Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots .357 Maximum

Anybody here campaigning a single shot .357 Maximum for deer? Observations?

One iv always wanted to try one! Maybe one day!

My daughter has a 26” MGM Encore barrel chambered in 357 maximum. 180 Speers HCFP at 2325 FPS it hammers deer. Haven’t had one go more than 50 yards, most go down in sight.
We reamed a H&R 357 mag barrel to Maximum for my youngest daughter but haven’t worked a maximum load for it yet. Running a 150 gr core lokt at 2000 FPS with 20 gr of H110 out of 357 magnum right now for her. She is 11 and has killed a buck last year and this year with it.

I have a rechambered cva scout pistol in 357 mag/max done by the late Mr David White(heck of a gunsmith) and I have a tc encore with a Boyd’s pepper laminate stock wearing a 21” MGM 357max barrel. Shoots great and puts the deer down hard with minimal recoil. Absolutely love the round and is very easy to reload,hunt & target shoot with. The 357maxi really tears up small varmints like groundhogs & porcupines
You would like the round if you venture down that route.

I've got a Savage 24V .357 Max/20ga. Only shot one deer with it but the 180gr XTP did the job. I need to get it out in the woods again but it is finicky so doesn't go much.

I’ve killed a couple deer with the 180 xtp from a 20” carbine and found the bullet to get a bit explosive at maximum carbine velocities, but did provide spectacular bang flops. Haven’t had a chance to try rifle bullets or soft points in it yet but that’s on my to do list. I’m going to start my boy with the magnum as I think it will do most if not all we would ask from a round, but don’t see me getting rid of the maximum barrel either.

I've been hunting with a TC Encore and a 23" 357 max barrel ever since Michigan allowed it to be legal.

I used to use 180 grain XTP's and killed plenty of deer, but now only use the 180 grain Fury bullet (.358) and it's devastating

I just ordered a 21" contender barrel from MGM in .357 Max

guess you could say i love it

I've been shooting a little G2 contender with a stainless 21" MGM .357 Max barrel. Mainly just sighted it in using 180 gr Swift A-frame bullets. It's very easy on the shoulder, ears, and powder charges, pleasant to shoot. It should be a nice shorter range deer round....at some point I'll carry it. Very light and compact, I really do need to put it to use.

The thought occurred to me to use it with light 38 cast bullets while plinking squirrels after deer season ends in February but last I remember centerfires aren't legal for use on squirrels here. I haven't shot any 38 or 357's in it so I have no idea how accurate they would be. I'm sure after much use the chamber might get rather cruddy.

I have an H&R factory chambered Maxi. Haven't got a load worked up yet but have shot a couple deer with 357 Magnum ammo. I'm expecting the Maxi will hit much harder.

Y'all got me to thinking about the Max today so I broke it out. Swapped scopes and sighted the new "old" scope in at lunch. I wanted something little and light on it....previously had a 6x42 S&B on it and it was a bit much. The S&B did adjust correctly every time...the Leupold has a 1 shot adjustment lag as pictured below. It was extremely reliable in the adjustment lag though!

Rifle is a little under 6 lbs with the Leupold. I've been very impressed with the accuracy. MGM can make a good barrel.

My 357 Max barrel is a 18" T/C custom shop barrel that was originally a 357 Mag that I had rechambered. It has not been hunted with much in the last 20 years but my youngest killed a number of deer with it.

I started out driving 180 grain Speer FN and Hornady XTPs at velocities approaching 35 Rem. H110 gave better velocity but got better accuracy with IMR4227. Accuracy with the Speer was mediocre and the XTP made little bughole groups. The first few deer killed with the XTP at about 2100 fps showed results like Biathlonman described. Bang-flop and a lot of bloody meat. A little experimentation at the range and we went back hunting with the 180 XTP over 18.9 gr of IMR4227. This load gives 1700 fps and great accuracy. Lung-shot deer go 20 yards and the bullet is against the skin on the off side. Barrel wears a 2.5X Leupold. Wish I could post pics!

I started out deer hunting in thickets and swamps. A 100 yard shot was a long one. Last few years it seems I've returned to that, but I have a 21" 30-30 barrel that gets the nod at hunting time.

Hi. If you should consider trading the Savage 24V, I have numerous rifle to offer.

I've been using a 357 Max since 2008. My current H&R 158 prefers cast bullets but shoots the 180gr Fury TC well enough. Subsonic cast loads use Viht Tin Star everything else uses AA1680.

Thanks, Dinny

I'd really like to see a lever option for the .357 Max. Playing with a Rossi 92 in .357 with a dummy round it needs a tad bit more action length for feeding (with short 180 Aframes). I don't know enough about the 92 actions to know if the breech bolt assembly/lever travel could be increased without causing issues. I think the Max is also ~40,000 psi vs ~35,000 psi for the Mag and I'm not sure what the 92 action can handle there.

I shot a heavily modified Marlin 336 in 357 Maximum years ago. The owner was a tinkerer and had a close friend who was a machinist. COAL was definitely an issue even in the 336. His most accurate jacketed load would cloverleaf at 50 yds but maxed out at 1700fps. Regan Nonneman told me has has made a number of them. He's definitely not doing then cheap though. You really have to want one of his.

Thanks, Dinny

Those pushing XTP's at maximum fail to understand that the beauty of XTP's is that they expand well across a wide range of velocities and do not need maximum velocity to expand. Not surprised at explosive expansion at maximum velocity.

For me it would lose the flavor in a 336. I'm set with the 35 Rem there. I'm surprised COAL was an issue in the 336 though, that seems odd to me, other than perhaps it needed to be a little longer for reliable feeding? I do imagine it would be costly and time consuming.....single shot ain't so bad!

The reason I asked the question is I'm considering the purchase of a falling block single shot chambered in .357 Magnum, and the idea of extending the chamber to Maximum is intriguing for the purpose of attaining more oomph as a close-midrange deer whacker, and for possible 200 yard cast bullet target shooting.

The #1 CHP conversion to max was kind of a thing years ago

The other distinct advantage to rechambering a 357 Magnum chamber is to improve accuracy across all shorter, suitable cases. Be sure to use a rifle reamer that will cut a true throat.



It has something to do with the cartridge balancing on the cartridge carrier. If the balance is off the cartridge will nose up or nose down and not feed into the chamber. The best I remember my friend only replaced the 30-30 barrel with a Model 1894 357 barrel after it was rechambered to 357 Max. I'm not an expert on these guns and I'm only going off what I remember from 6-7 years ago. Sadly my friend passed away last year and the knowledge went with him.

Thanks, Dinny