Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 357 Magnum - Reccomend a black bear defense load

This is like saying you don’t see the need for seatbelts, air bags, or helmets because you have never personally needed one.

I like 357’s . Today I own six 357 revolvers. Never killed a bear with anything. But I have killed hogs and deer with a 357. I think I would want a larger caliber. Hasbeen

nope! that was 25 years ago and it hurts right now. youngsters (like I was then) think we will heal up and just have a story to tell . those old injuries come back to haunt you. still I have been glad for 25 years I was packing the Blackhawk that day.
I have faced down a couple more over the years including a very upset sow with triplets .luckily I made so many weird noises it confused her, I remember someone in my vicinity screaming like a little girl. she came within 15 yards and then remembered her babies. you could see the light bulb come on in her eyes. that day I only had a stick and string.i backed out backwards for about 100 yards and discovered i'd dropped my bino's. left them till the next day never went out bow hunting again without a sidearm.
today what with the wolves crowding us I carry a 300 blackout AR pistol everywhere, especially when I walk my Dog. gives me 30 rounds of persuasion.

didn't mean to hijack the thread with war stories. but I haven't reloaded a 357 in 20 years. my wife carries a sp101 and I loaded up some 158 hard for her . but that was 20 years or so and I loaded 250 rounds. she shoots 24 rounds about every 5 years so don't need to load anymore for a while.

I would be a lot happier with a 44 Mag & a hard cast 245 gas checked SWC over a max charge of W296 or H110.

180 xtp over.a max charge.of h110 or
160 hard cast over 7.5 grains of unique.
Both very accurate out of.my 4" sp 101.

Well crap, that's too bad about your leg, and not my thread of course, but I've never thought hands on experience was hi-jacking/derailing any thread, I'm glad you shared your experience.

Allways liked the 358429 Keith style swc in my k frames and the 358156 in my n's my L will shoot either though. More playing around with hotter jacketed loads to do as I just scored a super nice clean 1982 vintage model 1894 Marlin in 357 mag. I'd probably look real hard for a good heavy bullet load for bear protection. MB

S&W 686+ 3" barrel, 180 gr XTP @ 1100 fps. Never had a bear problem, but they roam around my neighborhood.

I’d pick a good bonded bullet or hardcast bullet, 158 gr or heavier, and drive it fast. Find something that is combat accurate in your gun.

You want something with plenty of penetration. Your job is to put the bullets where they’ll work.

when I’m in black bear country, which is often, I carry a .40 S&W with a 5” barrel loaded with 180 gr hardcast.

I don’t think 44 magnum level loads are required for black bear defense.

Deerstalker - that is quite a story & very noteworthy! That's something that should be published in a magazine! Glad you came out of it "okay", even though the pain continues to this day.

As for the 357 loads, thanks to everyone for the input. I did load up some 180 xtp bullets driven by H110 powder. It's a very stout load, but still manageable. I think these loads will be very adequate for black bear defense.

BUT, in the meantime, I did pick up a 5" Smith and Wesson 629 (44 mag). I've always wanted a pre-lock 5" 629, and it just worked out that I found one at the right time for the right price. Obviously, it's the clear winner in caliber, but I think the 4" 357 will still be my daily companion in the woods. The 44 will get to come out (in a chest holster) when there's a dead animal on the ground, with a VERY good chance that a bear has also found the kill site.

Again, thanks for all of the input.

Buy a bigger gun....

Remember the old joke about filing off the front sight?

I have owned 3 44 mag revolvers and one 44 mag rifle. I have only one single pistol today: a 357 magnum sp101 trail gun with a 4" barrel.

At 28 oz, it goes with me everywhere, all season. In my parka pocket, it's especially usual to protect the dog team and I against grumpy moose that won't leave the trail. They stomp dog teams every year. I can run the sled up the hill with that revolver in my parka pocket like it's not even there.

With my 158 grain fmj/alliant unique loads I have shot beaver, snow shoe hare, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, ptarmigan and sharp tail grouse.

I like a little expansion and cannot use hard cast, for fear of over penetration of a moose stomping the team and hitting a dog.

My other load is a 180 grain swift A-frame at 1200 fps for everything else.

From small game, to home defense, to bear defense, to winter moose defense, to concealed carry, the compact little S&W model 60's and Ruger SP 101's are the mighty mouse of versatility.

