Favorite bullet style for hunting?

[bigweatherby]

When you take your revolver out hunting, what kind of bullet do you prefer?

For me I usually use a hollowpoint since the guns I use have plenty of power to perform with it. I think when I go after deer with my 357 I might use a soft point to ensure proper penetration.

I do like the fact that a hollowpoint makes a mess of the vitals and brings down the deer quick.

If I go after tougher game with a revolver, I will most likely carry a softpoint or maybe a hard cast SWC.

[Luvs2Play]

I load hollow point for the .44 mag and hard lead SWC for the .357 mag.

[bigweatherby]

Have you had good luck with the SWC bringing game down then? It does good damage?

[Luvs2Play]

I have never brought anything big down, it does work good for coyotes in the yard. Not easy to hit them on the run, but if they stop, they go down in a hurry. I have never dug anything out, but then when I get lucky with a head shot (twice), there is nothing to left to check.

[bigweatherby]

I really want to try a 357 on deer this year but Lil W is going to be hunting this year so I will just be backup.

[Luvs2Play]

I really want to try a 357 on deer this year but Lil W is going to be hunting this year so I will just be backup.

As it should be, this year it's you that has to drag and not Lil W! Of course, he wouldn't mind putting that new 4 wheeler to good use I'll bet.

[bigweatherby]

You bet. I can't wait to see his face when he gets his first deer.

[dvmcmr]

I've never done any handgun hunting with anything other than hollow points.

With a .357 I may consider using a jacketed soft point due to the lesser power and possibility of a lack of penetration with hollow points should you hit a rib, or other bone on the way in. I'd probably opt for a 158 grain jacketed soft point in the .357.

.44 mag is always 180 grain semi jacketed hollow points.

[olderthandirt]

I won't hunt deer with a 357 mag. I seen two deer shot with that caliber and one of the shooters was me. I used hollow points and the deer ran off with no blood trail to follow. I found the deer 3 days later rotting near a swamp about a 1/4 mile away and upon inspection it was a good solid shot through the vitals but NO exit wound. I didn't gut it to look at the damage cuz it was stinking. The other one was shot and took off running like it was a clean miss, we could see it break out of the woods and across a field where some other hunters were walking and they opened up on it with slug guns. They brought the deer down but since it was a nice buck we went over to take a look and was surprised to see that the guy who shot it also hit the vitals taking out the lungs. The deer would have died from the shot eventually but I like to anchor them quickly and I don't think a 357 is good for that,,,, especially when I have other choices.

[bigweatherby]

That is good to know. The least powerful gun I have used so far is a 10mm and it shot clean through. That was with 200 grain bullets. I put a 180 grain 44 through one too with a 3" barrel. Most of my shooting at deer is done at pretty close range so maybe a 357 would be OK but I will think about it carefully.

[Luvs2Play]

I have the same concern with bow hunting, I have shot two deer that have had arrows broken off in them.

[bigweatherby]

My crossbow shoots clean through them and clatters into the trees behind them. Thats the same performance I want out of my bullets. I guess ideally though, the bullet would expend all of its energy inside the animal and have just enough left to exit the animal and fall to the ground.

[dvmcmr]

The very best bullet performance I've ever seen was with my 6 MM bull barreled ruger 77.

The deer was standing broadside at the edge of a powerline about 40 yards away. The shot flipped the deer over, it never moved another inch, and the bullet was just under the skin on the far side.

It was a 100 Gr. BTSP. Best performance I've seen. All of the enrgy was expended on it's target perfectly.

[bigweatherby]

That is perfect. Not wastefull at all like the deer I knocked down with my 375.

[MrGrimm]

I've dropped one deer with my 357, it was a 105 yard shot, hit her in the spine just behind the shoulders. The bullet was a Hornady xtp 158 gr moving about 1400 fps. When I dug the bullet out it was only deformed a little. No mushrooming. Now I load lswc and use it for groundhogs at close range. My current deer pistol is a 460 s&w encore. I love the polymer Tip bullets for forcing expansion.

my 357 is very accurate but I just don't trust a deer to give me a head shot every time and be inside of 50 yards. The xtp bullets don't expand any better then a swc so I choose to shoot cheaper.

[olderthandirt]

That was one lucky shot !

[MrGrimm]

That was one lucky shot !

Yes, yes it was! Last day of gun season, half hour before sundown, 5 year old doe. I missed with the first two shots and she just looked at me. Third shot dropped her. After that I bought my encore .50.

[bigweatherby]

No problem with expansion on that 460 bullet though right?

[MrGrimm]

No problem with expansion on that 460 bullet though right?

None at all lol.... I just have to make sure my ear phones are on before I drop the hammer. That gun is a beast!

[bigweatherby]

I set a milk jug on a chair and hit it with my 460. It blew the back out of the chair from shock.

[MrGrimm]

The energy transfer is amazing from a pistol. I'm buying a howitzer brake for it, have a scope, once its set up I want to see if a head shot will have the same effect on deer that my 17 has on squirrels.

[bigweatherby]

I am going to scope mine too.

Is the howitzer brake a different kind that screws on in place of the factory?