77/357 for whitetail

[Buckhorn150]

Was wondering if anyone has experience with this rifle in the woods.My oldest son turns 12 and was thinking about this gun for his first hunt. We hunt in swampy woods with the longest shot on our hunting land about 100yds.Would love to add this rifle to the safe anyway, but if it could serve two purposes would be a easier sale with the wife.

 

[5of7]

It might be OK if the shot was placed right. Of course, that is probably true with any cartridge.

Use the heavier bullets for best penetration. 8)

 

[Kanook]

I have a hard time with the picture thing, but if you search the 77/357 threads I have shot a deer with mine this past season. I will continue to use it. Kinda funny how a 357mag from a 6" barrel is good for 50+ yards, but use it in a 18" barrel and it is not enough.

Juzt for the record, use a 300 uber ultra laser heat seeking rifle hit in the nose will not harvest a deer. Placing the shot where it is suppose to go will. After all sharp pointy sticks have dropped many of deer.

 

[josp]

I took the biggest whitetail I ever have a few years ago with a 357 pump rifle (18" barrel). Open sights, and the shot was at 60 yards. One
Cor-Bon 180 grain JSP hunting load right through the heart. Dropped in its tracks. Awesome for the conditions and terrain I was in (pine and hardwood thicket, longest shots would be right at 60 yards)
My kids use 243 rifles in case we go somewhere that they have to take a long shot.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

A 180gr XTP and a full load of H-110 will give you a good hit out to about 150 yards. If you don't reload Federal, Buffalo Bore or others make heavy hitting hunting ammo.

 

[9x19]

I like the 158 JSPs for pigs, and imagine it'd do just fine with deer as well.

 

[Corbi]

Greetings, I used a Marlin'94 in 357 mag last deer season.

The load was a Hornady XTP 158 grain FP with a bunch of Lil'gun powder. I took a good sized doe at about 50 yards. At the shot she jumped, bucked and ran. I could see the entry wound without the scope. She didn't go far. It really whacked her.

I would say used at the appropriate range the 357 is fine for deer.

Corbi

 

[Buckhorn150]

I do load and 357 is what I load the most.All shot out of my revolvers,but I use tite group. Wonder how tite group will run outta a rifle?

 

[wwb]

I do load and 357 is what I load the most.All shot out of my revolvers,but I use tite group. Wonder how tite group will run outta a rifle?

Titegroup is not the powder you want to use for hunting in a rifle load. It's a relatively fast-burning powder with a fast pressure rise, and uses a relatively small powder charge to stay within SAAMI pressure limits.

A larger charge of a slower powder will work far better in the longer barrel of the rifle. I would recommend H110, Lil gun, 2400, or Power Pro 300.

 

[5of7]

I do load and 357 is what I load the most.All shot out of my revolvers,but I use tite group. Wonder how tite group will run outta a rifle?

Since you do handload, I would suggest either the 180 gr. Hornady XTP, or the Remington 180 Gr. hollow point. I have loaded 15.5 grs of 2400 and also 15.5 grs of AA9 with both of these in a Redhawk, getting 1400+ from the 7-1/2" barrel. This load should be good for 300 to 350 fps more in a rifle length barrel.

This is a hot load and results in a little brass stretching, so don't use brass that has been shot before very much....new brass is best. In the 77/357, which is probably at least as strong as the Redhawk, it will be safe enough, but by all means work up slowly and use a chronograph so you know what is happening in terms of velocity.

Not that you need to stretch cases to get a deer killing load, I just put it out there to show that going beyond the loading manual is sometimes permissible depending on the strength of the gun and the technique employed by the handloader. 8)

 

[Kanook]

Honady 7th edition , pg 828 lists 10.5 gr as max for the 180xtp and AA no.9

5of7, please list where your source for 15.5 of AA no.9 and the180xtp is from.

 

[wwb]

I only reload 158 grain bullets for .357, so I've not tried any 180 grain loads, but I just checked Alliant's guide, and they say 14.5 is the max charge of 2400 with a 170 grain bullet. A 180 grain load, though they don't list one, would be slightly less than that.

I'd say a 15.5 grain load of 2400 with a 180 grain bullet is pushing your luck.

 

[5of7]

Honady 7th edition , pg 828 lists 10.5 gr as max for the 180xtp and AA no.9

5of7, please list where your source for 15.5 of AA no.9 and the180xtp is from.

I am the source of that load.

That is why I cautioned that it is a hot load and if he or anyone else tries to duplicate it, to proceed with caution and only in guns that would stand up to the pressure.......which is high enough to stretch the Remington cases that I was using....

I have not loaded 357 loads in the 77/357, but I have handloaded for the 77/44 which is the same action and I know it to be a strong action when compared to most handguns.

Actually, I don't even think it is necessary to hunt deer with, but there it is, if he wants to work up to it. 8)

 

[Kanook]

15 grains of 2400 is the starting load for a 180xtp in a 357max.

I bet you run with sharp objects. :shock:

 

[5of7]

15 grains of 2400 is the starting load for a 180xtp in a 357max.

I bet you run with sharp objects. :shock:

What do you mean in that last statement? 8)

 

[Kanook]

living life on the edge

 

[5of7]

living life on the edge

Oh.....Well when I develop a hot load like this one, I give it some thought ahead of time, it goes like this.

Whenever I do this, I first establish what is the weak link in the cartridge/gun combination.

In this case, it is not the gun because the chamber thickness is way way over what it would be in even the Redhawk.

It is not in the bolt locking lugs because the same rifle is chambered for the .44 Mg. which develops more thrust against the bolt face at 40K pressure than the .357 size case will at 55K, so from that I can take the rifle to be safe at 55K pressure.

Now, the question becomes how much pressure will the .357 Mg case withstand before it ruptures......that we don't know, BUT the brass case will give a lot of signs of excess pressure before it actually fails.

This is, in this situation, what to look for: By starting with acceptable handgun loads and working the powder charge up in incremental stages, looking for signs of pressure all the time, one can--in circumstances such as these--exceed the SAAMI pressure limits, sometimes by a good margin.

This is the reason for, and the justification for "Ruger only" and "TC Contender only" loads found in many handloading manuals.

It is not an exercise to be engaged in by the neophyte handloader, but it happens all the time. Without this sort of "envelop pushing" there would be few, is any magnum handguns today. 8)

 

[Kanook]

5of7 have you read adout the 353 cassull?

The load development you have done/doing is very close.

Anyways be safs and keep all your digits.

 

[5of7]

5of7 have you read adout the 353 cassull?

The load development you have done/doing is very close.

Anyways be safs and keep all your digits.

I had not heard of this, so I looked it up and read the article here....http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt353.htm

The loads featured were significantly hotter than the loads that I developed for the Redhawk, but as Mr. Linebaugh pointed out in his dissertation on the .45 Colt, a tighter than normal chamber with minimum headspace is a prerequisite to safely loading these sorts of loads.

Since my Redhawk is strictly a production sample, I think I will leave things as they are for that one.

I did notice that Sm. Rifle primers were used in the 353 Cassull, and I used CCI Sm. pistol Mg. primers.

And as the article states, primer pockets are the first thing to tell the handloader that he is pushing the limits on the brass. 8)

 

[wildhobbybobby]

I loaned my 77/357 to a friend's 10-year old son last deer season and he killed a nice doe with it using my handloads with a 158 gr. XTP at about 1450 fps from the rifle. Worked like a charm; the boy was able to shoot the rifle comfortably and accurately, the deer dropped on the spot, and the bullet performed well and exited the deer.