I hunted deer for several years with my 6" S&W 686 with 145gr SilverTips. Worked kind of okay with thru-the-ribs shots. However, one year I was in my tree stand when a shot rang out. Along came a limping large doe that had been shot in the hind quarter. She decided to bed down directly under my tree. So, I thought I would do the half-@ss shooter a favor and put his deer down for him. My shot was from above and down thru her back on one side of the spine and angling into the chest cavity. At the shot the deer got up and walked off. I was astounded. This was the morning, and after lunch I returned to the same general area to hunt. I was on the ground now, and along comes a limping doe (Yep, same deer) that I dispatched with my shotgun. In dressing the deer out, I found a nicely mushroomed .357 SilverTip bullet in the heavy fat on the back of the deer. The bullet never penetrated into the chest cavity. I quit hunting deer with the .357 Magnum after that, as I find it to be a marginal deer cartridge. Now I use a .45 Colt that puts them down with authority. While the 145gr Silvertip may be okay for a defensive load, it is woefully inadequate as a hunting round. Just MHO.
Don
