.357 MAX hunting bullet suggestions?

[JohnSmiles]

I will be going out when the weather breaks this spring(yes I confess, I am somewhat of a 'fair weather shooter' these days) and putting some serious effort into developing deer hunting loads for 3 of my H&R's, two of which I have already chosen and purchased boolit molds for.
The one still in question is the .357 mag, reamed out to .357 max.
Reamed it myself so no 'excessive' throat issues.
I am wanting an accurate hunting round in the 170-210 gr. weight range, running in the 1700-1900 fps range.
I am intending to use a mix of 1 lb. 63/37 with 9 lbs. ww with gc's.
I am wondering what advice some of you have to offer here.
While it is a bit chilly to sit outside and toss lead at paper right now, it is an excellent time to cast up a couple of thousand boolits in my garage, which is at least out of the wind.

John
:castmine:

[Ben]

I ,& many others here, have the RCBS 200 gr. g/c .
I shot mine out of the 358 Win.

At 50 yards , mine will put 5 rds into a ragged hole. I think you'd be hard pressed to beat that bullet.

Ben

[Johnch]

I have used several bullets in the Max ( 14" Contender barrel ) on deer with great results

Most of my hunting bullets are a 50 % WW and 50% range lead alloy , that ends up just softer that straight WW

This year a 180 gr Ranch Dog mould from Ranch Dog , not the group buy and
My 360 220 gr GB , 2 part with a pure lead nose

Other years
The 180 gr GB that has run 3 or 4 times
Lyman 358315 ,2 part with a pure lead nose ,
The 200 gr RCBS , 2 part with a pure lead nose
The RCBS 35 cal 180 gr silouit bullet cast 2 part with a pure lead nose

Over the years the Max barrel has acounted for 20+ deer with cast

John

[Blammer]

I'd use the RCBS 35-200 or the 180gr FP.

[Adam10mm]

Lyman 358627 215gr SWC-GC dual crimp groove.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/freakshow10mm/Boolit%20Casting/DSC02745.jpg

[Leftoverdj]

The 180 group buy bullet will be extremely hard to beat in a Maxed Handi. Hard enough so I have not bothered with any other bullet since I got that mould. The original run was Lee C360-180-RF although some of the subsequent runs have been .358. It's a basic LBT style GC bullet and I would not claim any special merit over other bullets of same weight and style.

[leftiye]

Plus 1 for the rcbs 200 grainer, That or the 180 rcbs sillywet boolit. I use also a Mountain molds 200 gr. that's a lot like the Rcbs 200. If you want to get expansion, and to shoot softer lead boolits you might not be able to shoot 2000 fps loads as they will have to be high pressure to shoot that fast what with the small case capacity for caliber. 4227 is super for this and for fine accuracy in this caliber. I've been shooting 50/50 ww/lead and it's a little soft for hot loads. I think that going to something like an 180 grain hollowpoint might thread the needle with these mentioned factors, and allow good speed with lower pressures, and good accuracy with softer lead. The 357 max. might just be the ultimate survival rifle caliber. In jacketed bullets the 180 Hornady XTP is devastating. See Glen Fryxell's articles at LASC site for good info in what's accurate, and contact our member 357 max as he's done extensive research on this his favorite caliber.

[JohnSmiles]

Hey thanks guys.
Some good info for sure.
Decisions, decisions decisions . . .
:drinks: