357 Magnum Best All Around Bullet

[BreakerDan]

What would be the best bullet for the 357 Magnum in a 4" N frame
if it were to be carried for all these purposes/critters and you just
carried one kind of ammunition. Just for grins:

Varmints
Coyotes
Feral Hogs <200lbs
Mountain Lions
General Home/Self Defense (Rural)

Soft point, hollowpoint, or LSWC? I was thinking 158 Federal Hydra Shok ,180 Hi Shok. Any thoughts or experiences appreciated.

 

[mgjohn]

I have always like WW 145g Silvertip. Not too heavy and not too light.

 

[flop-shank]

Dan, since your list includes hogs, my hunch (take it for what it's worth, I have no experience with hogs) is that Remington 158 gr. SJHPs would work well, otherwise I would use Remington 125 gr. SJHPs. The 158s should give a couple inches, or so, extra penetration that might be needed.

 

[guitar1580]

Excellent question! So many choices, and I've wondered too. I've always considered the .357 Mag to be the most versatile, all around gun to have. If I had to own only one revolver, it would be a .357, and in fact it was my first and only handgun for many years.

I dont know what the heck a feral hog is, although I may have woke up beside one back in 1977, but at 200lb., I'd go with a heavy round.

As with anything, the "nut behind the wheel" is going to be most important factor IMO. It you have quick reactions, and good shot placement, I think many .357 rounds would be adequate for the creatures you have listed, but I'll be interested in seeing what the experts say. Good luck.

JP

 

[BreakerDan]

Dan, since your list includes hogs, my hunch (take it for what it's worth, I have no experience with hogs) is that Remington 158 gr. SJHPs would work well, otherwise I would use Remington 125 gr. SJHPs. The 158s should give a couple inches, or so, extra penetration that might be needed.

I had been thinking about these too. Remington SJHP
are just great bullets in any weight!

 

[OKFC05]

My "walking around the mesquite" handload is 158gr Gold Dot over 296.

Don't see much difference in the factory ammo.

 

[Horseless Trooper]

I currently use the Rem. 158SJHP as my carry/general purpose load. For walking around in the woods I still like a good hardcast 158 SWC over a healthy dose of 2400.

 

[BillyWayne]

I am a fan of and use the Hornady 158g XTP. It is good for target work as well.

 

[38-44HD45]

My suggestion would be the Speer 158gr. Gold Dot load.

 

[flop-shank]

I am a fan of and use the Hornady 158g XTP. It is good for target work as well.

I would expect this load to overpenetrate when used for social work. For woods it would be excellent.

 

[Rule 303]

Depends on what you are shooting.

I like the 125 grn SJHPs and the 158 grn SJSPs for general shooting from a 4 inch barrel. They've always worked for me.
The Officer Involved Shooting I have seen with them, they worked extremely well.

Rule 303

 

[roaddog28]

In my humble opinion I believe any quality 158gr round would be a good all around choice for varmints, small game and self defense. If you start looking for white tail deer than a 180gr would be better. The N frame revolver can just about handle any sane load. I have a 28-2 4 inch and have used just about all kinds of ammo. This includes full house, to light load. And even higher weights for larger varmints. I don't shoot 38 specials in my 28. The 27/28 revolver was design to handle the 357 round period. I am not a re-loader but some of the other folks could give you some ideas.

Good luck.
Regards,
roaddog28

 

[jlanecole]

I like the 158gr XTP as well. I bought a couple of boxes of Fiocchi Extrema not too long ago, (Cabelas near me always seems to have it) and I'm looking forward to trying it out in my revolvers and Marlin 1894. Looks like pretty good stuff, Starline brass (nickeled) premium bullet, etc. I certainly understand the desire to simplify to as few different kinds of ammunition as possible.

 

[Mule88]

I use Hornady's 158 gn and Speers Gold Dot 158, still a great all around bullet weight in the .357

 

[BillLester]

What would be the best bullet for the 357 Magnum in a 4" N frame
if it were to be carried for all these purposes/critters and you just
carried one kind of ammunition. Just for grins:

Varmints
Coyotes
Feral Hogs <200lbs
Mountain Lions
General Home/Self Defense (Rural)

Soft point, hollowpoint, or LSWC? I was thinking 158 Federal Hydra Shok ,180 Hi Shok. Any thoughts or experiences appreciated.

