Bullet for .357 Deer Rifle

A while ago I picked up another .357 1894 Marlin lever gun. It is a sweet shooting gun so I'm thinking about doing a little deer hunting with it. I've been looking for the right bullet and really don't know the right way to go. I'm wanting to reload the rounds just to try to put meat on the table with a round I did. Would I need to go with a heavier self defense round for damage or something else. Hornady makes a 180 grain XTP that I've been looking at. I don't think I'll need to shoot it at over 40-50 yards. The XTP is a jacketed Hollow point that looks mean but would it do the job on a deer. I normally shoot 158 grain stuff in my pistols so I could go that route also.

PM sent.....

I have a Timber Wolf and a Henry, both in 357. I've been reloading and shooting a lot of 140 gr bullets. I've loaded Remington sjhp, and the Hornady XTP jhp. The Hornady group a bit better at 60 yards for me. I loaded some up on the warn side and chrono-ed them at 1902 fps.

Leopardcurdog wrote:I have a Timber Wolf and a Henry, both in 357. I've been reloading and shooting a lot of 140 gr bullets. I've loaded Remington sjhp, and the Hornady XTP jhp. The Hornady group a bit better at 60 yards for me. I loaded some up on the warn side and chrono-ed them at 1902 fps.

what powder?

The hotter ones were Winchester 296, and the others were Titegroup.

I load 15.9 grains of 2400 with a 158 grain sp. It's actually 16 grains but last time I posted that I caught hell because it wasn't in anyone's data books. We still haven't shot a deer with it but that could change this evening.

J.B.

A few years ago, I loaded up some Remington 158gr JSP. Had then running at 1350 fps out of a carbine, and they would not expand at all in any medium. I tried a water tank, wet paper, and a pitbull. Shot the dog through the shoulders, and dropped it right there. Walked up and put another through it's head and into the ground. Recovered that bullet, and it was in perfect shape. Looked like you could have reloaded it. I don't know how fast you would have to push one to make it mushroom out, but 1350 didn't do it.

If it won't expand out of a rifle how on earth could one expect it to expand out of any pistol. I would expect any HP to expand out of a rifle but sometimes things just don't work like they are supposed to.

Leopardcurdog wrote:The hotter ones were Winchester 296, and the others were Titegroup.

I have been trying to expiment along the Hodgodon line of powders... Though Bel and others swear by VV...

Anyway...it would seem to me that TiteGroup is a waste in a rifle. Its just to fast of a burn. H110 or the newer LilGun is much slower, and you can really feel it. With Titegroup the bullet pops out and thats it, once its out of the case no more pressure. With Lilgun, it feels like the projectile is on rails and is accelerating as it goes. very zippy

Beladran wrote:One word.....Vihtavuori ... All I gotta say

yeah yeah.... I really did look for it at the gun show.... no N350 to be found.

I load up mainly handgun loads, and if I want to, I can shoot them in a rifle. I load some up for the rifle only. The round that did not expand was a SOFT point, not a hollow point. All the hp's I've ever tried out will expand.