357 Magnum Trail/Utility Load

Nice.
I don't have any experience hunting with the 357, but I've been shooting the Sierra soft points. They have the largest flat point of any of my 357 bullets. In my un-scientific testing (water), they seem to open up and mushroom very consistently, even down to ~1000 fps (estimated).

The 125 Sierra JSP over 7.5 grains of Unique is my trail/utility load. Accurate, potent, feels like a 38+p with reduced muzzle blast over full magnums.
 
I've used both 125 grain JHP and 158 grain JHP as well as factory ammo to kill whitetails. The revolvers were both 6" and 4". The deer dropped very quickly, about the same as the ones taken with a rifle. I would not use anything over 158 grains and the 125s performed extremely well. No experience with Hornady XTP in that round, however.
 
I'll take a look at them other bullets as well. I just noticed this afternoon while preparing to load up a case of them speers that I ordered the wrong ones. I got the "plinkers". So that was 50 bucks well wasted. I guess it don't hurt to have some practice ammo sitting around. But as far as I can tell they are plated and the jacket will most likely separate so I'd rather not rely on them for trail carry. I'm just going to order up the Sierra's next since I know exactly what I'll be getting and start over. Should've ignored the savings in the first place.
 
Plated bullets don't have a jacket.....it's all plating and that's not the same thing. The XTP-FP's aren't the same as a soft point bullet. They're basically the same thing as an XTP HP except the jacket is rolled over into the nose. They will penetrate a bit better on a deer. I've shot over 50 deer with a handgun in .357mag alone, and most were shot with XTP HP bullets. I've used the FP bullets to see if there is a penetration difference and there is. I will on occasion get a pass through with the FP's out of my longer barreled guns. The HP's rarely pass through. I've used Speer and Sierra bullets in .357mag, but they didn't produce any better results than the XTP's and actually didn't shoot quite as well. They shot good, just not as good. So far I haven't found a better bullet than the XTP's and I've been shooting deer with a handgun since the late 70s.
 
NoSecondBest said:
I've shot more .357mag than 99.9% of the people that ever owned them. I've been shooting that caliber for over forty-five years and owned at least a dozen and a half different guns ranging from two Coonans to a lot of different S&W's, and a few Rugers thrown in for good measure. After having shot over fifty whitetails with this caliber I have never found any bullet better than a Hornady XTP for accuracy or lethality. i know there are a lot of bullet casters out there and it's a great hobby if your primary concern is to reduce shooting cost. The truth is though that cast bullets are not superior in any way to good jacketed bullet for hunting....sorry if I called anyone's baby ugly here. You simply won't do any better than using a 158 or 180g Hornady XTP with either a) H110/WW296 or b) 2400 powder. I've always found that 296 and a 158g XTP shot extremely well out of every .357mag I've ever owned. Just note that the 180g loses it's ability to expand well at distances over 50 yards. It simply doesn't retain the velocity needed to expand much beyond that distance. However, it penetrates well and still kills if the bullet is placed on target. That's the secret to handgun hunting for deer: the bullet has to hit the kill area. Close doesn't count.
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Good advice here. I like the 2 powders mentioned and I learned a hard lesson about using heavy enough bullets in my 357 for deer. I loaded up a smokin 125 grain load that had a ton of muzzle energy and shot real flat. I shot a LARGE Minnesota buck at 20 yards broadside in the shoulders. knocked him right off his feet where he laid there and kicked. He kicked for about 15 seconds, then got up and took off and I never saw him again. I believe a 158 or a 180 grain would have put him down and kept him down...I'm now a big fan of heavier bullets in this cartridge needless to say.
 
I've used Hornady's excellent 158 gr XTP's for a number of years...great accuracy from my Marlin 1894 .357...with a 2.5x scope mounted, that bullet will average 1.5" or less at 100 yds from a good rest. Velocity is 1750 fps over my chronograph from the Marlin and the load of Win 296 is about a grain shy of max according to my Sierra manual.

It's equally good out of my 4-5/8" bbl'd Ruger Flat Top, a pair of S&W M-19's, and a Smith M-60...truly a versatile load. I will readily admit however, that shot from a 3" bbl'd M-60 Smith, you'd better have ear protection on, and the muzzle flash will BBQ a 1" steak at 15'!

This past season, 2016, I helped trail up two deer wounded with another caliber...the Marlin .357 loaded with that Hornady 158 gr XTP load put both down with 50 yd shots. Both were through and through, broke through the spine and exited...DRT shots. I have confidence that they'll do the same on boiler room shots inside 75 yds with that carbine.

HTH's Rod
 
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