357 max

[milltownhunter]

I an picking up a contender 10'' in 357 max what would be the best 180gr bullet for hunting xtp spritzer or cast or would the lyman 195 gr work well?

[CIC]

My experience with 357 max is limited to two projectiles, the 180 XTP and a cast 180 grain bullet from a LBT mold. The 180 XTP works well as does the 180 cast. I use lil gun as my powder of choice. There are others that may work better but I am satisfied. Both have resulted in dead deer. What more could you want?

[LUCKYDAWG13]

The 180 gr xtp shot great in the 14" barrel that I had

[725]

How do you suppose Lil' Gun would work in a 22" .357 Max barrel? I've never used the powder for anything.

[sixshot]

Shot 4 deer with my first 10 1/2" Ruger 357 Maximum using 180 gr. cast slugs, never had a problem, they all went down with one shot. A jacketed bullet will work great & lots of guys use them with great success. The Hornady 180 gr. XTP has a good reputation, not sure if the 180 gr. Remington HP is still available but it was a dandy also. Some of the best powders are 4227 (what I use) H110, 680, 1680, 2400 & Lil Gun. You'll just have to do a little testing & see what your gun likes. A small rifle magnum primer works best for that long powder column, I use Remington 7 1/2" or Federal SRM's. I'm on my second Ruger Maximum & this gun gives me some misfires with CCI SR primers so I stick with the 2 above. In a TC you will gain some velocity & fine accuracy, good luck!

Dick

[CIC]

How do you suppose Lil' Gun would work in a 22" .357 Max barrel? I've never used the powder for anything.

Supposedly lil gun gets some pretty good velocity. Right up there or possibly past h110. AA1680, from my reading is the powder for maximum velocity. I do not have a chronograph and I stick to book loads. I let accuracy dictate the powder charge I use.

[Dpmsman]

I tried the rcbs 200 grain mold designed for the 35 Remington with IMR 4227. In my 8" Dan Wesson it shot some pretty awesome groups at 50 yards but couldn't hit a 2' gong at 125. I must be losing stability somewhere past 50. I meant to do more testing with it but the max was put on the back burner. 4227 was recommended for revolvers because it doesn't torch the frame as bad. At least that was what the article I read said. This doesn't affect you with a single shot so Lil gun and H110 would likely give better performance. When I was load testing I reached a point where more powder gave no more velocity with the 4227. I could have used a little more barrel.

[NSB]

I have a Low Wall in 357max and I spent an entire summer trying different bullets and powders. Everything was recorded on a spread sheet, and some results were pretty impressive. I didn't want to use rifle bullets in this caliber so I focused all my attention on pistol bullets. Many powders were good, but overall Reloader 7 came out on top. I shot several deer over a three year period with this gun and bullet performance was outstanding. The best shooting bullets were the Hornady 158 and 180 XTPs, very closely followed by the Nosler 158 JHP handgun bullet. Interestingly enough, Nosler indicates this bullet is not well suited for shooting at the velocities I was getting with it (around 1800fps) but expansion was outstanding and I had one complete pass through at just over a hundred yards. If I were you, I'd focus on trying Rel 7 first even though some other powders provided pretty good results.

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