Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading My .357 Mag. Rabbit Load

Just sharing my experience from yesterday. I know a .357 Mag. is a flexible round and can do a lot of powerful things, but I have bigger guns, smaller guns and semi-autos that serve most any purpose I will encounter. So, when I started playing with handloads for my Birdshead Vaquero, I settled on an economical 158gr LRNFP over 4.0gr of Trail Boss. I have only paper-tested it at an indoor range, but from point-blank out to the 25-yard back stop that load always shoots very tight groups and to the exact point-of-aim with the gun's notch and blade sights. It's funny - at 25 yards I can't event see what I'm doing. I just take 6 shots, then have to pull the target in to find holes clustered all over each other. Like I mentioned, I have more specialized pieces so I decided to just leave good enough alone with the Vaquero. But other than punching paper, what other fun could I have with it?

I wondered how it would do as a companion to my shotgun on quail hunts and yesterday I got my chance with this cottontail. It was a close shot, but it hit where I aimed (shoulder shot), the rabbit was dispatched (duh), and that load didn't rip the animal apart. In fact, I've seen .22lr HPs be more destructive on rabbits. Plus, with the world as it is my hand-rolled 158's might be cheaper than some of the fancier .22lr rounds out there, not to mention .22 Mags. Just hoping that Vaquero gets more chances to fill the freezer this winter!

Kind of like a 45-70 on deer-- eat right up to the hole!

That’s awesome. I use 158 LRNFP’s in my 38’s. I may try some Trail Boss some time.

I use a lot of Trailboss

4-5 grains in pistol rds work great...even 9 mm & 45 ACP

Learn the formula for rifle cartridges as well..just do not compress

Nice shooting

4.0gr of TB + .357mag case + SPM primer + 158gr LSWC is an accurate mild load I developed for my .357mags. Do not doubt the LRNFP is similarly accurate.

Thanks for the good words. I have another batch of loads ready to go for the Vaquero. I've found that 3-4gr. of TB works decently-well in 38 Special cases in my snub nose 357 too. Still playing with powders there to get a little better point-of-aim impact.

Now that big game hunting is wrapping up for me this season, time to hit the hills to fill the stew pot with more quail and rabbit!