I know there is a lot of big bore guys on this site and a lot of threads on if the 357 is a good dear gun. thought I would share my first handgun hunt with my Blackhawk with a ultradot red dot and 180 grain rim rock gas check hard cast slugs (same bullet buffalo bore uses) and 13.5 grains of 2400. I shot this load over my chronograph and low was 1291 and high was 1306 fps about 200 fps slower than the factory buffalo bore ammo , I was happy with the performance so after getting the red dot sighted in I shot very good groups at 50 yards ( so much for 2400 not being a accurate powder) so to the hunt I am in my climber 22 feet up and 2 doe come down the hill to my right I pull my Blackhawk from my bandolier holster click on the red dot and cock the revolver I pick out the bigger of the two and whistle and she stops broad side at 50 - 60 yards and I put the red dot on her shoulder and touch off the round I see the hit is good and it broke her close side shoulder she runs on 3 legs 60 yards and piles up I go to field dress her and it just obliterated the close side shoulder and the slug exited the brisket now I am not going to say it left a big hole because it didn't but I will say this in the 30 years I have been hunting the 180 grain 357 slug killed this deer as well as the 300 grain copper solids out of my 870.i have to say it put a little excitement back in my gun hunting, hand gun hunting that is

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Congrats! Let's see a picture.

My bride does all her hunting with a 6" mod.19 and a H&R 357/357max.Using the 180 BB I don't worry about her in the woods even with the big fuzzies.

sorry no pic, did not even think about taking a picture I was trying to beat the rain that was moving in.

Excellent! I have a bunch of 180 partitions loaded for my 357 intent on whacking a deer with those myself

Congratulations and well done.
The .357 is highly underrated.

Congrats and good shooting!

thanks all

Excellent!!!

I plan to take a deer with my 4" GP-100 and 180gr WFN-FB bullets if given the chance.

Congratulations! The 357 can get 'er done!

Great,, that is exactly what I wanted to hear. I plan on trying my GP100 with the same bullet but, I am loading H110.

Big displacement is nice and good insurance

.But if you get a bullet with enough oomp to get to the vitals, and put it where it needs to go and you have dead deer.Placement is where its at.

even a big caliber slug will not anchor a animal solid all the time, shot a doe at the base of my stand with my 12 gauge with 385 grain aero tip Remington's, that deer ran 125 yards plus before I found her. shot placement is king no matter the round..

Nice.

X2

Outstanding! Great shooting with your handgun. Should be some good vittles.

I hunted with my Dan Wesson 15V, 8" 357 many years before I was told the .357 was not a good deer round.

I can't remember how many doe I shot with it and some pigs. I would hunt during modern gun season with my flintlock longrifle and carry the .357 for shots up close or behind me in my stand. It came in handy several times.
I have always hunted with the 158grn XTP and several different powders. Always found me deer and pigs after the shot.
Keep up the good shooting.

Mike

the .357 mag is right there with my .454 casull ,I just can't decide which I love the most.I don't listen to all the nay sayers when it comes to the .357,...I use what works and the .357 works great,...I always hear the naysayers say ,well you have to have proper shot placement to which I say-your right ,and that's with ANY caliber,thats just common sense! great shooting by the way,congrats!

Great work! Congratulations!

thanks all...

Awesome!!!

Congratulations on your kill. I also dropped my first deer with a 357 mag this year using my GP 100 with a 6 inch barrel. I was using the Barnes factory load using their VOR TX 140 gr bullet. The shot was at 28 yards hitting her high in the shoulder breaking her back and dropping her in her tracks. I was very suprised to see her drop in her tracks.. I want to try a double lung shoot now to see how that loads really kills.

Up till now I had always used a 44 mag to take deer with a revolver using my Ruger Redhawk to take six deer.

the .357 will do it as well as my bigger guns,...my Casull makes a mess inside when hitting bone but out of all my guns ,the .357 magnum drops the deer just as quick as my bigger calibers-it works,thats why its tied for 1st place with me ,my other favorite ,the Casull of course!

good for you and your 357....