Any of the jacketed bullets from 140 gr.on up will work well.The .357 mag. works great on deer,I've noticed a few of the old time sixgunners talking about trying the .357 mag for deer hunting now that their getting older and their joints just can't take a lot of the recoil anymore of the bigger guns/one of these fellas said this in "The Sixgunner".I personally haven't used the 180SWC so I won't speak on that,but I use the Sierra 140 hollowcavity on deer and it has worked great on the dozen or so deer that I've taken with it.I hope your recovering well and I'll be praying for you-johnw.