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 158@2000+ 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.

Use the 180's that you have

Midsouth Shooters Supply still lists the 180 Remingtons.
51.07/250 in the 2012 catalog.

www.midsouthshooters.com

No I have no tie in with them other than "Long Time Customer"

I think the other replies to your question were good, but I'd add the suggestion that as a new handgun hunter you might want to do some reading/research into the pros and cons of cast and jacketed bullets for handgun hunting. I'd start with Paco Kelly's articles at leverrifles.com, John Linebaugh's website, and the excellent downloadable book on cast bullets for hunting by Glen Fryxell at http://www.lasc.us/articlesfryxell.htm.

I've used both cast and jacketed bullets for handgun hunting. I carry mostly my own cast bullets in my 45 Colt guns, but jacketed bullets in my 44's and about 50:50 in my 357's. It's more a matter of what your experiences have been than which is "better".

But if I had to generalize, I'd say this: a heavy-for-caliber cast bullet is a penetrator, ideally suited for heavier game such as elk, moose, feral hog, and bear, whereas an expanding jacketed bullet (or HP cast, for that matter... I'm just beginning to experiment with some of these, and they're a blast, literally!) is better for lighter game such as deer and varmints.

Example: this 300 gr WFN-type bullet cast from "sweetened" WW alloy and dropped into cold water has a BHN of about 20. I used to hunt with this bullet a lot, driven at about 1300 fps out of a Ruger Bisley. It pencilled right through a couple of deer, including one doe I shot in the shoulder with the bullet exiting out her opposite flank. These deer ran half a mile before dropping, the latter doe in dense swamp/woods that took several hours' tracking to finally collect. This bullet was recovered from a sandbox after it drilled through a 14" seasoned maple log. That is just too much penetration for deer hunting, IMHO.



That bullet in that alloy is too hard. I now cast that bullet out of a softer mix to about BHN 10-11, and it flat devastates anything I've shot with it, DRT. It expands and destroys tissue beautifully. I don't hunt with what most people call "hard cast" bullets any more. My experience, like that of Kelly and Fryxell and others, points to softer alloys being much better for clean kills.

Example #2 is this CorBon 115 gr 9mm slug (MV~1300 fps) I recovered from a whitetail I shot from a tree stand, shooting almost directly down and into the chest cavity. The bullet penetrated through the chest cavity and was recovered under the skin in the shape you see it there. The deer dropped like it had been pole-axed, and its chest cavity was red jelly.



Every deer I've shot with JHP bullets has dropped pronto. But there's a downside: I shot a raccoon the night before the deer, from the same stand, with the same gun & bullet... he freakin' exPLODED, and his mature bull coon pelt was destroyed. If I was hunting coons or yotes for fur, I'd not use this bullet but rather a cast non-expanding bullet.

Hope this doesn't just muddy the waters for you. The point is that there is no simple answer to the question of which bullet is better until you take into consideration the load, the gun, and the game.

I agree with Doc. For deer hunting, 12 to 15 inches of penetration is enough. You want the largest hole that goes to that depth. As I said above, I've killed bunches of deer with a .357 145 gr. Silvertip, and it did a good job and usually exited.

If I was the OP, I'd use the 158 JHP he already has, backed up with 15 grs. of H110, put it behind the deer's shoulder, and get my knife out.

Thanks Doc, that's some good info. I was a bit hesitant to use a 158 hollow point because I've always felt "bigger is better) I want to use the .357 because I shoot that particular gun better than my others. I sold my .41 mag because for some reason I couldn't hit squat with it.
Slow and heavy is what I'm used to from hunting with muzzle loaders

FWIW, one of my handgun hunting compadres in WI sold his 44 Magnum hunting revolver a few years ago and switched to a 6" M686 357 Magnum. He is a great shot with rifle and okay with handgun, but couldn't hit with his 44. He switched to the 357 and shoots 158 gr JHP's now and has killed every deer he's shot at since.

The 357 flat-out kills critters. It's a helluva round, and most handgunners can handle its recoil better than a 44 or 45.

The hunting load in my 357 Magnums is the Speer 158 gr Gold Dot , Win 296 and CCI 550 MAG Primers . You will have no problem killing deer size game with this load if you hit them where they live.

Great post as usual Doc. I'm guessing a 240gr or so cast SWC from wheelweights and launched out a 16in 44mag trapper should be a doe-dumper?

Anyone use the 140 gr barnes xpb? I am planning on using 158gr XTP this year but have been considering a change for next year. I have a 586 with a 6" barrel.

Re; that 140, Wiley Clapp recording phenomenal accuracy in a 4" GP100 in a rest, like UNDER .5" at 25 yds....I'd not thumb my nose up at that XTP if you can put in thru vitals

In a 180 in a short handgun bbl, the Rem SJHP IMHO may expand better than others, and thats a good thing in this speed range and thin skinned deer.

Nice hog in the pic above.

Should work like a charm.

A 240 Wadcutter at 1050 mv from my M29 4" dumped one in college.....not alot of speed needed

When I first started working up loads for my 4" Security Six I went with bigger is better and loaded up some 180gr. XTPs. Got lucky first try and ended up with a load/gun combo that exhibits great accuracy and never looked back. We're talkin sub 2" at 50 yards with a rest. Shot a deer that first year. Dumb shot that worked out well and found out that those 180's will travel 90% of the way thru a buck, lengthwise. Tremendous internal damage too. I wouldn't change a thing. BTW, I was using BlueDot, not quite max according to Lee.

Being said, any proper shot with a 158 should do the job and I don't think you have to use the 180's.

As for cast I have mixed thoughts. Every store bought hard cast I've tried has been exactly that, hard. Hard as a frikin rock as a matter of fact. Even using a good bullet design such as a Keith I wouldn't use them for hunting unless I really really needed the penetration. If you're casting your own you can play with the hardness and maybe get something worth using but in general I'll stick with good heavy HP's.

Chris, your impression of commercial hard cast bullets rings a bell with me.

When you read Elmer Keith's old stuff, you learn that what he called "hard" cast bullets were only hard compared to pure lead... we're talking BHN of 11-14 for his bullets. Modern hard cast bullets have BHN's upwards of 22 and higher. These really hard alloys don't deform worth [bleep] when they hit a soft-bodied animal, whereas a WW metal SWC will soften nicely on impact and do a lot of damage.

Nothing wrong with your XTP load, though.