Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 357 mag for Deer. 158 or 180gr?

With deer season quickly approaching I have decided to put a scope on my GP100 and use it for deer hunting this year.

I have about a box of the old 180gr Remington sjhp loaded up that shoot great but it dosent look like you can get them anymore so when I shoot them up there gone.

I also have a good supply of Winchester 158gr jhp that I havent worked up a load for yet.

I also have a bunch of 170gr Keith bullets which I have not worked up a load for either.

Which would you use for deer hunting? Anyone have a favorite load they would like to share?

158gr. Remember, deer are not made of kevlar and are fairly easy to kill IF IF IF you have proper shot placement.


357 will kill deer all day long

18.0 gr. Lil'Gun under a 158 XTP gives me 1365 fps out of my 6" GP100

I've loaded up some of the HP's for my GP100 and some FP's for my 1894, but haven't killed anything with them yet.

I did kill one deer with my 1894 and some 180 gr. XTP's. In the ribs, out the neck and kept going...

IMO,..any of those bullets posted would work well...

I would lean toward the 158 grain bullets for the higher velocity and flatter trajectory, but you already have a good load for the 180 grain bullets. Deer season is only about two weeks away here, and the ranges will be clogged with once-a-year shooters getting sighted in, so I wouldn't be trying to work up a new load right now. Besides, this is prime time for squirrel hunting/deer scouting. I would save development of a new load for after deer season. Sometimes you have to just "run what you brung".

If this were two months ago, I'd say work up a load with 158-gr bullets. But it isn't, so go with the ones you already have loaded (as Hogeye also said).

I don't load for blazing speed. A 158 at 1200 fps or so is "modanuff" at ranges inside 100 yards. In fact, if you check, you might find that such a load is "on" at about 25 yards and on again at 100 yards, striking a bit high between the two. I regularly pop clay targets at 100 yards with my 4 5/8" Ruger with such a load, holding right on. People watching think it's magic. Nope.

What Hogeye and Rocky said. Deer ain't choosy about what kills them.

my brother-in-laws used 170 grain cast, and/or 158 grain speers in a marlin carbine , caliber 357 mag for decades to kill deer, he says the 158 speers tend to expand faster and occasionally fail to exit, the hard cast 170 grain usually punch thru and exit , but in either case a decent hit in the heart /lung area usually results in a short death run and a dead deer. so the choice in projectiles is not all that critical.
hes been using a stiff load of BLUE DOT powder under either projectile

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/d...ype=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=


http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html

A 158 grain soft point will kill all the dear you have including bear.

I sold my .357 to buy my .44 mag because we have elk and Griz. Sometimes I wish I still had that old S&W. It was a Model 19.

Shoot your 180's. You've got 'em ready to go, just make sure your sights are dial'd in. It's getting kind of late in the season to be working up a 158 gr load, but if I was you that's what I'd do next spring and load up a bunch of 'em for next fall.

And don't worry about shooting your 180's up. Remington 180 gr SJHP bullets are still available, although currently on backorder at Midway:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/16...ter-180-grain-semi-jacketed-hollow-point

Doc, we discussed availability of Remington's .357 180's on a thread back in the early summer. I meant to shoot you a PM about a month ago to let you know that Natchez had them listed in their flyer, but forgot about it until it was too late. Only time I've ever seen Natchez offer them.

They don't list them in their current flyer.

158's are your best bet. With the .357 Mag you really want expansion, and penetration with a 158 has always been good. With the 180 grain bullets, sometimes you can run into issues where the bullets don't expand. So the 158 gets you enough velocity to ensure expansion every time, and it has the sectional density to get to the vitals every time.

I've killed more than a couple of bears with a 158 grain JHP out of an 8" .357 mag, so you can close the deal with a good shot on a deer...the trick really isn't the load or the cartridge, it's the good shot part. Hit them well, they die.

Yeah, you gotta keep your eyes peeled.

I don't use 180's in my revolvers. They make a phenomenal round out of rifles, though. You can drive them to ~2000 fps out of a Rossi 357 Mag carbine, and they shoot flat as a frozen rope.

Recall Dick Metcalf IIRC, used 180s in a 686 w/scope, he had I believe a 6" bbl, perhaps longer. Point is I would not use more than a 158 in a 4" GP100.

I took a deer w/a RP JSP 1582000+ in a Marlin 1894. The 180s would work beautiful in a TC Contender, ESP in a Maximum, the 180s can be seated out further in a TC, not ltd. by a cylinder, etc. Also, speed is better.

In the 158 bullets- MY choice would be:

RP JSP
Speer Gold Dot
XTP
Nosler

I have killed lots of deer with 145 gr. W-W Silvertips out of a 4" .357 and it works well if you hit what you are aiming at. 158's or 180's would do the trick too. Your choice of load is much less important than your marksmanship.

Funny I've been contemplating the same question with my .357 but between 180 or a 200 grain cast. Now all I am is more confused.
I'm real new to handgun hunting , why are guys shying away from heavy cast ??

I agree with those who advise 158s for revolvers, 180s for carbines. Years ago I killed several deer with a hot loaded .38 Special and the Keith Lyman 358429. Those 165 grain Linotype bullets put .36 caliber holes through the heart and lungs and always passed clear through the deer. Two dropped in their tracks but one ran close to two hundred yards and was a difficult track. when I switched to 158 grain jacketed soft points and hollow points, I had more DRT kills.

59, a cast w/WIDE Meplat will do well. In jacketed, a 180 HP (no silhouette designed for slow expansion) at a good speed i.e. longer bbl would be better IMHO.

Heavy n slow is not bad, if you're cutting a wide hole, 357 is marginal so a WIDE square Flat Nose will be your huckleberry.

A 160-180 range Cast will drive deep, you just want as large a wound channel as possible. Look at the bullets here to see what I mean...

http://www.dixieslugs.com/images/357_and_hard_cast_bullets.pdf

I've seen wide, 180 hard cast work fine.

I guess I am going against the grain here, but I will be carring 140 grain XTPs over a max charge of 296 in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk. It is mostly a backup to my single shot slug gun. If I wind up working through thick stuff to flush deer out for my partner it may be my primary arm.
IMO if you have the 180s loaded and like them use them.

Ernie

I like 180gr hard cast in my 686 because sometimes I stumble across things like this.