My vote goes to the .35 Remington. I have the .35 Rem. in both an XP-100 and a Contender (rimmed). The main problem with this round in the Contender has more to do with particular barrels, rather than brands of ammunition. That was the reason the .35 Remington Rimmed was created. For the hunter, the most efficient bullet weight is 200 gr.. Using bullets designed for .35 Rem. velocities, expansion is reliable and efficient. My go to bullet is the inexpensive R-P 200 gr RNCL over either H-322 or AA-2520.

The 357 Maximum and the .357 Herrett are good cartridges, but neither can equal, nor beat, the .35 Remington. Especially with the heavier bullets. I have both the Max and the Herrett, and have hunted with both, but Mr. Oehler does not lie. In a Contender 2,000 fps with a 200 gr. bullet can be easily reached and/or exceeded without the use of frame stretching loads. In a bolt action, the .35 Remington can come surprisingly close to the .358 Winchester. The smaller 35s are fine cartridges, but are simply not capable of pushing a 200 gr bullet ar these speeds.

For the new gun purchaser, both the Max and the Herrett are handload only propositions,with some laborious case forming required for the Herrett. Neither are currently available as factory cartridges. Then there is the difference between a .35 caliber hole and a .30 caliber hole. "Size does matter." I have a number of different calibers in hunting handguns, but keep coming back to the .35 Remington because it works so well. Just MHO derived from almost 40 years with the .35 Remington.