.357 Magnum rifle hunting

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Hey guys. I'm trying to get my hands on the new Ruger 77/357 and I was contemplating a good deer round.

In a handgun a 158 grain bullet or larger would be ideal, but in this particular rifle you can get 2301 fps from a 125 grain bullet according to Gunblast.com. At those speeds it seems like the lighter bullet wouldn't have much trouble penetrating a deer and most rifle bullets are smaller anyway.

I know anything fired out of this rifle will kill a deer, but I'm looking for an explosive effect that won't require a lot of tracking.

What do you guys think?

 

[PapaG]

I'd take those "ballistics" with a grain of salt. My brother, RIP, and I had a 92 Win rebarrelled to 357 way back in the sixties and figured it would equal the 30-30. It didn't then and it doesn't now. I'd bet that you won't get much more than 1800 fps with a hotly loaded 125 and the b.c. doesn't support much at distance. I'd go with a 180 at a reasonable level, plan on heart/lung shots and a short blood trail.
The problem with the lightweight bullets are that most are thin jacketed and while they smoke out of the barrel, they also tend to blow up on contact...that is, with not much penetration. I prefer a heavier bullet that goes all the way through (I've killed three deer with a 357, all with hard cast bullets of 160 grains or more and gotten full penetration with each) and lets lots of air in and blood out. That 125 ain't gonna do it. We had the same problem years ago with the 44 mag carbines and 180 grain jhps doing a whole lot of damage on a shoulder and not making it through the lungs/heart.

 

[Badlander]

If i'm carrying A rifle I want it to be A rifle cartridge.

 

[sansone]

I think you will have a good time experimenting with different loads, and an even better time out hunting with it. enjoy

 

[Brian Williams]

I have a Marlin 1894C in 357 and it likes 180gr LRNFPGC over 15g of Lil'gun.
LRNFPGC = Lead Round Nose Flat Point with a Gas Check

I have not had a chance to shoot a dear with it as I was using my 7mm-08.

 

[sixgunner455]

A 125 gr .357 pistol bullet is not built to penetrate and hold together in a deer at that velocity. Shallow, ugly wounds are what I would expect. Use them on woodchucks or coyotes.

Buffalo Bore has some pretty shiny numbers in .357 carbine ammo. I suggest that you give them a look, and don't look at this as a modern hunting rifle. Look at it as about a 100 +/- yard carbine. If complete penetration with a heavy lead slug going about 1800fps sounds like what you want in a deer hunting carbine, then it's your Huckleberry. If you want to snipe deer at 300 yards, it's not up for the job. The trajectory is going to be far too much of a rainbow arc.

 

[waidmann]

A pistol caliber carbine is an intermediate proposition. If you know your ability/load/weapon and you confine yourself to that envelope, be it a bow, handgun, carbine or rifle, you will do well. Ask too much and it will deliver too little.

Getting ambitious with a limited proposition can be a recipe for dissappointment. Bullet placement, first; penetration (even through bone), second: expansion can often be variable.

 

[GooseGestapo]

If you reload, the 158gr Pointed Soft Points over 18.0gr of Hod Lil'Gun is going to be your load.
The 125gr Soft point (not hollow points) bullets over 20.0gr of H110 will be your varmint load. For chest shots on smaller deer (<150lbs) "it'll do". But, you'll not always get an exit wound.
From my Winchester M94 w/20" bbl (.357mag), 18.0gr of Hod Lil'Gun gave me 2,050fps. I used the (at the time) inexpensive Remington 158gr Soft Points. They were just as accurate as the Hornady 158gr XTP's, and cost half as much. But, prices on bullets, especially the Remingtons, have greatly escalated.

Now days. I'd suggest a cheaper alternative. I got ~1,700fps from a 165gr Lee SWC-GC (cataloged at 158) over 15.0gr of #2400, which was my most accurate cast bullet load. This will shoot lengthwise through most smaller deer.
Sighted in at 100yds, this load is good-to-go for deer to ~150yds.
Actual performance on deer is excellent, and does indeed approach the effectiveness of the .30/30. (just not at over 150yds).

If Ruger would come back out witht their lever-action in .357mag, I'd buy one. I just wasn't crazy about the 96/44. I can't get excited about a bolt action .357. I parted with my M94 because it had feeding problems due to metallurgy in the interuptor cam which kept rounding/peening off and causing jams.... Otherwise I'd still have it.

 

[scramasax]

Other than good reloads does anyone have experience wth "Leverlution 140gr" from Hornady?

Cheers,

ts

 

[DWFan]

The .357 Magnum in the Ruger's 18.5" barrel will equal the .357 Maximum in an 8" revolver. 16.5-17.0gr of H110 with the Sierra 158gr JSP will reach 1725-1750 fps. Of all the factory loads, look at Buffalo Bore's 180gr WLN. It produces 1400+ fps in a 4" revolver barrel and should be close to, if not over, 1600 fps in the Ruger.
Just food for thought. Remington's original 180gr SJHP .357 Magnum ammo delivered exactly the same velocity from a 16" carbine barrel as their 180gr .357 Maximum ammo (using the same bullet) from an 8" Dan Wesson SuperMag.

 

[Cougar]

I, too, use a Dan Wesson 8" for deer here in Ohio. 158gr hard cast SWC at a shade over 1500fps from the 8" barrel. (very close to a max load, and I would not use that in any weaker gun!) It has produced one-shot kills six out of six shots fired. Granted, the longest shot was only 35-ish yards since that's about the farthest I can hold 'minute-of-heart' or a 3" group with the factory iron sights.

In my other thread about the 'custom lever gun', I stated that I wanted a companion .357 rifle for use as a brush-gun with a max range of 125-150 yds. I can't see shortcomings to a .357 rifle at those distances. Not for Ohio hunting, but in other states that do allow rifle hunting and for general lower-cost plinking. Figure 1800fps or so at the muzzle with the hunting load. Of course you can also shoot standard .357 or .38Spl loads for plinking or general practice.

 

[TwoWheelFiend]

Speer makes 170gr jacketed flat tops, could see that being a good hunting round. Heavy and im sure it mushrooms and penetrates nicely.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/ballistics/detail.aspx?id=174

 

[dprice3844444]

http://dakotashootin.blogspot.com/2008/12/357-sabot-finalized-project.html

 

[nipprdog]

I have not had a chance to shoot a dear with it

I hope so. Family is number one.

 

[DWFan]

Interesting link, dprice3844444. I thought the .36 caliber black powder bore was .375" though. Makes for a pretty tight squeeze in a .357" id. case and bore.

 

[helotaxi]

Other than good reloads does anyone have experience wth "Leverlution 140gr" from Hornady?

It offers inferior ballistics to a standard .357 bullet. The "spitzer" design they went with actually has a worse BC than a standard JHP and the longer ogive means that the brass has to be shortened to keep OAL within limits. Shorter brass ends up meaning a lower case capacity which means reduced loads to keep pressure in check. The overall result is that you have a lower velocity bullet that is shedding velocity faster than a standard round and the brass is useless for a different bullet afterward as well.