Posts by MikeG
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I honestly could not tell the difference in effectiveness between the deer I shot with a .357 and a .44 mag, both using Beartooth bullets.
Sample is too small to draw definite conclusions, but it does work. You have to see the wound channels from the .357 to believe them. Next time, I'll take the camera.
I too shoot the .357 more accurately than the .44, probably due to recoil. Won't hesitate to take it again. The 180gr. cast should punch through about anything in North America.
A few 148gr. wadcutters in your pocket make a great small game round also.
Personal favorite is the Bisley .45 Colt, though. Not as accurate as the .357 but what a hammer!
Sample is too small to draw definite conclusions, but it does work. You have to see the wound channels from the .357 to believe them. Next time, I'll take the camera.
I too shoot the .357 more accurately than the .44, probably due to recoil. Won't hesitate to take it again. The 180gr. cast should punch through about anything in North America.
A few 148gr. wadcutters in your pocket make a great small game round also.
Personal favorite is the Bisley .45 Colt, though. Not as accurate as the .357 but what a hammer!
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39,117 Posts
Marshall did a lot of crop damage control work at night, mostly with a Marlin .357 rifle. Rifle is much quieter than a revolver.
What a rifle buys you is range. The 300-400fps extra velocity adds 100 yards or so to the effective range of the cartridge. At short range you will of course get more of a wound channel from the rifle bullets, but if you hit one at 100-125 yards with the rifle, then the wound is very similar to a short range hit with the handgun (because of course the velocities are similar in that comparison).
And yes bullets make all the difference. You'll get full penetration with a good hard cast bullet in the .357 even from a handgun.
The WFN bullets that you can get now for the .357 have a 0.280" meplat - exactly the same as Elmer Keith's original SWC design for the .44 Special/Mag. And you can run the hard cast .357 at 1200fps or so which by chance is what E.K. was doing with heavy .44 Special loads so many years ago. It should be no surprise that the .357 is quite effective on game from a handgun when used with the correct bullets.
Federal's "Castcore" factory load with a 180gr. WFN is the equivalent of what I load with Beartooth's 185gr. bullet. So, finally, factory ammo has caught up with the handloader's efforts. I believe that Cor-Bon may have some similar offerings.
Now, the gun rags don't recommend the .357. Why not? - because the big jacketed bullet companies aren't making (selling) hard cast bullets, and it would be a little rough on their advertisers to tell the general public how much more effective cast bullets are in that caliber (for hunting) than the jacketed offerings.
Hence the debate is a little one-sided in the gun magazines because some of the truth can't be allowed to get out.
Now, I have nothing against JHPs. If you have found an effective deer load built around a JHP, great. I just found a very effective load built around the WFN bullet and have no reason to look further.
What a rifle buys you is range. The 300-400fps extra velocity adds 100 yards or so to the effective range of the cartridge. At short range you will of course get more of a wound channel from the rifle bullets, but if you hit one at 100-125 yards with the rifle, then the wound is very similar to a short range hit with the handgun (because of course the velocities are similar in that comparison).
And yes bullets make all the difference. You'll get full penetration with a good hard cast bullet in the .357 even from a handgun.
The WFN bullets that you can get now for the .357 have a 0.280" meplat - exactly the same as Elmer Keith's original SWC design for the .44 Special/Mag. And you can run the hard cast .357 at 1200fps or so which by chance is what E.K. was doing with heavy .44 Special loads so many years ago. It should be no surprise that the .357 is quite effective on game from a handgun when used with the correct bullets.
Federal's "Castcore" factory load with a 180gr. WFN is the equivalent of what I load with Beartooth's 185gr. bullet. So, finally, factory ammo has caught up with the handloader's efforts. I believe that Cor-Bon may have some similar offerings.
Now, the gun rags don't recommend the .357. Why not? - because the big jacketed bullet companies aren't making (selling) hard cast bullets, and it would be a little rough on their advertisers to tell the general public how much more effective cast bullets are in that caliber (for hunting) than the jacketed offerings.
Hence the debate is a little one-sided in the gun magazines because some of the truth can't be allowed to get out.
Now, I have nothing against JHPs. If you have found an effective deer load built around a JHP, great. I just found a very effective load built around the WFN bullet and have no reason to look further.
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39,117 Posts
Well he probably used both, if I had to guess. But, truth be told, if you wanted to do it quietly at night, then a revolver would be about the last choice due to the b/c gap contributing a lot of noise.
Bottom line, it works..... from either the rifle or handgun.
Bottom line, it works..... from either the rifle or handgun.
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