I use Federal's 158 grain Hydra-Shok, but have some Remington 165 grain loads I've hoarded in case I visit bear country and don't own a .44 Magnum at the time.

The weight difference is slight, but the Remingtons were designed as a hunting load and are more strongly constructed.

I know of one grizzly killed by a game warden in, I believe, Montana. Maybe Wyoming. He had a Model 66, four-inch barrel, and used the 158 grain issued load, but the outdoor editor who witnessed the shooting didn't specify the exact ammo.

A Federal spokesman told me that the Hydra-Shok is an excellent deer load, if you feel a .357 is suitable for deer. He had seen several deer shot with it.

The late writer Larry Koller killed a deer with a Colt Dimondback using a 125 grain .38 handload. Almost any .357 factory load will beat that.