I have never shot a bear with the 357. I have shot a few deer with it and they died. I was using 158gr XTP’s and was not impressed with their performance at 50 and 100 yards. That being said, I think 100 yards was to far for the 357. Keep the shot close and in the heart/lung area it will work.
Are we still talking rifles here?
I've killed a bunch of deer with my Marlin .357. Worked about as well as my .30-30 at typical woods ranges. None went over 60 yards with double lung shots and shoulder shots dropped immediately with complete pass through using 158 gr. sp Winchester factory loads and 158 gr. Speer sp over 15 gr's 2400 and 19 grs lil gun. Killed one with a double lung shot at just over 200 yards with the 158 Win factory load and it still was a complete pass through. Deer went down after 40 yard run. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it killing a bear.
