In 1977 I went whitetail deer hunting for the first time with a handgun. My choice for 50 yards and under was a Ruger Blackhawk Bicentennial model 357 Magnum with 6.5-inch barrel. Ammunition was Remington 158-grain JHP 357 Magnum. To make a long story less long . . . A whitetail buck meandered while grazing. Completely unaware of me, I sat up and fired at three yards. Point of impact was right side cervical vertabrae about four inches below the skull. Whitetail dropped like a stone - then got up! My second shot, again, at about three yards missed everything. I was astonished that the animal got up with no apparent ill effects. Third shot was a thoracic lung shot about two inches rear of its right scapula. Animal dropped and struggled to get up. Final shot was a brain shot.

During butchery I found the neck bullet and the one in lungs. Neck shot cracked two vertabrae without penetrating either. Bullet was literally flattened to a nearly perfect squashed mushroom one inch in diameter. Bullet was intact otherwise. Penetration was about two inches.

Lung shot was also flattened penetrating rib cage into the right lung less than three inches and losing apparently little weight.

Live weight of this animal was not more than 150 pounds.
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A friend who was a uniformed LEO was shot high in his right thigh during an arrest. He chased the shooter down three floors worth of fire escape, then about 40 yards until his takedown. After the shooter was taken away, Bob noticed he had been shot. He immediately collapsed. I treated the wound a couple of times. It appeared to be from some sort of 38. Tissue damage was limited to muscle; recovery was complete. At the time Bob was 70 inches in height, weighing 220 pounds. He was built like a refrigerator.
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From these two incidents what appears to be significant is that the whitetail did not understand it had been shot. And not understanding, it reacted as it would to any pain. The LEO, who was unaware he had been shot, reacted as did the whitetail (as best it could) - that is, he did what he intended to do. He collapsed only after realizing he had been shot.

The Remington cup-and-core 158-grain JHP proved to be an unsatisfactory penetrator at very close to its nominal muzzle velocity. Shooting two-to-three inch barreled 357s using lighter bullets would make me uneasy - despite gelatin tests and milk jug tests and pine board tests, et al. I'm beginning to lean toward 357 Magnum 158-grain JSPs. Lower than nominal muzzle velocity coupled with a bullet that expands more slowly than the JHP version. Compared with danger from myriad missed shots, bullets over-penetrating seems a minor issue.

When I consider carrying a 380 ACP as a primary EDC - even just for a trip to the store . . .