I agree that a 200 gr. wide meplat boolit will work, but what most of you forget is that most .357 revolvers will NOT hold a big, heavy boolit. The cylinders are too short. This makes it neccessary to seat heavy boolits deep, taking up powder space and increasing pressures. What you guys see in them baffles me. So easy to buy a larger caliber. I owned many .357's over the years and was impressed by the accuracy and lack of recoil. I loved the guns but I now hunt larger game with revolvers instead of woodchucks, etc. No way on earth I would give up my .44's and .45's for a .357. I got rid of all the .357's and don't miss a one of them.

Which 45 Colt load was it? Most 45 colt FLs aren't much and are usually loaded with lead bullets. A good hard 180-200 gr 357 would out-penetrate a 45 colt (lead) FL by a substantial margin.

In all honesty, I never asked. I do know that, as a retired warden, he dispatched a lot of highway-injured animals with the issue .357 and went to the .45 since he felt it was more effective.
I couldn't say what .357 load he was required to carry on duty.

A friend in Maine's been guiding bear hunters for a loooong time. Never worried much about bears. When he was young his dad trapped them for the bounty. IOW he's been around black bears since he was a kid.
A couple of years ago, one of his 'sports' hit a bear too far back just before dark.
About 10 pm in a spruce bog tangle, my buddy noticed that the blood trail and tracks ended right in front him -- underneath an EXTREMELY annoyed bear. (Fortunately, one with a badly injured -- but not broken -- spine that slowed him down.) Told me: "I had that flashlight beam and bullets flyin' all over for a bit!"
5 factory loaded .45 Colts from an old New Service (4 hits -- last one at about 3 steps) and things were MUCH quieter.
He called me the next day and asked: "What was the BIGGEST handgun I could think of that was 'lug-able'!"
He now has a Raging Bull .44 and some VERY serious 300 gr loads. You won't find him carrying a .357.
Actual experience FWIW...

Absolutely, killing and stopping are two entirely different actions. If I can stop a charging animal, I can kill it at my "leisure", meaning I'm not trying to avoid the charge or deciding which body part to offer up first. If I were going into areas where bear attacks were a possiblilty, I'd leave my .357 Mag at home and carry my .475 Linebaugh.

My usual "Outdoors" revolver is a 4" S&W .41 Magnum, either a 57, 657 or 657 Mountain Gun. Did some penetration tests on gallon jugs of water a few weeks ago with cast and jacketed bullets. Gun was a 6" Freedom Arms...

CPBC 255 gr. WFPGC/ 22 grain of H110/1350 fps/3 gallon jugs of water, two sheets of 3/4" plywood, one 4"x4" post and then 4" into the sand behind the post. Recovered bullet could have been resized, gascheck put back on and reloaded.

CPBC 265 gr. LWNGC/ 22 grains of H110/1350 fps/ 6 gallon jugs of water, two 3/4" sheets of plywood and burried the nose in the 4"x4" post. Bullet bounced off the post and was not recovered.

Speer 200 gr. JSWCHP/ 23 grains of H110/ 1500 fps/ 4 gallon jugs, one sheet of plywood and burried 1/3 of the way into the 4"x4" post. The bullet nose had "melted" off but the rest was perfectly intact. Excellent penetration for such a light (for the caliber) jacketed bullet.

Speer 210 grain Gold Dot HP/ 23 grains of H110/ 1450 fps/ expanded perfectly with no weight loss....found in the SECOND GALLON JUG! ( I later shot a gallon Clorox bottle with this same bullet out of a .405 Winchester with 30 grains of 2400 at about 1900 fps. Bullet turned inside out and was found IN THE JUG.) (I've shot this same load into gallon jugs from the 4" S&W and also found the bullet in the second jug just not quite as expended)

Heavy cast is definately the way to go if you have to get into something as hard a skull or breaking a shoulder....

Bob

You might want to post this question on 24hourcampfire.com under the Big Game forum and specifically ask JJHACK what he thinks of .357 Magnums versus bears of any kind. He has a �wee� bit of experience with those critters and all sorts of calibers and will tell you his results from practical experience.

I remember reading in a magazine years ago, a guy had the same question about using 357 for a back up for Bears, They told him shoot the six rounds in the air to distract the Bear and if you had bacon grease handy smother the pistol in it and throw it far as you could and run!