Single Shot Saga
There are some calibers that perform out of caliber feats, like the 6.5X55 Swede. A woman from Montana received a surplus rifle in this caliber in 1948, recorded every game animal she shot with it until she was 91 years old, and passed away. Included in her journal was everything from fox, to an Alaskan Brown Bear. Within its class, or category of utility, that little round accomplishes feats the liability lawyers wouldn't recommend you advertise. Shucks, Bell, the Scottish ivory hunter, killed hundreds of elephants using 160 grain full metal jacketed bullets with his... I use soft points in mine for Whitetails and haven't lost one yet.
This is the result of three different elevation adjustments while sighting in the new 357 Magnum H&R with 158 grain round nose lead .38 Specials. It was no problem keeping the groupings close, but the distraction of biting flies gnawing on my legs for lunch probably kept the shots spread further than they will be on a fly free day.
The 357, loaded right, is a little like that 6.5. No, I wouldn't recommend you poke pachyderms with it, but... In a rifle length barrel it can be made into a reliable freezer filler.
In its stock form my little H&R can shoot .38 Specials and .357 Magnum rounds. These, at their factory loadings, are enough to call this rifle useful for small game, and up to deer at 100 yards with the .357 Magnum load.
If you are a reloader, there are bullets all the way up to 220 grains, and heavy for caliber bullets are usually like a loaded truck for penetration - as long as you don't stretch their range.
From the quiet, yes, quiet, .38 Specials, you can expect great accuracy, and they won't destroy the meat on a rabbit shot for the pot. Yesterday, after expending 46 rounds of 38 Specials, I didn't get a ringing in my ears from even the few times I "forgot" to put on my ear muffs. (Never forget to wear ear protection when shooting any type of firearm!)
The recoil when shooting 38s or 357s is almost nonexistent. With the 38s you could watch a bullet strike through the scope, even at close range. With the 357s, as long as you're shooting 100 yards, or so, you could probably watch it too. I didn't, but I didn't think of trying it then either.
This is my son Terrel on the last day of this year's youth season, successful at last.
In the .357 Magnum's history, there are those who've used pistols so chambered to take down some large game. In a 1936 article in Outdoor Life, Douglas Wesson wrote of a trip he took to Wyoming to hunt big game with an 8 3/4 inch barreled .357 Magnum revolver. On that trip Mr. Wesson accounted for an antelope, an elk, and a moose. Later, Doug Wesson killed a 700 pound grizzly with the same outfit, in British Columbia - before Canada got gun-stupid.
Skeeter Skelton, the southwestern lawman, was a proponent of the 357 Magnum. He would knock your block off if you denigrated this fine round. He killed big bulls, steers, hogs, and various other hoofed and feathered critters with his, mule deer included. This from a pistol length barrel. Skeeter said that you would lose 35 feet per second for every inch of barrel length you cut off, so if that's true, and his favorite 170 grain pistol load gave him 1400 fps, my 22 inch barreled H&R should give approximately 1855 fps.
I'll run some loads over my Crony later to find out the truth of it, but Skeeter's integrity is intact here, so I'll trust his lifetime of work experience.
I'm gonna put the sneak on a couple of deer this year. My shots will be inside one hundred yards close, and if I do it right they'll be standing still, too. Shot placement, and discipline - it's all I need.
Les Voth learned to hunt whitetail deer and coyotes in his native Canada, and has hunted both as often as possible in eastern North Dakota since immigrating to the United States.
This is the result of three different elevation adjustments while sighting in the new 357 Magnum H&R with 158 grain round nose lead .38 Specials. It was no problem keeping the groupings close, but the distraction of biting flies gnawing on my legs for lunch probably kept the shots spread further than they will be on a fly free day.
The 357, loaded right, is a little like that 6.5. No, I wouldn't recommend you poke pachyderms with it, but... In a rifle length barrel it can be made into a reliable freezer filler.
In its stock form my little H&R can shoot .38 Specials and .357 Magnum rounds. These, at their factory loadings, are enough to call this rifle useful for small game, and up to deer at 100 yards with the .357 Magnum load.
If you are a reloader, there are bullets all the way up to 220 grains, and heavy for caliber bullets are usually like a loaded truck for penetration - as long as you don't stretch their range.
From the quiet, yes, quiet, .38 Specials, you can expect great accuracy, and they won't destroy the meat on a rabbit shot for the pot. Yesterday, after expending 46 rounds of 38 Specials, I didn't get a ringing in my ears from even the few times I "forgot" to put on my ear muffs. (Never forget to wear ear protection when shooting any type of firearm!)
The recoil when shooting 38s or 357s is almost nonexistent. With the 38s you could watch a bullet strike through the scope, even at close range. With the 357s, as long as you're shooting 100 yards, or so, you could probably watch it too. I didn't, but I didn't think of trying it then either.
This is my son Terrel on the last day of this year's youth season, successful at last.
In the .357 Magnum's history, there are those who've used pistols so chambered to take down some large game. In a 1936 article in Outdoor Life, Douglas Wesson wrote of a trip he took to Wyoming to hunt big game with an 8 3/4 inch barreled .357 Magnum revolver. On that trip Mr. Wesson accounted for an antelope, an elk, and a moose. Later, Doug Wesson killed a 700 pound grizzly with the same outfit, in British Columbia - before Canada got gun-stupid.
Skeeter Skelton, the southwestern lawman, was a proponent of the 357 Magnum. He would knock your block off if you denigrated this fine round. He killed big bulls, steers, hogs, and various other hoofed and feathered critters with his, mule deer included. This from a pistol length barrel. Skeeter said that you would lose 35 feet per second for every inch of barrel length you cut off, so if that's true, and his favorite 170 grain pistol load gave him 1400 fps, my 22 inch barreled H&R should give approximately 1855 fps.
I'll run some loads over my Crony later to find out the truth of it, but Skeeter's integrity is intact here, so I'll trust his lifetime of work experience.
I'm gonna put the sneak on a couple of deer this year. My shots will be inside one hundred yards close, and if I do it right they'll be standing still, too. Shot placement, and discipline - it's all I need.
Les Voth learned to hunt whitetail deer and coyotes in his native Canada, and has hunted both as often as possible in eastern North Dakota since immigrating to the United States.
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