The beauty of the .357 Magnum is its versatility, stemming from the variety of loads it can chamber. Unfortunately a lot of what you want a single load to do conflicts from a wound ballistics standpoint. Varmints and coyotes call for fast expanding bullets. Hogs are heavily muscled and tough critters, so they require ammo with lots of penetration.* Mountain lion and anti-personnel defense are found somewhere between those two extremes.

Finding a one-size-fits-all load isn't easy. If you exclude the piggies I'd suggest a 140 to 145-gr. JHP. The Winchester Silvertip is a good choice, one I've carried in several guns over the years. Recoil and muzzle blast aren't too bad. It performed pretty well in the FBI ammo tests after the infamous "Miami Shootout." Hornady also loads both their XTP and FTX bullets in a 140-gr. .357. There are many good 140-gr. recipes out there if you handload.

In my opinion, softpoints just don't expand from 4" barrels. They act like weakly constructed FN loads, smudging some of the exposed lead but not really expanding in game. Hardcast LSWC's would do okay for penetrating hogs but there are better choices as noted below. A .38-cal. SWC doesn't have a very wide meplat for crushing tissue. It will also perform poorly for anti-personnel defense, varmints and coyotes. There will be just too much penetration with little tissue damage. That's been known for decades and one of the reasons why so many people believed the .357 was no better as a "stopper" than the .38 Special. That was in the days before bullets were loaded in-line with the Magnum's extra capabilities.

*I've never hunted hogs with anything but do know of a family in Florida that live for the sport and meat. They 6" .357 Magnums loaded with 180 to 185-gr. hardcast WFN's. Reports are very good with this load when used at fairly close range over hounds. A distant second choice for them is Remington's 180-gr. SJHP over heavy doses of H110.

 

[Steve C]

I'd select a 140gr JHP bullet and develop an accurate load that drove it at 1,300+ fps. Best bullet IMO would be a Hornady XTP but any of the 140gr JHP bullets from Speer, Sierra, or Remington would work fine too.

The 140gr is kind of a compromise bullet between the light 110-125gr and the 158-180gr.

If you don't hand load there are factory loads available from Hornady, Buffalo Bore, Federal and Cor-Bon.

 

[38-44HD45]

I would expect this load to overpenetrate when used for social work. For woods it would be excellent.

Yep, I concur. For accuracy, XTPs are great. For expansion, not so much, unless they're driven REALLY fast.

 

[flop-shank]

While not in .357 I tested the .44 mag. 180 gr. XTP as well as the .380 XTP bullet via Fiocchi Extrema. The results are in the Perma-Gel Test Results thread. I think the .44 mag. is more germain to the present topic. Whether heavy cloth was present, or not, expansion was deep. One of the bullets (I don't recall if it was heavy cloth, or bare P-G) went ferociously deep (17"+). Both bullets expanded well and, IIRC, secondary fragmentation was serious and impressive.

I don't like XTPs for self defense (except the .380 bullet where deep penetration means normal depths for other calibers) because they are very likely to overpenetrate, however there are far worse choices. Those suggesting it as a jack-of-all-trades bullet are by no means off track.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

If I were forced to choose one bullet to cover all eventualities, I'd choose my own cast Keith bullet. Hunting? Yup. Self-defense? That too. Target? You got it.

If it was that important to have it, you could have one of your mould cavities hollowpointed, too. I'll just wait on an HP mould.

 

[David LaPell]

That would be the old 168 grain Lyman #358429 bullet. I load this on top of a medium load of Unique powder and away it goes. A nice big heavy bullet out of the .357 not moving at too fast of a speed to lead the barrel. Say about 1,100 fps is about right. One tip though, if you load this in a Model 27 or 28 with recessed cylinders, make sure your brass is right at the trim length or you risk having the round sneak out the front of the cylinder. And make sure you put a good crimp on it so the bullet doesn't jump too much.