357Mag Round type for hunting?

[twoblink]

If you were to use a 357Mag for hunting out of, let's say, a Marlin 1894C, what tip should you use?

Is SWC good for hunting something like a small whitetail?

I assume JHP's do too much meat damage and not enough penetration?

 

[bernie]

I don't know if the rifles can take it, but I would only use a good 180 gr HP (like the XTP) loaded hot. I would assume the rifles could take it, but they might not can. These heavy loads can only be used in sidearms such as a Contender, Blackhawk, or a S&W L frame is what I have been told and choose to believe.

 

[ChristopherG]

Good rounds to consider for deer-sized game with an 1894c:

Hornady 180 gr XTP HP

Hornady 158 gr XTP FP

Speer 170 gr GD SP

Or, a gas-checked hardcast in the neighborhood of 180 grs

If you look at a site like Midwayusa, you can glean some info on these different bullets; if you reload, I suggest you try them each with Lil'gun over a mag primer. With a good shot, any of these would do very nicely on a small whitetail.

 

[mtnbkr]

The rifles can take the load, but I found that the little tab that keeps the cartridges inside the mag tube tends to break off after a couple hundred rounds of heavy 357mag in my Winchester 94 Trapper. I no longer shoot heavy 357s out of it.

Chris

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

I would use 158's at a minimum and would prefer 180's.

 

[bp_cowboy]

The 180's work good

but I have also loaded up some 200 gr Silohuette's as well. The will definitely deliver the energy.

 

[Shalako]

I can attest that a Winchester 158gr JHP fired out of the Marlin 1894c will cleanly take ....... ......a squirrel.

I fired the shot offhand, well kind of braced on my off arm in a sitting type position, shooting at a downward angle at 80 yards. Perhaps the best open sighted shot I have ever made. Let's just say there was complete penetration on the smallish sized squirrel.

I couldn't find any deer to try it on. I also had the Speer 170gr GD SP on hand but figured that was overkill for squirrel.

Damn those Marlins are accurate.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Having owned a Marlin 1894 in .357mag, I can give you a little of my experience.

The .357mag is much better for smaller deer (under 200lbs) than you've been led to believe.

I had the best luck with the 158gr JHP's and JSP's.

My favorite load in a factory load was the Master Cart. (Now Georgia Arms) load they call the "DEER STOPPER". The particular box I was given by Curtis Shipley (co-owner) was a Sierra 158gr JHP loaded over a "book" max of Win296. It delivered right at 2,000fps from my 20" bbl, and about 1,940 from a friends 18.5" bbl. It got the advertised 1,525fps from my 4" 686 I was issued at the time. (Chrono'd at 10' with my chronograph)

I carried the balance of the box on duty in my 686 S&W for several years, and used it with total satisfaction to dispatch numerous vehicle disabled deer, and one cow.

Now I believe that G-A uses the Hornady 158gr XTP-HP, which should be even better than the Sierra from a rifle/carbine. I'm currently using this load in my Ruger Sec.-6 when not carrying a cast-gaschecked HP or SWC.

If reloading, I would use Hodgdon's Lil-gun as I get equal to better velocities and accuracy with 158gr bullets, and substantially lower pressures. I use the book max of 18.0gr, which is basically all you can get in the case and still crimp the bullet to the cannulure. Pressures are much less than the max load of H-110/Win296 I previously used. With the Lil-gun, the cases just fall out without even using the ejector!

YOUR RIFLE WITH TUBULAR MAGAZINE MAY NOT WANT TO FEED WITH A SEMI-WAD CUTTER! Mine was real "hitchy" feeding .357mag SWC's, and wouldn't feed a .38spl wadcutter for anything.

My second favorite Factory load was the Remington 158gr JSP. I found it to be a little "hard" for revolvers, but it has an excellent reputation in the carbines/rifles. These are available for reloading at superlative prices (like ~$18.00/250!)

Personnally, I would go with the 158 JSP's in the rifles as a compromise in velocity/trajectory over the 180gr bullets, and slower expansion than the JHP's intended for shorter barreled revolvers.

For some real good info on the .357's performance check out the 1894 section of www.marlintalk.com. There have been some good pic's of deer dropped with the .357mag. Enough to make me reconsider my .35Rem and its 200gr bullets at 2,200fps!!!

 

[RaySendero]

Core-Bon makes a 180 grain bonded soft point specially for deer hunting. I saw them last in a Natchez catalog at $21 per box.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Might be kinda hard to export Cor-Bon's, ect., to Taiwan!

Shippings gonna be kinda expensive too.

I tried to suggest something he might actually be able to get.

Not just wish for.

 

[RaySendero]

OOPS - Didn't catch the Location.

Guess never mind - Hate to think some one would actually hope for core-bonds that they could never get for rest of their life due to my tip.!

Never crossed my ming the anyone other than southern US rednecks would ever hunt deer with a 357 mag!

 

[Gordon]

The Winchester Partition 180 grain load is a death ray! Course you might hit somebody/thing on the other side in Taiwan!