of 44 mag rifle/ pistol combo I have heard before but have no direct knowledge. But that would be a consideration. Carrying 2 different loads for a 44 mag rifle and pistol at one time isn't much different from carrying 2 different calibers. Right now I have a 45LC load worked up with a 250 gr XTP at just over 1700fps. That is everything the 44 mag is. So you might add a 45LC to your list.

Given the paucity of rifles available in 454 Casull, you can take that off the list. There are numerous carbines available in 44 and 357 mag, as well as handguns. 44 mag offers greater power and distance, so that seems the logical choice.

Roverguy said:

Given the paucity of rifles available in 454 Casull, you can take that off the list. There are numerous carbines available in 44 and 357 mag, as well as handguns. 44 mag offers greater power and distance, so that seems the logical choice.

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You might also add the fact that Rossi 454s were discontinued because they can stretch the frame after a moderate round count.
I wanted one. But quit looking after finding that piece of information.

I have a Rossi 92 in 45 colt, 20 inch barrel. its a neat little rifle, does well. My boy has one in 44 Mag, he loves his.

Either way you go, you wont be disappointed... but a 454 Casull may be a bit much for the 92 action. the 44 Mag will do the job well.

The .454 is not in the same class as the others mentioned , in pistol nor especially "rifle " length ! You are talking about 3000 foot pounds from the muzzle of a 20" rifle where as the others are under 2000 ft pounds at the best. The .454 pressures really cannot be contained in existing traditional hammer lever actions for long tern service because of case head size and 50,000 psi pressures they run . I have shot the Rossi .454 from a friends , no thanks, and I like heavy 45-70 Marlin loads . His rifle started binding with less than 100 full factory 300 grain .454 loads thru it and had already cracked the stock at the wrist.
I like .45 Colt 1873 and all the more modern guns which can take a useful load . I own a .454 revolver but avoid the real heavy loads anymore . I would load them in grizzly territory ! Stick with .45 Colt , .357 or .44 mag in a tradition lever "rifle" .
Bottom line if you need power in a lever 20" go .44 mag, which has easily gotten ammo. If you want a shortrange deer rifle and an inexpensive easy to kept fed rifle the .357 is excellent.

Gordon said:

The .454 is not in the same class as the others mentioned , in pistol nor especially "rifle " length ! You are talking about 3000 foot pounds from the muzzle of a 20" rifle where as the others are under 2000 ft pounds at the best. The .454 pressures really cannot be contained in existing traditional hammer lever actions for long tern service because of case head size and 50,000 psi pressures they run . I have shot the Rossi .454 from a friends , no thanks, and I like heavy 45-70 Marlin loads . His rifle started binding with less than 100 full factory 300 grain .454 loads thru it and had already cracked the stock at the wrist.
I like .45 Colt 1873 and all the more modern guns which can take a useful load . I own a .454 revolver but avoid the real heavy loads anymore . I would load them in grizzly territory , you are gonna off off manu in an attack ! Stick with .45 Colt , .357 or .44 mag in a tradition lever "rifle" .

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Totally agree. The raw power in a small package is what drew me to the idea.
I would think a model 94 reworked to run it would be pretty nice. It would be close to 45-70 for most purposes with the added round count for killing herds of roving elephants or something.
Really it has no purpose.

Probably too much for a Winchester 94 also, the fat receivered ones for the .307 Winchester ect. might work. The .44 Mag Marlins and B92 Browning (which I have) can fire 300 grain bullets easily to 1700-1800 fps out of 20" barrels which will do what you want without drama or trauma to the shooter.