Handgun Hog/Deer Huntin

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camoman33935

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Ok...heres the deal....I have a Ruger GP100 6" barrel that I use as a side arm when hunting. I usually have it loaded with Magtech 158gr. Semi Jacketed Hollow Points to put em down if I dont get a good shot on em.

I would like to start using the gun as a primary hog hunting gun. Do yall think it is best to have it loaded with Semi Jacketed Hollow Points or Semi Jacketed Soft Points for a primary round? The reason I ask is cause most commercial hunting rounds are Soft Points of some kind.

Thanks
 
I'll be the first to say niether. My choice, after reading a lot hear and elsewhere, was a hard cast lead solid. I used the BB 180 grn loads. It worked great for me, but I will be interested to see what other folks here suggest.
 
I would add to the go with hard cast bullets that you get a bigger gun.


A .357 may be fine if you are shooting smaller sows{100-150} but if you stumble on to a really big{300+} boar, you are going to want a gun that will stop your quarry rather than kill it eventually.
 
I took out a charging 200 lb boar once that I had to blood trail due to poor choice of bullet placement. It was my fault, didn't know hog anatomy when I started shooting 'em. I do now, lesson learned. I blood trailed that thing for 30 minutes in heavy cover on hands and knees through brush tunnels for part of it for near 400 yards before I caught up with it.

Anyway, I used a .357 magnum 4" barrel loaded with a 165 grain cast pill. It was a head shot, so about any bullet would have worked, I reckon.
 
6" Barrel is optimum for the .357. A lot of people have a mediocre experience with a 4" barrel, but when they switch to 6" the velocity difference makes the gun truly deadly.

I use 158 semi wadcutter from American Eagle or Corbon / Buffalo Bore 180 grain (hogs) and that will take care of them.

Good luck.
 
I like Cor Bon Hunter 180 gr BCSP advertised at 1200 fps/576 ft lbs.

Mine travel through a 686 6" and the adv velocity/energy are for 4" bbl.
 
I think I've got it down to three different rounds. which one would yall choose and why?

Grizzly Ammunition 357 Magnum 180 Grain Cast Performance Lead Wide Flat Nose Gas Check
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=117768

Buffalo Bore Ammunition 357 Magnum 180 Grain Lead Flat Nose Gas Check
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=946487

Federal Premium Vital-Shok Hunting Ammunition 357 Magnum 180 Grain CastCore Flat Point
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=671546
 
I like Cor Bon Hunter 180 gr BCSP advertised at 1200 fps/576 ft lbs.

Mine travel through a 686 6" and the adv velocity/energy are for 4" bbl.
Click to expand...

From a 6" barrel, Buffalo Bore and my own handloads beat that by a couple hundred FPS, talkin' almost 800 ft lbs. I'm shooting a Hornady XTP/JHP 180 grain at 1400 fps. It's accurate and flat shooting. The gun is a 6.5" Ruger Blackhawk.
 
13.8 grains AA#9 and a 180 Hornady XTP. WSP primer (not magnum!). It's a max pressure load, very accurate hunting load. I limit it to my Blackhawk, but have fired it in my Rossi 92 Carbine. It doesn't perform as well from the rifle, only 1600+ fps. Dead on at 100, it's 5" high at 50, not shabby. Esentially, what I do is take a course 6 oclock bead at 25-75 yards and a fine combat bead at 100. I haven't shot anything with this load, however.

I've shot hogs with .357, my own cast Lee 158 SWC over 14.5 grains of 2400. The bullet's cast weight is 165 grains and it pushes 1470 fps from my Blackhawk, about 1800 from my rifle. Plus, the bullet costs me a gas check each bullet and a drop or two of liquid alox per 100. :D I've shot one deer with this load in the rifle at 80 yards and two from 50 and 30 with the Blackhawk. It worked.

I've been messing with Lil' Gun and the 165 SWC in the rifle lately with excellent results, lower pressures for higher velocities from the gun. It doesn't seem to work any better in the revolver, though. I'm going to load up a few hundred rounds just for the rifle.
 
maybe a stupid question but....what is a gas check? i see it in the Grizzly and Buffalo Bore info but dont know exactly what it is?
 
Fellows,
A gas check is a thin copper "cup" that envelopes the base of the cast lead bullet to prevent them from being flame cut by a hot load.

BTW I would go with the Grizzly or Buffalo load. I use a 45 LC for all my hog hunting with LBT style bullets. I have yet to be disappointed! You want that type projectile with any handgun load used for hunting. A wide flat meplat drives through almost anything without veering.

I wrote this a while back on hog hunting with my 45.

Hogs and Dogs

I'm actually in the process of writing up something on LBT type loads. I'll let y'all know when it's up.

Regards,
Albert A Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
The Range Reviews: Tactical
 
Yeah, gas checks are around 15 bucks a thousand. You place it on the base of the bullet, then run it through the sizer and the sizer crimps it on. The mold has to be a gas check design as the base is tapered for the gas check to fit. I push my gas check design bullet to over 1900 fps in the rifle with no leading what so ever.

No question is a stupid question if you don't know the answer. :D That's how we all learn, with our ears and in this case our eyes.
 
do any of yall know if the Buffalo Bore and the Federal castcores are safe to use in a newer Ruger GP-100?

Also, can yall reccommend any other factory loads?
 
There is nothing wrong with the old 158 grain soft nose for most applications. Coming from a 6" barrel that round will surprise you.

BTW, the Ruger is rated for ALL .357 and then some. I would shoot hot rounds through a Ruger before I would shoot them through an S&W.

Corbon makes a 180 grain, pretty hot, comparable to the Buffalo Bore.
 
....other rounds

I've taken down deer with a 6" S&W 686 using the following factory loads - Speer's 158 Gold dot JHP, Winchester's 180 Partition Gold (no lonter offered), and Fiocchi's 158 grain load using the XTP bullet.

Right now, I'm sticking with the Fiocchi load because I KNOW the XTP bullet will open up and it will penetrate. I've read some mixed reviews on the 158 grain Gold Dot (not so with the 125 grain but that load is a little light for my liking).
 
Camoman,
I shoot the BB 180's through a 6 inch GP-100. I love that gun. I took a mature doe at 35 yards and the bullet performed very well. The deer was quartering away slightly so the bullet hit behind the left shoulder, passed through both lungs, clipped the aorta, and shattered the right shoulder as it exited with energy to spare.

The BB ammo should be safe in any modern .357 that is suitable for hunting.

ETA: Some will say the .357 is inadequate for deer and hogs. I don't buy it. With the propper load, and used within the limitations of the shooter, it will do just as well as a .44. You may be limited a bit more in range, but I can't shoot well enough to take advantage of the additional range a larger handgun would give me. As it is, 40 yards is my limit for a hangun shot on a deer because that is the limit of my skills with my open sighted GP-100. I expect that will increase, maybe out to 60 yards, with practice.
 
I think im gonna buy a box of BB 180's and then load up some 180s with lil gun pushin a Hornady XTP. then ill test em side by side to see which gives me better accuracy, FPS, and so-on
 
winchester makes a platinum tip 180 grain. if you look close it is the same design of the dredded black talon. ( i use the black talon still.)
 
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