What’s your 357 Mag hunting ammo?

[Mikey]

dougk:  you're not going to have any problems with those larger hogs and that load.  right behind the ear on that light spot or through the shoulder and it's fresh pork roast for dinner. 

Ron - you're right, of course.  Mikey.

[dougk]

Mikey
For night shooting at approx 75yards I am planning on using a 9.3x74R and Brenneke 3 inch Black Magic Slugs.  The wife is using a 270 with Nosler Partition bullets.  The 357 mag is for the smaller hogs I think the .445 SM might be too much.

Given we have 11 hogs my wife did suggest we get semi-automatic rifles (mine is a combo and her's is a bolt).   She was joking but you should have seen the look on her face when I said we will need high capacity magazines and I like .308 for hogs 

[teddy12b]

Anyone who has a wife that says we need semi autos is a lucky man.  I really mean that. 

I loaded up 100 rounds of 200gr Cast Perf. hard cast ammo tonight over some H110.  I don't really have any other reason for such bullets other than just to goof around with at the range.  If they're accurate yahoo for me and I'll hunt with them, if not at least it's good practice.

[Mikey]

HA!  A 9.7x74?  You're not gonna have any problems, although I do like your wife's idea of a semi-auto.....  Have fun.  Mikey.

[JKump]

Federal Fusion 158 grain JSP.  It has worked for me.

[warrior1]

if i use my gp100 it will center around a 170 gr. cast and lil gun. i found the sweet spot on my 357 with a 180 gr xtp and about 16 grs lil gun,but someone posted some doubts about the xtp penetrating and i have heard that same comment on other forums. i may even look into
the 200 gr cast. dan

[kernman]

Mikey,

I hope I can help answer your question with a question of my own.

I'm new here, and I want to observe good manners.


I'm considering Corbon's 125 grain Barnes hollow points for blacktails at under 50 yards.

I would use a 4-inch Security Six with adjustable sights.

Has anyone tried these?

That's all Corbon has in copper, otherwise I would use at least 158 grains. I'm stuck with copper due to California lead ban.

[Mikey]

Kernman - welcome aboard.  I don't know much about that particular Corbon loading but one of our members has lots of experience with whitetails and the 125 gn slug (his handload) from a rifle or carbine and has excellent results.  However, that being said I think the 357 revolver load he favors is with a 158 gn slug.  He is Jerry Lester and he has some excellent advice. 

That 125 gn Corbon load from a 4" bbl might not be my number one choice and it sure bites the big one that you are stuck with the kalifornya lead ban but the question is: how would they know???  Are they planning on sending the bullet police into the fields to check your ammo (no joke here, as lots of us non-kalifornyans have wondered how they intend to enforce that ban in the woods, and what about using up old ammo stocks???) 

Anyhow, I went to a heavier bullet to make up for the velocity loss from a shorter barrel and prefer a 200 gn cast semi-wadcutter.  Have you researched any of the other jacketed loads for a non-lead tip load???

I'm gonna ask any of our other posters to chime in with some recommendations as to whether there are any other jacketed loads in a heavier weight you can use in the 'lead ban state'.  Mikey.

[Mikey]

Kernman:  On yet another note I will add that at 50 yds a 125 gn 357 moving at least 1425'/sec (if the corbon load is up to its stuff) from your 4" bbl should punch through the ribcage of a whitetail at 50 yds (if you are up to your stuff) and exit the soon to be 'la morte' dinner menu you are hunting. 

Many of us here are not in favor of hollowpoints as they do not always act as they are designed to, and prefer a hardcast semi-wadcutter but there are folks here who use them regularly with great success.

So, have at it and good luck.  Practice with that GP until you can hit where you want at 50 yds and you should be able to bring home the venison.  Mikey.

[SharonAnne]

Mikey, I am interested in your 200gr loads. I always considered the Winchester and Federal 180s heavy for a 357.

[kernman]

Mikey,

thank you for your prompt response. And I hope some of you other knowledgeable people will chime in as well.

First, good question about how they would enforce a lead ban. California has a severe shortage of game wardens due to budget cuts. I live in a National Forest, where there is lots of deer hunting. Im out in the woods almost every day of the year, and in 4 1/2 years, I have only seen one game warden. As I understand it, his beat is about the size of, say,  Connecticut (sp ?).

So its not like game wardens are going to be setting up roadblocks to check. Its unlikely you would ever see a game warden, other than opening weekend in crowded areas. You could stash some lead ammo in the woods, and walk in with copper, in case you met a warden, then switch back to copper before you walk out.

However, I am a law abiding citizen, so I'll comply, of course.

Regarding the Cor-Bon load, I'm wondering whether the copper hollow point slug penetrates better, while mushrooming, and with full weight retention. Copper apparently holds together much better than lead.

