Hello fellow handgunners, I have just kindled an interest in handgun hunting, I have gone a couple of times in the pursuit of game with a handgun, a ruger SBH to be exact. I went hog hunting a couple of years ago at my grandmother's place and was successful and took a 60-70lb sow, sadly I no longer have that revolver anymore as it was stolen during a rash of home break-ins we had around town at the time, however I do have a ruger GP100 along with an interest in hunting with that handgun. So I have decided to try my GP100 at hunting, I would like to know what ammo you would recommend for deer/hogs, I think that the .357 ammo from either grizzly or buffalo bore ammo will suffice in the heavy 180gr for hogs and maybe the lighter loads for deer. I have also had suggested to me to try the federal 180gr castcore as it was cheaper than the brands mentioned abover but will do as good as a job for what I want to do. Please feel free to share any experience you have with using the .357 and the ammo mentioned above on deer/hogs, any and all info will be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for any info you all can provide me.

I don't have any experience hunting with a 357, but if I were to try it, I would lean to the heaviest bullets available if they shot well in the gun.

partitions if you can find them for deer

The cast core should definetly go through both lungs of a hog on a side shot. A number of years ago I used Winchester`s 158gr JHP for broadside shots on whitetail from a Python. You may have to track longer then if you made the shot with a 41 or 44 but if the bullet penetrates both lungs and exits your deer will go down
Good luck and good hunting, James

It makes a small hole, but I would be most concerned with bullet placement and then penetration......

If I were going to use a 357 with hard cast bullets, I would try to hit bone. They will make a 35 cal hole in and out of a broadside (lung) shot. I agree with Whitworth on the point that it is a "small" (relatively speaking) hole. If you can make a solid hit in the shoulder, you will have less tracking to do.

Several years ago my hunting partner was focused upon penetration & went to hard cast bullets for his 41 mag FA. I have been involved following several "long" blood trails because the bullet punched through the chest at .410 diameter. I also witnessed him putting seven different hits from his 41 mag (with hard casts) over the course of about 2 1/2 hours and almost two miles of following on a simitar horn oryx before it expired.

I am not a fan of smaller caliber hard cast bullets for normal behind the shoulder shots. I have seen it tried several times without great success.

Just my $.02.

Under 75 yards the GP100 should do a fine job. I am in agreement in going away from cast just because of bullet diamater. I really like the 140g and 158g xtp's. Anything from Barnes or the Nosler Partition mentioned previously in the same weight range would also be great choices. Best of luck.

Thank you for the replies, I agree, I too think that shot placement is very crucial when hunting, we owe it to the game we hunt to ensure a quick humane kill where the animal does not have to suffer needlessly. I normally like to aim for the shoulder to break the animal down and deliver a quick kill. So what I'm hearing is stay away from the cast bullets,just curious as to why? and would you all suggest I stick with maybe softpoints for hunting? Please keep the advice coming as I appreciate your imput.

The 357 is kinda small and hard cast don't expand.

well thanks to all that replied and to those who offered their insight and experience, at the time the .357 is the only bigbore I currentley own seeing as my other bigbore a BH in .41 mag, my SBH in .44mag and a SAA clone in .45colt got stolen,leaving the .357 the only handgun I have to hunt with at the time. I do however plan to start replacing my lost revolvers some time in the near future but for now the .357 will have to do. So what brand/grain of ammo would you guys suggest for hunting deer and hogs?

pistolero --

Be sure that you understand my post. Cast bullets are fine IF you hit bone. I do not think that you will be satisfied with a 357 & casts for "behind the shoulder" shots. A solid shoulder shot is into bone.

At what distance are we thinking of shooting your "small" whitetails? Tree stand at a standing animal? Etc.? ALL of this makes all of the difference in the world to me.

wtroper, I do not just plan on hunting the small whitetails of south texas, I do also plan on hunting some hogs that of course can range from medium to very large, at any rate the animals hunted will be from a ground blind at a distance of 40 to maybe 50 yds at the most however I doubt the distance will be greater than 30-35yrd as that is the distance from the blind to the feeder. Again thanks for any help you can give me... Oh and yeah most of my shots are taken in the shoulder.

Given the limitations that you describe above, I would not hesitate to use the 357 at stationary animals. I would think that a "good" 158 gr SP, a 180 gr SP or a heavier cast would work. If I were using a SP (particularly the 158 gr), I would try for "behind the shoulder." With the cast of the 180 I would prefer to hit the shoulder.

Good hunting.

Wtroper, I may just go with a 158gr SP and take a behind the shoulder shot as to limit the amount of meat damaged. I have also thought of maybe using the hornady leverevolution ammo. What are your thoughts on this particular ammo? I think the hornady LE may be a good choice since I can use this ammo in my puma leveraction and only have to carry one brand of ammo.

I have had no personal experience with the LE ammo, thus I cannot provide any quidance to you. At the close range that you described, a 158 gr placed in the heart-lung area will get your animal -- maybe after some tracking though. Alternatively, a spine shot will drop it in its tracks. Depends upon your level of skill & comfort.

