Deer Hunting with a .357 Magnum Rifle

The .357 Magnum chambered rifle is an interesting gun for deer hunting purposes. A century or so ago the use of one cartridge in both a rifle and handgun was common. A cowboy, lawman, or outlaw could hit the trail with a lever action rifle as well as a revolver in .32-20 Winchester, .44-40 Winchester or other similar cartridges and not have to worry about keeping their ammunition separated. While these days the need to keep ammunition separate isn't a life or death matter, it can still be useful to have both a long gun and handgun in the same cartridge. For instance reloaders will not have to buy extra dies and other loading equipment. Plus, in the case of the .357 Magnum, the gun owner has the choice to use the lighter kicking and less costly .38 Special ammunition in their guns.

Many rifles have been chambered for the .357 Magnum over the years. The short barreled Winchester Model 94 Trapper, Marlin 1894 Cowboy, and the New England Handi-Rifle come to mind as a few examples. The Trapper would make an ideal hunting gun as the .357 Magnum is a short range hunting round and the handy short barreled lever action would be great in thick brush. A used Handi-Rifle would probably be the most inexpensive .357 Magnum rifle. The inexpensive Handi-Rifle is still on the market as well as rifles from Henry, Rossi, and others.

The ballistics of the .357 Magnum are not impressive for deer hunting even from a longer rifle barrel. The standard rule of thumb is that 1000 foot pounds of energy is needed at range to be effective for deer hunting. While the energy measurement is not perfect, it does provide a simple point of comparison. Though there are a number of different calculations to measure a cartridge's effectiveness all of them come up short in one way or another. Regardless of the numbers the most important part of a bullet's ability to kill is a result of where it hits. From a rifle barrel the .357 Magnum barely generates 1000 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle and at 100 yards the energy level of Winchester's 158 grain Power Point load is 715 foot pounds of energy. But with ability to properly place the shot at out to 125 yards or so, the large diameter bullet will cleanly take deer regardless of the energy rule. If you will be routinely taking deer beyond 100 yards or so then move up to a more powerful cartridge.

Those interested in handloading the .357 Magnum for their rifles can significantly improve the ballistics of the cartridge. To assure that this is done safely, closely follow the .357 Magnum rifle load recommendations of well known loading manuals. Care will need to be used that these loadings not end up being used in a revolver.

The .357 Magnum rifle can be a versatile addition to any hunter or shooter's gun collection. With the ability to use ammunition from light .38 Special target loads for practice as well as squirrel, rabbit and other small game hunting to standard loads for turkey and coyotes and heavy bullet factory and hot handloads for deer hunting, the .357 Magnum rifle can serve a number of uses.