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Posted: 12/16/2025 9:33:24 PM EDT
| Hey all. Decided to move away from my 350 Legend black rifle this year. I acquired a Marlin trapper and want to keep the Skinner sights so realistically a 75 yard woods gun. I was delayed getting ready for season and the best shooting factory load I had was the 158 gr Hornady XTP. I would have much preferred a JSP but wasn’t getting satisfactory groups with a few different flavors of those. I was quite upset with myself that I knocked down a small buck and he was able to get away from me. Only the second time in about 40 years of deer hunting that has happened. Completely my fault though and not blaming the gun, however this is the lightest caliber I’ve ever used for deer. I don’t currently reload for 357 but will definitely pick up the supplies. I am looking for guidance for a good rifle load for deer. I have gone through the trials in 44 mag but for some reason Im just nervous about the 357 having enough horsepower to get clean kills. I guess I goofed this time and fell in love with the gun and am trying work out the caliber. Thanks for any advice and insight. |
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Just use the XTP you already have. You are not really going to get much better in a hand load. That said, My favorite hunting load is a 158 gr Sierra softpoint. I've not experienced any issues and it's always a thru and thru. Just a thought, mount a dot sight on the rifle. Much better for older eyes. I put a Burris Fastfire on mine. |
| To me, the .357 is a bit light for deer. However, a 158 grain Keith type bullet over 13.5 grains of 2400 and a standard primer will give 12-1300 fps in a revolver and should give 15-1600 fps from a carbine. Keep your shots inside 100 yards, place your shot carefully and the deer will fall down for keeps. |
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I don’t doubt the performance of the xtp, however it just dawned on me how much power I could get from a hand load versus the factory offering. During the debacle I just experienced I did not get a pass through. That is one reason I am interested in a soft point or even a cast bullet if I could figure out the speed line with leading. Loosing this deer has really bothered me I guess in my mind im trying to find a way to make a 357 as potent as possible. We have our bonus weekend coming up and it seems this round we won’t have snow on the ground so it will be another few days to see if a dot sight will be necessary for the future. |
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No personal experience with the Federal line up, maybe someone here has? The Hammer Down and the solid look good on paper. https://www.federalpremium.com/handgun/shop-by-caliber/357-magnum/ |
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While fast, and flatter shooting the reports on deer are not inspiring. Lack of penetration seems to be a common complaint. I now see Both Federal and Hornady make a 180 solids marketed as bear protection. I wonder if they would act like a hard cast without the leading problems you can get at those velocities. I had never realized such bullets existed. |
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I've taken a few deer with my Ruger 77/357 (cut to 16") using 158 XTP's over 16.5 of H110 in Starline brass. They are going right at 1630 out of this rifle +/- 10 or so. It is amazingly accurate too! Everything I shot with it has been inside of 50 yards and the results are impressive, but I've never recovered a bullet. Some of them I could tell came apart, but that was on close shots and hitting shoulders, but those two dropped like they got hit by lightning! The rest were broadside shots with pretty nasty exit wounds. I have been very impressed with these results from a round that is so soft shooting....I guess that's a result of growing up in Ohio hunting with slug guns! They are also fantastically effective on coytes BTW! I have tried some other bullets, but nothing has grouped as well out of my gun that the 158 XTP's and the h110. I wanted to find something really heavy that it liked for suppressed subsonic loads, but I need to keep looking. Good luck! |
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Originally Posted By pajasonc: Buffalo bore 180 grain with the Hornady xtp. Buffalo bore loads them hot around 1800 fps and the 180 is enough bullet to hold together. It will expand and penetrate. I shifted from federal 158 grain to this 180 grain from Buffalo bore and had better results this season. Last year the 158 only penetrated through one side and stopped at the far side rib cage in a doe. Ran 400 yards with light blood trail. Quite a tracking exercise. This year the 180 buffalo bore went through both left and right rib cage, clear through heart and lungs into the front leg and stopped just at the hyde. The internal damage was impressive. This was on a rear quartering shot. Buck ran about 40 yards and dropped. Using a 16 inch Henry X |
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Originally Posted By mark5pt56: No personal experience with the Federal line up, maybe someone here has? The Hammer Down and the solid look good on paper. I have had great results with Federal 158 gr JSP in either the American Eagle or Champion labels. I get 1820 fps and consistent 5 shot group, 2 MOA accuracy at 100 yards with a tang sight out of a 20" Rossi 91 rifle. The longer 24" barrel only adds about 20 more ft per second in that particular load. 
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Originally Posted By Morgan321: Faster velocity means less elevation error. That’s a big deal if you might be shooting longer ranges. Not nearly as much as you think. For example, I have used both the Federal 158gr JSP at 1820 fps in a 20" barrel as well as hand loaded 125 gr XTPs With the 158 gr load zeroed at 150 yards (your maximum practical range given the cartridge limitations) the trajectory looks like this: +1.5" at 25 yards +3.0" at 50 yards +3.7" at 75 yards +3.5" at 100 yards +2.3" at 125 yards 0.0 at 150 yards (with 1349 fps and 638 ft pounds remaining) -4" at 175 yards. With a 125 gr XTP at 2210 fps from a 24" barrel zeroed for 170 yards the trajectory is: +1.3" at 25 yards +2.7" at 50 yards +3.5" at 75 yards +3.7" at 100 yards +3.2" at 125 yards +1.8" at 150 yards (with 1502 fps and 626 ft pounds remaining) 0.0 at 170 yards -0.6" at 175 yards. In other words the lighter, 400 fps faster bullet gives you another 20 yards of usable trajectory, and pushes the same maximum mid range trajectory another 20 yards down range but you don't have the energy to take advantage of that extra 20 yards. If instead you zero at the same 150 yards you get a slightly flatter trajectory, but not enough to make a difference. +1.0" at 25 yards +2.1" at 50 yards +2.6" at 75 yards +2.5'" at 100 yards +1.7" at 125 yards 0.0" at 150 yards - 2.7" at 175 yards. It's only a maximum of 1.3" difference at 170 yards and a difference of 1.1" in max mid range trajectory the compared to the 158 gr load. You're far better off with a heavy bullet with more momentum that will deliver the same energy but with better penetration. ----- Either way you better be able to accurately estimate range out to 150-200 yards if you plan to hunt with a .357 Mag. And, sight your rifle in for the maximum range you plan to shoot to minimize range estimation errors. For example, I was testing a load for one of my lever guns shooting at deer vital zone sized plate at 185 yards. Some dog hunters showed up concerned I might shit their digs coming across my property. I reassured them none of their dogs would get shot provided none of the deer on my property got shot, given they had no permission to hunt on my land. They hung around and started talking about the shooting going on and estimated the range. One said it was 100 yards. the other argued it was 300 yards. With a .357 Mag zeroed for 100 yards, none of the deer in the area would have had anything to worry about. In my experience that's a pretty fair representation of the average seasonal hunter's range estimating ability without a range finder. |
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I found some 200 grain wide flat cast Corbon ammo locally. I bought one box to give a try. Unfortunately they won’t cycle as they are too long. I side load one and chamber without resistance but no follow up. Alas the weather was too bad to check them before Saturday so I just rolled the dice using the factory XTPs again and telling myself I would only take a perfect shot. I got to practice shot placement and distance estimates with the trapper sights on 12 does but no horns showed up so no bullet research was conducted. It was actually a great morning. 2 things became apparent. If I decide to stick with this gun I want heavy and solid bullets and a red dot will be explored. A 100 yard shot in the woods is a lot harder than it was 40 years ago when I started this game. |
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