Good luck.

Hello All,
I would like to support wtroper and his recomendation for the heavy hardcast bullets shot through the shoulders. I decided to use my GP100 this year. It shot the most accurate with 125 gr. jsp's. It did a great job on the coyote I took at 30 yards. It did not get great penetration on the doe I shot at 60 yards. I shot her behind the shoulders to give the 125 gr. the best chance for a clean kill. Unfortunately it only destroyed 1 lung and she was able to make it off the property that I have permission to hunt. This happened a couple of times, so I started shooting deer in the shoulder. I don't loose any deer that way. I will be switching to heavy hard cast bullets for next year. I only lose a little meat when I shoot them in the shoulder, instead of loosing the whole dear. I hunt a couple small acre plots, so tracking isn't an option. Cor-bon has 200 gr. hard cast bullets, but the Buffalo Bore 180's wil be my pick because of their higher velocity. Hope this helps.

BRASF, Thanks for the reply. I think I have decieded to try the hardcast in 180gr from either buffalo bore or grizzly ammunition, I have also been informed than federal has a castcore bullet that will also work but is cheaper than the ammo listed above. I will try to take shoulder shot and hope little meat is wasted.

I prefer hard cast myself. Saw a lot of lighter JHP's fail on deer. Shoulder shots are also my prefered method regardless of caliber. If you want some expansion (Partitions are gone) try the Speer 170 Gold Dot SP. Hawk makes a 180 JSP too. After that try 180 JHP's.

I stay away from Hawk bullets. I haven't tried them in handgun calibers, but the ones I used in rifles were way too soft and prone to failure. Might not be the case at revolver velocities, but I would approach them with caution.

Pistolero .41,
Let us know about accuracy that you find with the different ammo, and I'll do the same. I think I will also try the Federal ammo you mentioned too. Thanks for the heads up.

For deer 140 jhp on up will work great providing both lungs are taken out,as far as hogs 158 sp to 180 jhp should do the job.I have personally taken many deer(Illinois)along with my dad and brother,and the deer we shot with the .357 went down as fast as the deer we've killed with the .44 mag. and .454 casull.All deer were double lung shots,the blood trails were good all deer dropping within 20-40 yards.I use sierra 140 jhp in my .357 over a dose of 19.5 gr. H-110,velocity 1730+ out of a 6-1/2 Ruger Blackhawk.My dads load 146 gr.Speer 3/4 jacket over 2400 powder 1300 fps,my brothers load(used my gun and load).I have seen deer lost being shot with a 12 gauge slug when shot in only one lung and no one doubts a 12 gauge slug as being powerful enough to kill deer,so bottom line is,as it always has been,shot placement.I have many friends and 2 cousins who handgun deer and guess what they use?! .357 mag. 2 years ago I took 2 deer at 80 and 0ne at 90 yards both were double lung shots complete passthroughs,the first dropped within 10 yards the other ran 30 yards and dropped both were taken with the load I mentioned 140 Sierra jhp.

BRASF, Will do. Yeah the federal ammo is about $22-$25 a box versus the $30+ for the grizzly and buffalo bore, I found the federal at pretty decent prices at various sites such as midwayusa and so fourth. I will hopefully be able to buy a box of each brand such as the federal, the grizzly, and buffalo bore and run them through my GP100 for accuracy in a week or so. When I do I'll post my results on here. Good luck to you in your accuracy tests and have fun...

Good Morning , New guy here . My two daughters and I hunt whitetail deer here in southern Ohio . All three of us use the 357 mag. We are useing the remington 180 gr.semijacketed hollow point .My daughter Kathy is useing a Rugar GP100 .The load we use is out of Hodgdon load report @ Hodgon . com . 13.5 gr. of H110 . Reported velocity is 1396 fps .This is a max.load , aproch with caution , as always .
All deer shot in the last two years have dropped within a few feet of the shot . Here in Ohio most of our shots are under 75 yards with lots of brush .I have no experiance with Hog hunting so can give no idea of what this combo might be like .
Good , Luck !

I've taken 3 NY whitetails with my 357mag using 158gr jhp. None of them pasted thru. All three stopped on the far side hide. Shots were under 60yds and they ran 20 to 30 yds.
I now use 180 gr hard cast from Double Tap ammunition. Very accurate in my Blackhawk and I took a 130lb boar with this.
Here is a picture from the bragging board
http://www.handgunhunt.com/photopost/data/500/DSC07662.JPG

Pistolero.41,
I plan to do the same, so we'll compare.

Warren,
Where is your shot placement with the 180 gr.s', and have you shot any deer with them yet?

Ol' dollar, welcome to the forum. I do not reload but am seriously considering taking up reloading, the load you mention sounds very impressive on deer and I imagine that with the proper shot placement it would work very well on hogs too. Just curios what barrel length is your GP100? Warren,nice hog and awesome blackhawk, I like those grips you have on yours, I had a superblachawk in .44mag with pearlite grips but it was stolen in a rash of breakins we had a year ago. Damn, I miss that pistol.