bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Game hunting and large prey. Deer stalking, hunting with hounds. Boar, pigs etc., large prey, culling, hunting large feral animals.

bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by mickb » 21 Jun 2019, 11:46 pm

Pushing tough bullets fast in 357 anyone have any favourites? I have been using lighter stuff to date but looking for something to shoot more wild horses with in the heavier weights. No lectures on calibre choice or ethics etc please, I dont care. :D
mickb
Warrant Officer C2
Warrant Officer C2
 
Posts: 1095
Other

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by bladeracer » 22 Jun 2019, 6:09 am

mickb wrote:Pushing tough bullets fast in 357 anyone have any favourites? I have been using lighter stuff to date but looking for something to shoot more wild horses with in the heavier weights. No lectures on calibre choice or ethics etc please, I dont care. :D


Going to come down to your twist rate. My Uberti '66 is a 16"-twist so shoots well with the 200gn Interlock SP. I want to try some heavier bullets though to see what it's really capable of. I think the average .357 twist-rate is going to limit you to around 160gn or so. A soft cast wadcutter would be your best bet.

I think a horse is a bit too much for hunting with the .357 though, certainly do the job at contact range though.

Damn it's cold this morning!
Practice Strict Gun Control - Precision Counts!
User avatar
bladeracer
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
 
Posts: 12655
Victoria

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by bigrich » 22 Jun 2019, 6:33 am

My marlin shoots 158gn Hornady xtp fp very well. 18gn of lil gun for a average of 1860 FPS with variation of 20 FPS either way . The “fp” is a stout jacket version of the normal xtp designed for fast 357 mag rifle speed. I haven’t used them on pigs yet but lots of yank forums reckon their good with complete penetration on light game. I was talking to a mate at the range last week who did well on pigs with a Rossi 357 shooting normal 158 xtp’s handloaded . All one shot kills at around 40-70 yards
User avatar
bigrich
Brigadier
Brigadier
 
Posts: 4483
Queensland

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by mickb » 25 Jun 2019, 6:47 pm

Thanks I was looking at the XTP. A review on youtube has it penetrating 26" on gel at about 1778fps which doesnt correlate to animals directly but for comparison the pistol velocity version projectile only gets about 14". That might be the go to start with. Horses don't need too much to knock over in my experience and a hot loaded 357 is similar to 30-30 over the first 100m or so.
mickb
Warrant Officer C2
Warrant Officer C2
 
Posts: 1095
Other

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by wrenchman » 25 Jun 2019, 11:29 pm

i have been loading158 grain hollow point for my hand gun i just got a rifle so i will be working on loads for it with a 1in 16 twist i can go heavy i have some 170 grain hard cast ordered to try my son says i shoul by a mold and cast them but before i go there i want to make sure it will like them.
wrenchman
Warrant Officer C1
Warrant Officer C1
 
Posts: 1345
United States of America

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by wrenchman » 12 Jul 2019, 5:52 am

i worked up some 180 grn hornady hollow points for my henry and ruger will go next week to try i will post groups
Attachments
IMG_20190709_150223.jpg
IMG_20190709_150223.jpg (309.78 KiB) Viewed 2795 times
wrenchman
Warrant Officer C1
Warrant Officer C1
 
Posts: 1345
United States of America

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by bladeracer » 13 Jul 2019, 3:05 pm

wrenchman wrote:i worked up some 180 grn hornady hollow points for my henry and ruger will go next week to try i will post groups


What twist rates are the firearms? Be curious to see if they'll stabilise.
Practice Strict Gun Control - Precision Counts!
User avatar
bladeracer
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
 
Posts: 12655
Victoria

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by wrenchman » 14 Jul 2019, 10:32 am

the henry is 1:16 and the ruger is 1:18 i have been shooting 158 hard cast from the ruger with good groups if the henry dont like the 180s i have about 200 of the 158s loaded to try.
my son wants to shoot a couple pigs in the fall i am thinking of shooting one with the henry
wrenchman
Warrant Officer C1
Warrant Officer C1
 
Posts: 1345
United States of America

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by mickb » 27 Aug 2019, 12:19 am

Wrenchman thanks for your posts. I forgot where I put this thread. Did you end up doing some groups?
mickb
Warrant Officer C2
Warrant Officer C2
 
Posts: 1095
Other

Re: bigger game bullet in 357 lever gun

Post by wrenchman » 27 Aug 2019, 9:25 am

yes but i did get better groups with the 158si am going to try a different powder for the 180s i am running blue dot it is what i am loading the 158s with.
i think if i can get the velocity up with the 180s they will group better but i am just about at max with blue dot from what my books say
wrenchman
Warrant Officer C1
Warrant Officer C1
 
Posts: 1345
United States of America


Back to top
 
Return to Hunting - Game hunting and large prey