quote:

Originally posted by BobK:
I carry 158 gr. JSP .357's in the woods 'cause you just never know what you'll be up against. They'll handle just about anything that I'll ever run across, in my neck of the woods. The 180 gr. bullets might be a better choice, but, I use 158's for everything. Bob

That's what I've decided I'm going to use is a 158 grain JSP round.

quote:

Originally posted by jadams951:

quote:

Originally posted by BobK:
I carry 158 gr. JSP .357's in the woods 'cause you just never know what you'll be up against. They'll handle just about anything that I'll ever run across, in my neck of the woods. The 180 gr. bullets might be a better choice, but, I use 158's for everything. Bob

That's what I've decided I'm going to use is a 158 grain JSP round.

There aren't too many Factory 158gr JSP .357 Magnum rounds available. There are far more JHP rounds on the market. Most of the "hunting" rounds made for the .357 Magnum are 170gr, 180gr or 200gr bullets.

Remington has a 158gr JSP round available. It's a Remington Express round Part #R357M3.

Federal also has a 158gr JSP round in the market sold under their American Eagel line, Part #AE357A.

IMO you will be better off with a 170gr or 180gr Hard Cast bullet like Federal's 180gr CastCore hunting round, Part #P357J. All the other companies also have "hunting" rounds with a bullet which is a little heavier than 158gr.

I'm wondering the same thing. What load should I use if i want to be able to break shoulder bone yet still have some expansion if I hit the ribs? Would the hollow points hold together on a shoulder.

The Gold Dot hollowpoint is a bonded core bullet which should drive pretty deep for its weight. Especially when pushed to 1,400 fps like Buffalo Bore does in their loading of this bullet. The 180 gr. Nosler Partition is used in the Winchester Supreme and the solid partition drives the shank of the bullet deep after the soft front expands. Most Nosler Partitions retain about 65% of their weight.

No soft point or hollowpoint will out penetrate the hard cast wide flatnose types. Of course, the hard cast do not expand. Choices...

One of my woods guns is a 4" 686-0. Love it. All the .357s get the 180gr Double Tap WFNGC. I feel very, very confident with that load in that gun. We have mean bears here; otherwise I'd likely go with a 158gr SJHP, like I do for a SDHD round.

quote:

For hunting, I like the Winchester 180 gr. Supreme Partition Gold rounds. They launch their 180 gr. Nosler Partition bullet @ 1180 fps.

They are so expensive I did not want to test many, but my chronograph indicated only 1116 fps average for 5 shots from a 4" Model 28.

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Originally posted by stiab:

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For hunting, I like the Winchester 180 gr. Supreme Partition Gold rounds. They launch their 180 gr. Nosler Partition bullet @ 1180 fps.

They are so expensive I did not want to test many, but my chronograph indicated only 1116 fps average for 5 shots from a 4" Model 28.

I imagine the 1180 number came from a 6 inch GP-100 or 686.

I bought a box of Remington 180 grain JHPs I'm going to chrono this week out of a 586 and my 28s to see what it does. I think the advertised velocity is 1150. If it shoots well, it might be a good deer round, and I only paid $20 a box for them.

VG:
What size box? 20 or 50?
Ed

That was a box of 50. Gun shop guy had 'em marked $23 and some change, but told me that he'd let me have them for 20.

That was a darn good price currently. No one locally carries the brand I am using, PMC, but on my way to our hunting grounds, I usually stop by a remote gun shop and pic up a box. Not that I need any more but you never know. During turkey season this time last year, I bought a box of PMC .357 158 JSP for $15.95. In November, the same box was $20.95. Last month it was $27.95. A 75% increase in less than a year!
Ed

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I imagine the 1180 number came from a 6 inch GP-100 or 686.

I bet your are correct. I don't own a S&W longer than 4" barrel, so that did not occur to me. With another two inches the higher number sounds reasonable.