hot and accurate .357 loads for deer

Groo here
Know your game so you can put the bullet where you need to..
Know your gun, with the load you select, and the range you will shoot,
I use a 357 TR-R8 with a Red dot for deer, the gun is sighted
at 100 yds and will keep most loads on a paper plate [ my Deer Target] at that distance.
The load I make is a 180 gr hard lead rnfp bullet with a
95% loading of WW680 { sub AA1680} and Win primers.
how fast ????? is it flat [stay on a paper plate to 100]
will it take deer YES.
The question is will you shoot enought with the gun
to allow you to hit at that distance.
Shoot paper plate with your gun and load [ no less than 158gr and
flat nose is best as hp's are iffy]
If the farest you can hit the plate 6 for 6 in field positions
is 25yds -that is it 50 yds,75yds 100 yds.
The 357 can hit at much greater ranger than most believe and many can shoot.
Example: Back in1998 I hit 3 out of five on a man sized target with
110 gr jhp 357's about 1300 from my 4in Python shooting prone.
Range : 300yds
Place: Thunder Ranch
Class: Triad.
 
I'm going to add a bit more advice to the excellent post by Groo:

He already covered limiting your range to that in which you can keep all your shots on a paper plate. That is a Golden Rule of hunting deer with a pistol.

The second most important rule, in my mind is this: Follow up every shot, whether you think you hit OR missed. Do NOT expect the deer to fall when you shoot it. For every one that drops in his tracks, probably ten do not. Some won't show any sign whatsoever of being hit. Go to the spot where they were when you shot and look for any evidence you can find of a hit. This is where full penetration really helps--exit wounds almost always leave blood on the ground, entrance wounds do not. Practice up on your tracking if you're going to hunt with a handgun, especially a .357. It doesn't have much margin of error.

Profit from others' mistakes and advice. Don't learn this the hard way, as I have.
 
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