357 MAGNUM DOES IT AGAIN!

[nemhed]

Heres the results of 12 hours in the woods yesterday. The morning started out at 15 degrees, maybe not cold to some of you guys, but cold to me especially for November. Got this guy with 10 minutes of shooting light left. I had to prove to my son that this is still my rifle.

[pharmseller]

That's great! We need details! What load, distance, shot placement, the color of your socks - the works!



P

[nemhed]

This was my first deer with my own handloads. I used the 180gr Hornady XTP over 12.6 grains of 2400. I shot him at 50 yards as he was moving from the edge of a field into some brush. He kind of made me rush my shot because I was expecting him to stop at the sound of my grunt, and he had no intentions of stopping as he was trailing a doe I had seen about 30 minutes earlier. I had also planned on a neck shot because I didn't want him crossing onto the adjacent property. So I aimed for the base of the necked as he was broadside to me, the shot broke his back right between his shoulder blades. He went down like a ton of bricks. A spine shot wasn't what I had in mind for load testing but it sure did the trick. I haven't found out yet how the XTP faired.

[WCF3030]

Nice!!

[Blaine]

You .357 fellers make me wonder why I carry a 45-70 Maybe I just like the pain.
Nice Indy whitetail, good shot, Bro.

[Bogie35]

Great Job!
Thanks for the pic and info.

bogie

[Hobie]

Nice of the boy to let you borrow that gun... Nice deer!

[awp101]

Nice!

If I get to go hunt with 86er again, I may step down to the .357 instead of the .44M 158g full house loads should be good for a hog.

[dr walker]

nice deer, as was said before nice of your boy to loan you his rifle.

[Nath]

I bet that XTP is just fine.
Boy that is alot of meat for so little powder, good for you and who ever made the 357m

Nath.

[klrhunter650]

Hey man, great deer!

[GANJIRO]

Congratulations! What's there not to like about a 357 magnum from a long gun?

[RIHMFIRE]

Wow ...I'm impressed!
Congrats.....nice deer

[Borregos]

Congratulations, nice one!!

[maddog]

Congrats! I see you are from Indiana. Did you hunt the PCR season last year with the .357? This was my 1st yr. hunting with the .44 mag. My son and I did quite well with them. Sold my shotgun, and ain't lookin back

maddog

[JReed]

Very nice. OI has a 180gr load that is a monster if you ever want to try cast.

[TedH]

Didn't anyone tell you that you can't kill a deer with that puny thing!

Congratulations.

[Dastook]

You .357 fellers make me wonder why I carry a 45-70 Maybe I just like the pain.
Nice Indy whitetail, good shot, Bro.

+1 Nice deer.

[JerryB]

That is a good deer, and it sure is nice of your son to loan old dad a rifle to use.

[RSY]

...the color of your socks...

Still eagerly awaiting that piece of info.

Scott

[nemhed]

Socks: gray wool
Underwear: white cotton

Oh wait. maybe I've got that backwards .

[44LVR]

Nice buck, great story!

All the fellows who post saying that a .357 is 'marginal' needs to see your buck!

And all the fellows that post asking if a .357 is ENOUGH, should see your buck!!!

44

[66GTO]

Nice buck, great story!

All the fellows who post saying that a .357 is 'marginal' needs to see your buck!

And all the fellows that post asking if a .357 is ENOUGH, should see your buck!!!

44

I know guys who won't use less than a 7mm Rem Mag on 130 lb. whitetails at 75 yds.

[Griff]

Nice going! Looks like the pistol caliber levergun season has been a good thing! BTW, what's that carry handle up there on the top of the boy's gun?

[44LVR]

I know guys who won't use less than a 7mm Rem Mag on 130 lb. whitetails at 75 yds.

44

[Blaine]

I know guys who won't use less than a 7mm Rem Mag on 130 lb. whitetails at 75 yds.

44

A 30-06 with a good bullet will pass thru a small deer without opening and those people using the super-mags do not always get their animal for the same reason. The smaller 30WCF and the .357 get the job done BECAUSE they are smaller and open up easier with Green Box ammo..... The big bores speak for themselves...

[tman]

nice ! there are shotgun only areas in pa. i hope that we will one day follow illi's lead and allow the use of pistol caliber rifles in these areas. penna. game commision is usually far behind the learning curve when it comes to innovative ideas. maybe one day.

[cshold]

nice ! there are shotgun only areas in pa. i hope that we will one day follow illi's lead and allow the use of pistol caliber rifles in these areas. penna. game commision is usually far behind the learning curve when it comes to innovative ideas. maybe one day.

Man that would be great.

[kimwcook]

Good job! Extra points for using your own reloads.

[DJWright]

Nice deer! You know, I got to thinkin'. . . . When I was a kid I shot many deer with a .357 revolver. An old Colt Trooper. Lost track of the deer I killed on a private 80,000 acre ranch for the cowboy BBQs for the cattle roundups. Never had a problem with it not being enough gun. . . . . . EVER! But, some where along the line, someone told me, or I read somewhere that you needed a bigger gun to kill deer. So got a .30-06 Blah, blah, blah. Hell, even shot them with a .460 Weatherby. After about 40+ years of hunting, I've gone full circle and started using a .357 again, but this time in a Marlin lever. Makes me wonder why I ever spent good money on all those hundreds of firearms ever since! Good deer; Great rifle! Best.

[44LVR]

Nice deer! You know, I got to thinkin'. . . . When I was a kid I shot many deer with a .357 revolver. An old Colt Trooper. Lost track of the deer I killed on a private 80,000 acre ranch for the cowboy BBQs for the cattle roundups. Never had a problem with it not being enough gun. . . . . . EVER! But, some where along the line, someone told me, or I read somewhere that you needed a bigger gun to kill deer. So got a .30-06 Blah, blah, blah. Hell, even shot them with a .460 Weatherby. After about 40+ years of hunting, I've gone full circle and started using a .357 again, but this time in a Marlin lever. Makes me wonder why I ever spent good money on all those hundreds of firearms ever since! Good deer; Great rifle! Best.

Good story, GREAT point! Luckily after I found the caliber of .44, I never strayed again. Of course, that was 30 years ago when I found it

Sometimes its tough not fixing something that ain't broken!

44

[1886]

Very nice. The .357 certainly does perform all out of per portion to it's size. 1886.

[Sixgun]

Neato pic and story. Old Paco does say the 357 with heavy bullets is a smasher. good job and excellent shot A good quick kill

[gary rice]

Heres the results of 12 hours in the woods yesterday. The morning started out at 15 degrees, maybe not cold to some of you guys, but cold to me especially for November. Got this guy with 10 minutes of shooting light left. I had to prove to my son that this is still my rifle.

Good shooting and nice deer.

[Rafe Covington]

Congrats, nice shooting

[JustaJeepGuy]

When I went to look for a lever-action in .357 back in 1981, I was told the caliber wasn't legal for deer in Colorado, so I got a .44 Mag Marlin. I've never even looked to see if it's still not legal. Obviously, within its range, the .357 will do the job.

[BlueStateSaint]

I want to get a .357 carbine for deer, for use in NY. A couple of the guys in the deer camp I belong to have .44 Mag Ruger autoloaders. One of them has shot two deer with it, but he hit each one in the legs (found the 8-pointer the next day, still alive, one year--lost the doe he shot the next year, after it started raining in buckets). It's obvious that where one places the shot is everything.