I own more than just my Marlin 357, but it's just my favorite hunting gun. It just seems to end up being the one I reach for when I head out the door.
I also hunt eveything from small game to deer with my 357 Blackhawk.
For deer I used the XTP-FPs in maximum loads for a long time, but this past fall I switched to 158g Remington SPs in maximum loads. The Remington SP in the Blackhawk at 1350 fps got me one deer, and then I killed another one with the same bullet in my rifle. The velocity in the rifle was around 1650-1700 fps.
Other than for deer season, I basically stick to the lighter loads. My all time favorite so far in my rifle is the Remington 125g SP, 7.5g of Unique, and CCI 550 primers. With this load, I've killed piles of game. I like it because I can thump a groundhog past 100 yards(have killed them past 200 yards with it), and still kill a fox at 25 yards without blowing up the hide.
If you're after hogs, deer, or basically anything else under 100 yards, then a good Marlin 357 would definately win you over. I love my other guns too, but if I had to just own one gun, this 357 rifle would be my choice.
The only down side to the 357s is that if you're limited to factory ammo, you're limited to mainly deer sized game, or varmints that you don't care about blowing up. You can buy factory 38 SPs which do nicely on small game, but tend to not kill very quickly on foxes, bobcats and such. The 357 is a handloaders dream in my opinion.