At least Barnes claims it does on a free DVD it put out. (You could probably get the DVD at the larger hunting stores). Its a very good video, I learned a lot from it, even though it was a promotional piece.

So could this slug be equal to a larger grain lead, say, 158? Would it approach cast in terms of holding together, and giving added penetration?

I don't handload (not yet) and its a hassle finding copper. The manufacturers are way behind in orders. California gun shops are scrambling to get the copper on the shelves. So I'm trying to keep my search as simple as possible.

Cor-Bon apparenlty has a big supply of the 357 125 grains; they can get it to your door in one day.

[Mikey]

Kernman:  The issue some have with hollowpoints or soft noses is that they do not always perform as they are advertised - hollowpoints may or can easily plug and not expand while soft nosed bullets may deflect off bone structure into non-vital areas and cost you a lost animal. 

That being said, the velocity of the bullet may well factor into the equation.  As 125 gn slug from a rifle or carbine is moving a whole bunch faster than from a revolver and could easily have a very devastating effect while from your revolver it may not move fast enough to cause either a violent or a controlled expansion.  And, if the same company offers the same bullet in 38 Spl it could just as easily be moving too fast to be effective from your revolver. 

Most cast bullets folk hunt with are pretty hard.  It takes a lot to deform a semiwadcutter design even on large animals, and they have a tendency to penetrate clean through or at least very deeply while retaining weight, accuracy and shape and, in effect, performing as they are designed.  You may note that lots of bullet makers advertize a particular 'recovered weight' - you rarely have to worry about that with hardcast boolets. 

Law-abiding is always best - it may be a pita but it is best.  Mikey.

[Mikey]

SharonAnne:  I prefer the 200 gn swc cast out by either Mt. Baldy Bullets or Colorado Cast Bullets.  Both are Keith style semi-wadcutters, and cast hard.  The Winchester factory load data for the 200 gn slug is 12.4 gns of WW296 - don't know the barrel length but its factory rated as 1335'/sec at 35k cup (in comparison to some of the 158 gn cast and jacketed offerings that run to 43K cup). 

I use the same bullet in my 38 spls using 3.8 gn of WW231 powder for a whoppin' 770'/sec and even that is a leg up on the British 38/200 (200 gn slug) which only clocked about 600'sec from a 4" service revolver but yet had a noted battlefield capability similar in effect to the 455 Webley.

The 200 gn weight is not really heavy for the 38/357 - you can use bullets designed for the 35 caliber rifles which go as high as 250 gns.  The Winchester and Federal 180s you mentioned are not a bad weight bullet for the 357 - there is also a Keith style swc at about 168-170 gns that is a nice weight for the 357 - but it is not so much the weight of the bullet as it is the low velocities they are loaded to and do not (from reports I have read) seem to perform all that well.   HTH.  Mikey.

[SharonAnne]

Kernman, Corbon publishes data on the 357/125gr load from a 4" barrel.

Thankyou Mikey

[rbergum95]

180 gr WFN-GC over a heavy dose of lil gun.

[PaulS]

When looking at copper bullets try to remember that it is weight, not shape, that penetrates. The copper bullets that I have tried have always been rifle bullets so I can't help you with the pistol bullets. I would say try them and see if they perform. They are longer than lead bullets and leave less space for powder. That means that you may need to switch to the next faster powder to get decent velocity - Barnes should have load data for their bullets, although they sometimes just provide "guidelines" for loading data. That way they leave the loader without maximum load data and the responsibility of being safe.....
I prefer to use bullets that I know perform. My 357 load is H110 powder, magnum CCI primer and a 140 grain HP Speer bullet. It is accurate in my Ruger SS Security-Six. 1464 FPS and one inch groups at 25 yards. At fifty yards that group grows to about 2 1/4" because my eyes aren't what they used to be. I would not choose to use the load beyond 75 yards even if I could keep the group size down.(used to shoot hunters pistol on a 100 yard range and at 75yards the turkeys didn't stand a chance - never missed one.
I think that 50 maximum range is about all the 357 is suited to for deer size game. On small game the range could go to about as far as you can accuratly kill an animal. Use a life-sized target of your small game and shoot at it - see if you are up to shooting at longer ranges.

[dpe.ahoy]

Mikey has a good load and I use one very close to it except I use more Lilgun.  Got the load out of Handloader Mag., article by Brian Pierce.  XTP 158 FP does well.  Am going to try 170 Speer Gold Dot if I can ever find them.  I believe the same Gold Dot in 158 should work quite good.  I stocked up on 1,000 Rem 158's when Midway had a sale on em, so should be OK for a while.  DP.