357 Maximum

short and sweet, anyone Loads, hunts, or uses this round at all? its seems on paper batter then 44mag

Paper and reality are different things...

It is not more effective than a .44mag, but it is a good hunting round.

It"s a good deer round, pretty good range too, very accurate.

New guy here, but not new to the Max. Developed primarily as a round for the silhouette game is has proven to be an excellent round for hunting. Unfortunately I have not taken any game with mine as the eyes just ain't as good as they used to be. A couple of places you can get some more info on it as a hunting round is at Singleactions.com and Rugerforum.com. Look for posts by David Bradshaw. The man has probably shot more Max rounds at silhouettes and game than you and I may ever do. Coogs

Hey Coogs -- glad to see you made it here! Welcome!

I have one in a Contender. Stupid accurate. I use 180gr XTP's

I just can't get away from you Whit, can I??? God bless you my friend. Coogs.

And to continue............the Max delivers as much or more down range energy as the .44 mag without the recoil of the Mag. My best experience with the Max IS long range target. 180, 200, 210 gr. cast w/checks over top of 4227. In a revolver the heavy bullets and slow burn powders are the best. this negates the top strap cutting as well as forcing cone erosion. Top strap cutting does continue for a 1000 rds. or so, but does cease. In a contender you have no issues. Plus in a contender you have a wider range of bullet selection, specifically some of the pointed hunting rounds that are out there. Pistol cylinder length on the Ruger doesn't allow for some of the better ones out there. Coogs.

Welcome to the site Coogs!

I'm not a believer in using "energy" to gauge the effectiveness of any round. Low velocity big bore handgun rounds (and rifle rounds) with heavy bullets perform much better on game than their energy levels would indicate. KE favors high velocity rounds. A better gauge of a rounds effectiveness in my opinion is Taylor Knockout Value. I'm not putting down the 357 Maximum, I like the round. I have it in a 10" Contender (recently sold a 14" barrel) and a Dan Wesson. Its not quite at .44 mag levels though. It is a good hunting round and like you said, without the recoil of the magnum.

I had a Max in a Contender a long time ago. Took about 4 deer with it. It was very accurate and easy to shoot well. Ive taken more deer though with a 44 revolver. I now have a G2 in 44 mag. But have only taken 1 buck with it. The recoil of the .44 is a lot more to deal with in this G2 than the Max was in my Contender in my book. As far as hunting effectiveness they're both great. The Max was easy on recoil and I felt any deer with in 125 yards was in big trouble if I had time to get the 2x scope on him. Thats about as far as I felt comfortable with it. I feel about the same with the .44, but maybe even have more confidence in the bigger heavier bullets penetrating and leaving a good blood trail. I doubt the Max is superior to the .44. as a deer killer especially out of a G2 or Contender. The .44 can get some 240 -250 gr bullets going over 1500fps out of 12 inch G2 barrels. For the reloader there are many more bullet options for the .44. And brass is plentiful and easy to get. You can't go wrong with either round

This, I believe, is the reason for the popularity of the Max with T/C shooters. You can push the Max to the point of stretching the frame and still be more comfortable to shoot than a 44 mag. Same reason I prefer the 45 Colt over the 44