Hello, I am seeking advice from anyone with experience with 10" contender barrels and deer. I have experimented with a 7mm TCU, then a 12"357 Herrett, and currently a .44 magnum with cast bullets. Only the Herrett ever got a deer, 170 sierra HP through the spine at 20 yds, what a mess. The 7mmTCU has a great reputation, but I never had complete confidence in it as a hunting round. The .44 mag. is nice, and I have confidence in its huge bullets, but stout loads recoil too much and slow ones have a trajectory that really drops fast. I need a 10 incher that has a reasonable trajectory and not too much recoil and is good for deer broadside, through shoulders, to 150 yards. I am thinking .357 maximum,but my mind is far from made up. any ideas to share? thanks

If your Herrett is accurate, I doubt you'll see much difference between that and the .357 Max. Play with bullet selection maybe, although almost ANYTHING at 20 yards through the spine could cause a bit of a mess.

I think the Herrett is definitely the way to go, especially since you already have it.

JLarsson, I agree and thats what Id do if I still had it. bad move on my part, I sold it. Since I really want a 10 incher, I am currently between a 30 herrett and a .357 max. I think I want the max to shoot 180 soft points. How is accuracy in TC max barrels?

I have had a 10" barrel in 357 Rem Max for many years (shortly after they were released). I have gotten excellent accuracy from 180 grain bullets (better than 158 grains).

This is a great caliber for deer on down.

quote:

Originally posted by yahoo:
JLarsson, I agree and thats what Id do if I still had it. bad move on my part, I sold it. Since I really want a 10 incher, I am currently between a 30 herrett and a .357 max. I think I want the max to shoot 180 soft points. How is accuracy in TC max barrels?

Almost everything I am about to write is hearsay. Sure, that's most of what you get on the Internet, but at least I'm honest about it. (That was written with tongue FIRMLY in cheek, btw)

TC chambers the .357 Max. with a forcing cone instead of a throat. Because of this, shorter bullets - like the 158 gr. - can actually clear the case BEFORE contacting the forcing cone or rifling. Obviously, this is not conducive to good and/or consistent accuracy. Longer bullets help somewhat as they may contact the rifling before completely exiting the case, but then your case is performing the function of a throat and as soon as the base of the bullet leaves the case, it is unsupported and could move one way or the other.

If you want to see a picture of a TC .357 Max chamber cast, go here.

The answer is to get a barrel of .358 bore that is chambered in something significantly shorter than the .357 Max., and have it rechambered with an actual throat. .357 Mag almost works, but a small portion of the forcing cone remains after rechambering. A custom barrel might offer the best solution, but you would want to check with the barrel maker to see how they cut the .357 Max chambers. Properly chambered, I think the .357 Max has great accuracy potential.

And I must mention, I've never owned a .357 Max barrel or firearm. Currently, I am having Mike Bellm rechamber a SS Super 14" Contender in .35 Rem to .358 Bellm, which is based on the .444 case like the JDJ rounds, but with a slightly longer neck so it can be reloaded with standard .356/.358 Win. dies. I'm VERY excited about this barrel as I hope to achieve 2300+ fps with a 200 gr. bullet.

Look at the 410GNR by Gary Reeder available in either a single shot or a revolver. It is the 454 Casull case necked to .41 caliber and shoots a 255gr. at about 1900fps or so in a 14" Encore bbl. and 1600fps in a 7.5" revolver. It really is a fine cartridge that has plenty of power and very little recoil. I shot one in an Encore and own one in a revolver and I love it. Go to reedercustomguns.com for more details about this cartridge and many other fine ones that may suit your needs including several in the 357 caliber, one of which is a 44 Rem. mag case necked down. Of course you can get proper brass or loaded ammo from him or his ammo distributor.

I have shot several deer with a 10 inch 7-tcu with 120gr bullets. I have been very pleased with its performance. I hae also shot deer with a 14 inch 357 Herrit and been very pleased. With the Herit, I would shoot 160gr or more bullets with 108's and 200gr getting the knod from me. Depending on what you want to do, a 300 whisper or a 30-30 will work in a 10 incher for what you are looking for. Don't sell the tcu short though, it seems to perform much better than one would think. When hunting with any handgun, I will not take a moveing shot, and I will hit bone on the way out with expanding bullets, but with cast lead, I try to hit bone on the way in. I know it is smaller than 7mm, but I have also had great luck with the 250 savage in the contender on varmits and deer. The 257 jdj is about the same thing. The 7-30 Waters seems to do better in a 14 inch barrel, other wise is is very simular to the 7tcu. The 357 Herrit the 357 max, and the 35 Rem will all be very simular in performance. Light recoil and deer huntable, is a very narrow area. The first time I shot a deer with my 7tcu was when I had an injury that made it so I had to have vry light recoil. I was impressed enough to take several more just to see if it was a fluke. It was not, it works find.

I poked one last year with a .35 Remington Contender. Used 225 grain Ballistic Tips over IMR3031. Nasty exit wound just behind the shoulder. I traded it for an Encore so I won't be using it this year but it worked well.