Will this work? 357 Deer Load

J

jim walker

New member
I just posted this in the wrong so maybe someone here can help. Going doe hunting in the morning with 357 6" Python. How about this load? Remington 158 GR LEAD SWC. Seemed hot on the range. Will these penetrate a shoulder and do the job.

Thanks if you have any info.
 
JIM, Hard cast?, If not I wouldn't go for a shoulder shot, slip it into the hollow just behind and into the top of the heart and lungs.

In 357 I prefer either the 180 grain JSP, or hard cast, in factory,, hand loads I use 200 grainers, remember 357 isn't a 100 yard gun keep the shots under 75 yards and your good to go
 
Hey Jim,

I've used hard cast SWC loads in 357 to take pigs. At bow hunting ranges they will do the job with either head shots or shoulder shots. Depending on the angle, they don't always penetrate on body shots (and never on between the eyes shots) but still seem to roll'em up dead. That is about the only bullet I use for anything, but I've never killed a deer with it. I would think a 100-150 pig would come close to reacting like a doe deer.

Let us know how it goes and good luck.
 
If they're hard cast, it's not a bad idea. Frankly, though, I think a 158g JSP would probably be better, especially if you'll tuck the shot behind the near shoulder.

I shot a coupla javelinas with the Remington LSWCHP 158g +P load out of a 6" one day, and found that the bullets stopped on the far side, against the hide, fully expanded. But those were soft-lead HPs, and were of course .38's. I remember thinking that I would have liked to have had my hardcast 160g SWC handload that day.

My dad took a deer with a .357 loaded with LSWCs one day back when.
 
I'd be leery of this load.

That is, if it is the old-style Remington 158 gr leqd SWC - - I'm not even sure the load is in production nowadays. It had a very short nose with a rather rounded ogive and was seated pretty deep in the case. The bullet was pretty soft, velocity was fairly high, and only six rounds would leave some pretty serious leading in a barrel.

I am not familiar withy the new, currently offered, leadless 158 SWC load.

Best,
Johnny
 
Going to the Remington site, I see several loads that they make that I think would be great hunting loads for the .357, which would be better than the SWC of unknown hardness.

Here's their .357 list. I outlined my personal faves in red:
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Had to delay my hunt for a couple days which gave me time to get an order from Midway. I don't know if anyone has tryed the Buffalo Bore 170 gr. J.H.C (1400 FPS) but they damn sure do the job. I set up, anticipating where the deer would come in from and naturally they came in right behind me. I am camo'd out sitting in a folding chair behind a brush pile when I hear a hoof stomping behind me. I am between the deer and my feeder. I turn as slowly as possible but the deer ( a spike and a little 6 pointer) are only about 35 yards away and begin to move away. About that time my feeder goes off and the spike cannot resist. He works his way around some brush toward the feeder which allows me the opportunity to cock the Python and get ready. When he clears the brush pile at about 35 yards he is standing broadside for a perfect shot. I touch one off at his left shoulder, he hunches down and runs right towards my tower blind where my son is is sitting with a video camera. He collapsed right behind my blind which meant he ran about 65 yards. The best part is we got it all on video. The bullet went thru the left front shoulder, broke a rib on that side, went thru the lungs, hit another rib and left about a 1 1/2" hole on the far side. I would say its a great load for the 357. Most excited I have ever been hunting. :)
 
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