I have two of the Ruger 77/44's and a good buddy has the 77/357. We use them for bear and lion as they are easy to carry, extremely rugged and deadly. A 357 or 44 is a bad dude in a handgun, put you put those cartridges in a rifle and they are a whole other animal. The 44 will literally launch a 250-300 lb. bear off a limb.
Adios,
Gary

nice gun

Interesting how many of his loads used 2400, that was the go to powder back in the 60's and 70's, old Elmer himself was a big fan of 2400.

When I started shooting Silhouettes and hunting with a hand gun I kind of jumped past the 357 and went to the 44 mag. Later in life picked up a 10 inch Contender in 357, played with it a little and ended up shooting it in the 100 yard Silhouettes, shot my first 40 with that pistol. It certainly had the power to take down the Rams at 100 yards but the Turkeys at 75 was a little trickier, had to hit them high and centered or you'd spin it and not drop it, the 44 didn't have that problem. I've never take a deer or a hog with the 357 (No doubt I could but I was stuck on 44's), but I have taken a ton of jackrabbits and a few yotes with one. In the right hands a 6 inch 357 has little challenge clipping a yote at 100 yards. For deer and hogs I'd much rather be shooting a 44 or my favorite the 45 LC, with that said an appropriate well place bullet in 357 will certainly do the job.

How about that 327 Federal Magnum???? You get any ammo (327 Fed Mag) yet? How did it shoot the 32 Mag?
Adios,

Gary

It's got 3 jackrabbits to it's credit with the 32 mag and one with 32 ACP, haven't picked up any 327's yet. 327 would be a great round for a lever action! Ruger needs to bring back the Model 96 and the Model 44 in this caliber.

Yes, my favorite hunting round is the 45 Colt too. However, this thread isn't about our favorite calibers. It's about the 357 magnum and it will get the job done.

If Skeeter would have had access to Hodgdon lil`gun powder and Speer Deep Curls, some combination of those would have made up his favorite load.

.357 Magnum is certainly a capable round! My anecdotal addition, I rifle hunt primarily, but I have a ladder stand on my place with a tree line about 50 yards to the right that deer sometimes pop out of. I'm right handed so getting a rifle around takes quite a bit of motion. I started carrying my 6" Python in a chest holster. Whenever a shooter appeared out of that tree line I'd just slip out the Python and rest it on the right side rail and wait for a shot. I think I was shooting 158g SJHP back then, about 30 years ago. Once the prices for Pythons started getting rediculous I put that one away and started carrying a 6" stainless 686.

The average distance was about 40 yards and only one took more that a couple steps. One larger buck made it back into the trees in one leap. I sat tight and had a cup of coffee and a cigarette before even getting out of the stand. He'd made it about 30 yards into the trees before lying down in a briar patch and giving it up. (learning point here. If you're looking for a downed deer look for the thickest, thorniest stuff around!) I still don't know how he made it that far, his vitals were wrecked. Animals are amazing animals.

Edited again to add: I have a film canister somewhere with a few of the projectiles I recovered from the deer. The expansion was impressive, to say the least. One is flat as a pancake and nearly the size of a nickel.

This caliber lever action will be my next purchase I think

I've never had a lever action in .357 Magnum. A friend of mine in HS had one, a Puma, I think it was. Very handy little package. A stainless levergun matched with my 686 would be a nice package, I believe.

A .357 lever gun is the most fun you can have with your clothes on..