I'm working on a hunting load for whitetail in SC where I'll be in pretty thick woods with shots under 100 yards. I'm shooting the 357 herrett in a 10 in. T/C. I've started with a published load with 4227 at 22.0 gr. I recall reading about someone loading up to 27.0 gr but wonder abut safety that far beyond published max. Does anyone have experience out there?

Thanks,
Gary F. In SC

Forgot to add that I'm loading 158 gr Hornady XTP's in the 357 herrett.

Gary,

I have a 15" Herrett but have only shot H322 under the Remington 200 grain round nose. Maximum load for this bullet is 38 grains and its a real shooter in my barrel.

You might want to give this combo a try.

Gary, I suggest a heavier bullet for best results. At least 180 grain, maybe 200.

I do not shoot a 357 Herrett but I have killed a couple dozen Whitetails and a variety of larger animals with a 358JDJ Contender plus my hunting buddy has killed 20 or so whitetails with a Contender 35 Rem. We always use 200 grain or heavier bullets.

The 158 grain XTPs will work fine on deer as long as you don't push the bullet too fast. The Hornady 9th Edition reloading manual indicates a max speed of 1,400 fps for the HP, and 1,800 for the FP. You'll probably get somewhere around 1,600-1,700 fps with the load of 22 grains of 4227 in a 10 inch barrel, so if you get a close shot then you can expect the bullet to expand rather quickly.

The Sierra 5th Edition reloading manual shows 27 grains of H4227 as the minimum load and 30 grains as the maximum. I've run the max load from a 10" barrel across a chronograph and got a velocity just short of 2,200 fps, but the primers were excessively flat, the pistol shot flames like the space shuttle lifting off from Canaveral, and the brass life (from 30-30 cases) dropped to about 2 loadings. Plus that's just way too fast for the 158 grain XTPs anyway.

In the future you might want to look into some 180 grain bullets for the Herrett, but the l58 grain load that you mentioned above should work.