For years now, I'm a one handgun owner.

I read an article written by AK guide, Tia Shoemaker. She carries a 5 shooter 357 mag guiding bear hunters.

I would step up to a 41. I base that on my experience whitetail hunting. But, if it had to go 357, I’d take a hard cast gas checked LWFN and all the H110 I could stuff under it, then I’d aim for bone.

My good buddy lives in a very remote part of Northern British Columbia, near our summer cottage. They regularly have all kinds of wildlife on their doorstep. They keep large dogs in the yard, to keep the bears and cougars and wolves away from their livestock and poultry. The lady of the "estate" is not a gun person, and feels a single shot .410 is about as big and as complicated as she can handle, and she prefers not to carry that on her walks either. So one fine late summer day three years ago she goes for a walk with her Doberman, St. Bernard and Saluki hound. Checked out the Blueberry and Saskatoon bushes on a nice south facing slope. A black bear came charging in from the side of the trail, grabbed and killed the rather fast and agile Saluki right in front of her. One bite, a quick shake, and done. Bluffed and threatened the other two dogs and her, as they retreated.

A week later, she wanted to go for a walk and asked her husband to come along because she wasn't feeling secure. Told him to bring a gun. He thought she was being paranoid, and didn't really want to carry his Marlin .35, but agreed finally to take his ruger 4" .357 revolver loaded with those silly little Hornady 140 gr. Leverevolution cartridges. Not legal to carry, but where they live there is pretty much no law, only your conscience. As soon as they approached the berry patch, what was likely the same medium sized boar bear charged out and tried to attack the surprised St. Bernard as the Doberman prepared to fight. A quick draw, one shot and it was done. Buddy didn't describe exactly where he hit that bear, but said it was about 30-40 meters away, and one shot was all it took.

So bring what ya got, and shoot straight. Sometimes ideal doesn't matter, just having something in your hands is better than nothing.

Castnblast,
Not surprising that the expanding bullet from the 357 mag put a quick end to the aggressive black bear.

I choose the 180 swift over hard cast. It's a deep penetrating bullet that hangs very close to the penetration of the buffalo bore 180 grain hard cast.

The buffalo bore stuff leaves the brass stuck in my little five shooter. No thanks to that madness.

The Barnes Vortex ammo in 357 Mag with 140 XPB bullets penetrate WAY our of their league. Many XPB bullets open up like a parachute and impede penetration. Both the 180 gr in 41 Rem Mag and 140 gr in 357 Mag, fold back all the way and keep on driving DEEP!

I carry two loads for this depending on what's on hand. One is the 158 gr. Hornady FP/XTP with 15.5 gr. H110, the other is Federal American Eagle 158 gr. factory ammo. I don't know if they work well, and if I never find out that is just fine.

Have any of you shot deer or bear with either of these two bullet from a pistol?

Follow up on the 180 grain A frame: I purposely loaded down to 900 fps and shot into green birch logs. Bullet expanded to 51 caliber and weighed 178.5 grains. It traveled through 11.5" of green birch. With all that shank and very controlled expansion, these things track straight. 35 cal isn't ideal for hard cast because they lack diameter. The swift gives yah a smidgen of expansion, but not enough to prevent them from penetrating like a freight train. Dmn good revolver bullet for the 357 mag trail gun.

Mainer, what's your normal load with the 180 Swift in the SP101? I'm thinking that little 5 shooter is the perfect revolver for a young man's first handgun, given the load versatility. I'm also thinking that bullet is the perfect one to work up to for some serious work. Even at 1050, I reckon it would shine.

I noted with due interest in the 2018 Hodgon manual that the 357 pistol loads and 357 rifle loads were virtually the same so a ammo mix up would not result in a blown up pistol. I don't really want to load down the Marlin 1894 to less than it's capability but sure don't need any whomp and stomp loads run thru my " K" smiths either. My "L" and "N's" can handle the hotter loads if needed but "K" frame Smiths sure make lighter weight trail guns. I picked up 2 boxes of the 180 gr .357 xtp Hornady pistol bullets for use in the Marlin and have both 296 and H110 on the shelf. The other day I tried some 357's I had loaded with 9.5 grs Blue Dot and the Lyman Thompson bullet 358156 gas checked, in the Marlin, they showed promise for inexpensive shooting. MB