.357 Max showed up again!

[selmerfan]

Yesterday was Iowa's first shotgun deer opener, and as usual, I'd rather shoot deer with my Encore pistol than a shotgun, something about it just seems wrong, especially considering I grew up in SD, where shotguns are for flying things and rifles are for deer. I got two yesterday, a nice doe at about 125 yds, and what I thought was a nice doe that turned out to be a BIG yearling buck, unfortunately. I cracked him offhand at 166 yds according to my LRF. I've been limited to a rest in past years, but I've been practicing with the "taco" hold method of shooting a scoped handgun for about a year now in situations where I don't have a rest, and can consistently hit gallon milk jugs at 100 yds this way, and it sure worked well yesterday! I had my doubts about the energy on impact at game 150 yds away or greater, but it wasn't an issue, the yearling buck didn't take a step, I hit him high in the lungs quartering away, in the third to the last rib, exited the opposite shoulder, made a mess of the lungs. I was shooting my own cast bullet, 92-6-2 alloy from a Lyman #358627 copy made by Lee, 219 gr. checked and lubed, with 21 gr. 4227 behind it, running about 1850 fps muzzle velocity from my 16.5" barreled Encore. :grin:
Selmerfan

[357maximum]

Good job.....that caliber will git r done out to 240 yards iffin you do your part. I am rather partial to that caliber BTW.[smilie=l: Hole in hole out....kills em all.

[selmerfan]

Yeah, you helped me out with some advice back when I first got the barrel. I've been having fun casting bullets for it, I've pretty much settled on the Ranch Dog 190 gr. RFNGC and 358627 Lee GB bullet molds. I've got a couple others, but they just don't shoot as well as these two. It was a toss up on which bullet/load combo to shoot, the 215 shoots dead on with my scope setting at 100 yds, the 190 shoots 3" high at 100 and 6" at 50 with zero change to the scope. I went with the 215 on a whim yesterday morning. I'm running 26.5 gr. RL7 behind the 190 gr., 21 gr. 4227 behind the 215 gr. The 215 gr. does well with 26 gr. RL7, but it's a case full of powder with that bullet. I'm not crimping either load, just taking the bell out of the case mouth and seating the bullet out to seat into the lands. The Encore has to "snap" shut on the case. My accuracy went from about 2" at 50 yds w/heavy crimp to 5 shots touching at 50 yds by seating into the lands with both loads, plus I gained powder capacity. I'd be perfectly comfortable with a 200 yd shot as long as I had a good rest, I was amazed at the authority it hit with at 166 yds, much better than most shotgun slug loads that the other guys were tossing around, not to mention LOADS cheaper to shoot!
Selmerfan

[part_timer]

Congrats on the deer

I am very fond of the Max and the 358627. My son shot a doe with an encore rifle using the 627 over 17.5gr of H110. She piled up in 15 yards. I got to watch him shoot her and was amazed at how high she jumped when hit. We have 2 rifles and 2 pistols in that caliber, I'm on the hunt for number 5 but I'm not sure what I'm going to get.

[357maximum]

I carried the BRP 35-180's this year but never got the chance to pull the trigger when i had it with me. They shoot real good and I can "drive" them puppies fast and accurately over a stiff dose of Vhit N-120.

[Iowa Fox]

Good Job Selmer,
I watched a 6 pointer behind the barn today. Probably would have been a 75 yrd shot.