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!!!