Anybody hunt whitetail with a 357Mag?

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If so, please share with me your experiences.. I would like to know out to about what range you are comfortable with, and how the knockdown has been..

(Yes, I have ever chart and have read every number) I want to know some experience, which the charts don't tell me..
 
I've carried a .357 in deer season, but never shot a deer with it.

A friend killed two deer with his Colt .357 a few years ago. He used MagTech ammo. The doe went down with one shot. The six-point buck ran at the shot and he shot it again hitting it in the rear leg. After the second shot the buck fell, but the first shot in the chest really did the job.
 
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I have shot whitetail deer with the .357mag, but will never again if I can avoid it. We are talking pistol hunting with a 6" barrel. The first deer taken when I was young ran a short distance with a shot to the chest from about 20yrds. Good hit went down, but it really had very little penetration for our midwest deer that sometimes will get 250# plus. This was a nice doe of about 170# weight.

The second deer that I shot was pushing the range for a handgun of this caliber at about 50yards, another big doe. It went down hard and jumped right back up. There was scatterred snow on the ground so I figured there would be no trouble tracking her. From my sights it should ahve been a good chest/vitals hit. I found about two drops of blood to trail the deer with and managed to find another drop in it's tracks about a quarter mile away before it merged with more deer tracks. I was getting very dicouraged with this tracking scene, but kept on, but never found another drop of blood or the deer. :(

This has put me off on .357mag's for deer, maybe I was in the wrong at the range I shot, I was young, but had killed 25-30 deer by this time, mostly with a 20ga shotgun loaded with slugs. (rifles aren't legal for deer in Indiana.) I have seen and heard of similar happennings with this cartridge, some closer and some farther away. It's not a scientific approach, but a personal preferance.
 
I have never done so personally. But I have read a lot about it here: http://www.shootersforum.com/. Look on the left side of the page. They have a number of interesting articles available. They also have a good forum. These people primarily use cast bullets by the way.
 
I haven't but I'm considering it this season. We're setting up a new stand and the area it covers doesn't really offer any long shots because of the thick brush and mesquite but a lot of deer come through the clearing. SO I was thinking about using my Blackhawk loaded with Winchester Partition Golds in 180gr. I'm a pretty good shot with it. I might just put my Blackhawk on my belt and take a rifle too and see how I feel about the ranges and conditions once I get settled in the stand and then choose my gun. I really like shooting the Blackhawk.

brad cook
 
Big difference between hunting with a .357 revolver and a .357 carbine. No personal experince either way here, but I would think that with the handgun you'd better be thinking more like an archery hunter in terms of range and shot placement (depending on a number of factors up to about 35-50 yards, and avoid large bullet stopping bones like the shoulder). With a carbine (16-20" barrel), AFIAK range can easily be extended to 125 yards, and possibly a little bit farther depending on the load used and type of sights (scopes will extend the range over irons for most people). With the right load it is supposed to offer superior ballistic performance compared to the .30-30 out to 100 or so yards.
 
I think 357Mag out of a Carbine is a whole different beast than out of a revolver!

I'll take a look at the shooters forum..
 
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