The Steinel ammo is here. It looks great -- Starline brass and what appear to be Speer180 grain FNSP bullets. Velocity is listed as 1970 fps from a 14 inch barrel. Speer shows loading data for this bullet in the .357 Max of just under 1900 fps from a 14 inch barrel. However, the Steinel web site states that expansion may not be adequate at hunting ranges from barrels shorter than 18 inches. All reviews on the Steinel site are excellent but don't address the expansion issue. I will test it myself before using for hunting. My shooting at game with a handgun will be very close!
I just noticed on the Steinel site that they now have .357 Max ammo loaded with 140 grain all copper hollow point bullets that should address the expansion issue.
Muzzleloader deer season opens here in NH Saturday so it will be a while before I shoot any of this ammo.
I've been loading that Speer 180 gr. FNSP for several years in the .357 Max for my 18" Encore barrel. Even beyond 200 yards I'm getting good expansion, though I don't have any photos because the darn deer can't catch the bullets!
. I'm using 30 gr. AA1680 behind it for 2050 fps from the 18" barrel. The first year my daughter hunted with that gun I had them loaded down to 1500 fps for her. She made a beautiful boiler room shot at 176 yards on her big Iowa doe and it reared up once and that was the ball game. We've killed 8 deer with them now between us, the most recent a big doe at 189 yards from my .350 Remington Magnum XP-100 at 189 yards on Monday and she one-upped dad with a great 75 yard shot with that bullet from her Max on a huge bodied 8 point buck. Performance has been stellar from 50 yards to over 200 yards. I would have zero concerns about hunting with them from your Contender. Good luck! It's a cartridge that hit way above its pay grade. Handloading for it has been very easy and my barrel just isn't picky. It's an MGM barrel, so that may have something to do with it.
