357 Maximum??

[spdrman]

Was wondering what peoples opinions are on this round for deer hunting? I know a guy that will sell me a T/C contender with a 14 inch barrel for a pretty decent price, here in Idaho we are restricted to "straight wall cartridges originally designed for handgun use" about 90% of my hunting is archery and i grab the rifle if I don't fill my tags with my bow, my little brother has takin an interest in handgun hunting and wants to try it, and I think it would be fun to hunt extra does with, would this be a good intro into handgun hunting setup or would I be better off with another caliber?
I reload so ammo wouldn't be an issue

Thanks!

 

[J E Custom]

Was wondering what peoples opinions are on this round for deer hunting? I know a guy that will sell me a T/C contender with a 14 inch barrel for a pretty decent price, here in Idaho we are restricted to "straight wall cartridges originally designed for handgun use" about 90% of my hunting is archery and i grab the rifle if I don't fill my tags with my bow, my little brother has takin an interest in handgun hunting and wants to try it, and I think it would be fun to hunt extra does with, would this be a good intro into handgun hunting setup or would I be better off with another caliber?
I reload so ammo wouldn't be an issue

Thanks!

At handgun velocities bore diameter is important if you have to use a strait wall case.

I personally tried the 357 and the 357 max, also the 44 mag and its relatives and they
were still not I was looking for (Drop in there tracks) until I went to the 444 marlin
in a 14" contender.

The 45/70 works well also.

The bolt guns are a different story though.

The 7/30 waters works very well in a 14" contender with the 120 gr flat nose bullet
with recoil being mild, and great accuracy and range.

J E CUSTOM

 

[royinidaho]

You can bank on what J E said.

But Hey! Where'd this straight walled pistol cartridge thing come from. I've never seen it. Did plenty of shooting with XP-100 in the Fireball and 222 Rem cartridges years ago and have been thinking of coming up with a specialty hand gun in 270 WSM.

Did you just rain on my parade?

 

[zuba]

I watched a guy ring a 12" gong at 300 over and over with one. He was using a burris 3-12 pistol scope and I believe he took an antelope around 200. Michigan is the aame way with strait walls.

A few weeks ago I shot my friends 450 marlin encore pistol and with some stiff handloads it was making sub 1" groups at 100. I have used a custom made 14" 500 s&w to do some 2-300 yard plinking too

 

[spdrman]

No I didn't rain in your parade I just plain on using it for short range weapon season, as far as general season goes you'd be fine with your XP, I think it was last year they put handguns on the short range weapons with those restrictions, my little brother doesn't have much time to hunt with all the sports he does so I spend alot of time hunting whitetails with him, and the extra doe tag I get is short range only, been using my recurve and I think its time to change it up a little

 

[chuck m]

I have used the 357 Max in a contender with success here in SW Idaho. A doe year before last at 110 yards. This year I'm using a SBH 44 Mag, but Have not seen any to shoot at.

chuck m

 

[kc0pph]

Been reading some articles online about extreme handgun hunting and loading these bad boys up. I have a SW 586 that ill be trying H110 in. Just picked up 2# of it and 1# of 296. Right on the label for the H110 it gives a load of (im doing this from memory) 13.8gn 110 for a 180gn bullet flying at almost 1400 fps. Ill be using 158gn Cast GC bullets so still looking for a good starting load.

Another interesting thing about 110 is this guy (says he has done lab tests) has verified the poweder burns without pressure spikes all the way to 70K PSI. Now no 357 can handle it but he goes on further to say you can check pressures by velocity because there are no spikes. He also loads for custom 45 LC pistols (he makes) rounds in the 45K psi range. Tomorrow after i get off of this darn graveyard shift ill load up some hot (not that hot) 45lc, 44mag and 357 mag rounds to see how they do.

One warning though. He also states that he was able to blow cylinders up with this powder and still not get pressure signs on the brass. PM me if you want and i can send you the links.

 

[BountyHunter]

Google Mike Bellm. He has a website and has extensive info on TCs and the 357max

TC has a problem with throating on them.

 

[the shotty]

My question would be are you concerned about weight; what ranges are you expecting/hope to shoot? The tc is a great platform and gives tons of possibility in terms of other cartridge capabilities if you want to change and not hard to switch barrels either. When I was looking into hunting pistols I wanted knock down power and a quick follow up shot if I needed it as I have a good chance of bumping into both bear and cats. I ended up picking up a ruger super black hawk in .454 casul and have fallen in love with the capability of the gun and round. I can shoot a very wide variety of bullets and can shoot 45lc if I want a really mild load. For me personaly I just feel better with more gun than I would hopefully ever need and it also serves as a backup if my rifle goes down. This is what I feel works best for me though, ymmv

 

[spdrman]

I went ahead and purchased the gun and have been impressed with it, I picked up the frame and barrel with a scope for about the same price as i was seeing used frames for so I figured if I didn't like it I could get another barrel and not be out much

I haven't had much time to shoot it, I got some brass and picked up some 158 grain Hornady XTP's for it, I loaded up 25 rounds and headed to the range to see what it would do, it only took a couple shots to get it dialed to where I wanted it and I had 2 groups of 3 shots that where under an inch at 100 and 3 other 3 shot groups that where right at 1 ¼, that was my very first time ever shooting a scoped handgun and the more I shot it the tighter I was getting the groups, after I was pretty comfortable with my groups at 100 I went and set some clay pigeons at 200 and it only took 2 shots to figure out where to hold and I hit 4 in a row missed once then hit the last one in the 6 shot

So I called it good went home loaded up some more bullets and took my little brother out the following day to see how well he could shoot it, his first 3 shots where about 1 ½ group but then he shot 2 more groups just under 1 inch at 100, so I got him off the bench and had him shoot from positions that where more realistic in a hunting situation, he shot prone and off shooting sticks and kept about a 2 inch group at 100

This last Saturday he filled his extra doe tag with a well placed quartering away shot at 122 yards, she ran about 80 yards but the XTP did a great job and left a good entrance and exit, he was one happy kid