Who has hunted with a 357 rifle. I've read that it's only marginal for deer size game. However when Mister Wesson was testing it he shot a poler bear with one. (A pistol). with a rifle it should be considered I would think ok for at least a Deer?

Not my 1st choice but use a good 158gr JSP & get close (inside 100yds). You want penetration, a .36 caliber hole all the way through will anchor your deer.

I have shot several deer with my marlin 357 with 158 sp at 1840fps. I wouldn't use it on angle shots but a good broad side shot well result in a dead deer. Maybe if one used a tougher bullet one could take angled shots. Not my first choice for deer but I am not worried about it when I use it.

A friend of mine killed a couple of deer with a .357 Mag rifle back before they were commercially available. His was a converted M92 Winchester. The little cartridge did not inspire confidence (at least for him) although they were both single shot kills (he's an excellent marksman).

However, many are able to load the 180s (such as the XTP) to 1900 fps or so using a couple of powders such as Lil'Gun. 180 at 1900 to 2000 sounds like that all time great deer killer the .30-30.

Want to read more? Check out the Leverguns forum.

I killed a doe a couple years ago with my 4" Python. I used Federal 180 gr. CastCore hunting loads. I wouldn't hesitate to use that load in a rifle. I would limit shots to 50 yards and be picky about shot selection though.

Jeff

I killed a little black tail with a 140 grain Speer JHP out of my 6" 686 and the wound internally was devastating. Blew out 3 vertabrae and had massive tissue damage. It was about a 40 yard shot. With 158 grain hard cast bullets you could take a deer from almost any angle out to 100 yards.