Rossi Rifleman

I have a new to me .357 SRC which I may use for deer in VA. They are rather small here and I wouldn't be shooting further than 50 yards, and I know shoot placement is key. What factory ammo do you recommend - Hornady Leverevolution, 158 grain, SJHP, etc.? Thanks.

I don't shoot a lot of factory in 357 and I'd be curious what sort of penetration the Hornady load will get you.

Here in SW Ohio I'm looking at decent if not the occasional monster white tail and leaning toward heavier bullets. If I use the 357 it'll probably be with 180 grain cast load that I have worked up as time and range time to work up any thing else is getting short. Right now I have a decent choice of straight walled cases to go with so if I decide against the 357 either the 45 Colt or 40-65 WCF will go into the woods the end of November.

Make smoke,

RickinVA wrote:I have a new to me .357 SRC which I may use for deer in VA. They are rather small here and I wouldn't be shooting further than 50 yards, and I know shoot placement is key. What factory ammo do you recommend - Hornady Leverevolution, 158 grain, SJHP, etc.? Thanks.

I filled all 3 of my tags last year with hornady leverevolution ammo. The first 2 were around 60 yd shots and the last one was 110 yds. Deer are not hard to take with a 357.

With correct shot placement very true within 100 yards. Though I know they could be taken at further distance if on target.

RickinVA wrote:I have a new to me .357 SRC which I may use for deer in VA. They are rather small here and I wouldn't be shooting further than 50 yards, and I know shoot placement is key. What factory ammo do you recommend - Hornady Leverevolution, 158 grain, SJHP, etc.? Thanks.

For smaller deer I would use Hornady's 158 grain XTP load.

https://www.luckygunner.com/hornady-357 ... hornady-25

My Rossi 92 in a .357 with a 20" barrel is probably my favorite firearm. It is so much taking deer with this iron sighted rifle. But, as Clint says, "A man must know his limitations." My limitations with this rifle and set up is 50 yards.

Killing a deer with a .357 mag is easy finding them gets more difficult. My first year hunting with this 92, I hit 3 deer and recovered only 2. This is not acceptable to me. I was shooting a 168 gr. SWC moving at 1767 fps. The only blood trail was were the 2 deer dropped even though there were complete pass-through shots in the boiler room of both recovered deer. My shoot placement was center of the deer in the shoulder seams. The lung area was filled with blood, but none found it's way to ground through the small hold created by the .38 caliber hole.

Shoot place is always stated as being critical. But were in that placement for a .357 bullet? IMHO it's lower and more forward than the shots that I made on these deer. This place allows blood to lead out sooner.

Last year, I hunted with Hornady 300 grain XTP's with great success--2 shots, 2 deer in the freezer.

Here's an image that I think would be good shot placement for a .357. Shot placement should be less than a 6 inch circle, a 4 inch circle would be better.

Here's a link to last year's hunt.
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5352

I agree with you MT, through both lungs but right across the top half of the heart.