Have any of you taken deer with a .357 revolver?

bernie said:

I appreciate all the input. I am primarily a bow hunter but gun hunt with a revolver. I use an open sighted .41 but have been having some issues being able to see the sights. I have been thinking about a scoped GP100 with a 6” barrel, possibly shooting heavy cast bullets. You guys are helping me to make up my mind.

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You want soft cast bullets. With a bhn of around 8-10...Is all I ever use..

Palladan44 said:

Yes
Shot placement is everything, missing the heart/lungs completely and they could run a long, long ways. I keep my handgun hunting to archery stands, and archery distances. I have no desire to even try past 40 yds where the patridge style post begins to cover more of the target. If I'm hunting in an area where a further shot is possible I'll use a rifle. I don't understand attempting long handgun shots just for the sport of it when in the field.

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Well said Palladan...While I've used a 6" .357 to finish deer suffering from badly placed shots by both rifle and handgun hunters, my finishers were all at 10 yds or less and in heavy cover that precluded carrying even an 18.5" bbl'd Marlin carbine. Trailing up wounded deer, badly shot with any gun, is miserable work...for the tracker and for the animal that suffers. We owe the game we hunt a merciful death...

For those that use any handgun, one's ability to place shots with superb accuracy should not be over-estimated. And leave the long shots with a handgun for inanimate range targets. Rod

The first handgun I used to hunt was an S&W M27 and would have been ‘92-93. I don’t recall the bullet, but it was some half-jacket looking thing, and while it killed, I remember deer running as far as a couple hundred yards when punched through the lungs at the modest 25-50yrds I was shooting. But that was how I was raised to hunt - with handguns, we trailed blood, with rifles, we broke shoulders so we didn’t have to trail… I didn’t raise my son the same way, BECAUSE I was…

Since then, I’ve used a Redhawk in 7.5”, 6 1/2” and 7 1/2” Blackhawks, 6” GP100, 2.25” Sp101, 2 1/8” S&W M60 Ladysmith, 6” 686 and 627, Win 94 Trapper, and Marlin 1894 that I can recall, with JHP’s, JSP’s, and hard cast, from 125’s to 180’s. I don’t recall any shots over 100 with a revolver, or past 150-175 with the rifles, and honestly wouldn’t recommend those distances at all.

The juice isn’t worth the squeeze for me. 41mag is already a massive step up in anchoring power, and 44mag just makes sense.

I have, once with a 357 revolver (6.5” Blackhawk) and twice with a Henry 357 carbine. All were with same load, 180gr cast hardball flat nose over hefty loads of H110. All passed straight through, and all 3 were double lung shots at broadside animals - no quartering shots for me with lower power firearms. Two of them ran about 70-80 yards, one went down after 25. All 3 were shot at roughly 30-40 yards. Shot placement is especially critical with these, since they don’t expand and they’re relatively low velocity (compared with traditional rifle calibers). With the carbine I’d be comfortable to about 75 yards, but don’t think I’d try past 50 with the revolver. It’d have enough energy, but I would not be comfortable with precise shot placement.

I also have a Blackhawk in 44 Special, 7.5”. With a 245grain hard cast Keith bullet (429421) and 7.5 grains of Unique ( the Skeeter load) I consider that an ideal White tail handgun load out to 50. Little bit bigger hole, and a little more momentum. But if a 357 is what you have it’ll do the trick if you keep the range reasonable, take shots within your ability, and most importantly place the round carefully on a properly oriented animal.

First deer I took with handgun was with a Highway Patrolman Model 28 S&W 4" in 1974 in Big Sur Calif . with factory LHP 158 grain ammo which was probably almost 20 years old. It was the small coastal Blacktail but with a just behind and low on shoulder heart heart shot it ran about 150 feet before laying down . The shot was 60-75 yards and I was 26 years old with great eyes , the bullet exited the far side with about a quarter sized hole and likewise heart had that sized hole too so I reckon bullet expanded a bit. I carried that Model 28 in a shoulder holster in my duties a ranch foreman and became real good with it , lobbing them into coyotes way out there and killing numerous wild boar with it and the same factory 158 grain lead hollow points. I sent that gun to magna port to be ported in 1981, round butted to K frame specs and Metalifed and had it until the late 90s when a friend talked me out of it for a trade I couldn't refuse.
Later in mid 80s I bought a used like new Colt Python Hunter .357 6" barrel with factory mounted Leupold 2x Pistol scope. That was deadly on the Pacific Coastal Blacktail and I was loading hard cast Keith 160 grain Hollow point gas checked bullets with (dare I say it, probably dangerous!) 15 grains of 2400 and magnum primers. That load from the 6" python was deadly to 100 yards or a little better pushing a quarter sized hole thru every deer it hit. I had better luck with that gun than the .44 super Blackhawks 7.5" I tried a few times on deer and which had become my over dogs Hog gun . I sold the Cased Python Hunter for $2500 a few years back when Pythons started to go crazy. I don't go after deer with a pistol anymore and no longer hunt in Calif.

Fyrstyk said:

The FA Model 83 is not the same as the 353. The cylinder on the 353 is larger, with more metal between the 5 chambers.

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As far as I know, 353 is made on Model 83 frame.

Are you talking about 357 Magnum on Model 97? That one is smaller frame than Model 83.

Onty said:

As far as I know, 353 is made on Model 83 frame.

Are you talking about 357 Magnum on Model 97? That one is smaller frame than Model 83.

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I have a very early 353 that has the same frame as the 454. Is that a "Model 83"? It was my belief?? that the model 83 was made to cut down on the weight for the .357 caliber.

Tried one with a 686. Missed. The rest is too embarrassing to share. I would not hunt deer with a .357 again unless it was my ONLY choice. That is just me, suffering post shot ridicule from friends - I am not a ballistics expert.

Maybe on a smaller Southern whitetail.

Back in the day, Maryland required a 6 inch barrel. Don't know if they still do. Wyoming requires a round at least 1.5 inches oal 357 barely makes it. I've been wanting to use my 357 dan wesson on antelope. Just haven't had the chance. Thinking of using a 158gr swc