The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - What is max practical shoot distance for lever-action 38 Spl, 357 Mag, 44 Spl, 44 Mag

Scharfschuetzer · January 31, 2012, 03:07 AM

I have a 24" Marlin Model 1894 in .357 calibre. It has the Ballard style cut rifleing so I've been successful in using cast bullets in it as well as jacketed bullets.

With 180 grain Remington jacketed hollow points over Hogdon's L'il gun powder it shoots just shy of about 1500 FPS (from memory-remodeling the war room and can't find my note books) over a chronograph and a little faster, about 1600 with a 180 grain cast bullet. I chose the 180 grain bullets to maximize the SD and BC of the loads just for long range shooting.

When zeroed for 100 yards, it was about 3" or 1.5 MOA high at 50 yards and its drop at 200 yards was about 20" or about 10 MOA. That's a lot of drop between 100 yards and 200 yards. I didn't try it any further than that. The group size was about 2 1/2 MOA at 100 and 200 yards for 10 shot groups during calm conditions. Not much difference between the jacketed and the cast bullets in accuracy, but both were very susceptable to wind drift at the extended ranges come the afternoon wind.

My lever guns all have Lyman or Redfield aperture sights with a post front sight. This gives me a military sight picture that is extremely accurate and gives me the ability to keep up with the wind reasonably well. The peep sights can be slipped quickly up or down depending on range or have 1/4 MOA adjustments for final or fine adjustments. The amount of wind deflection for an old M14 rifleman was hard to believe. A small sticker on the stock has my elevaton settings for the peep sight in MOA, so slipping the elevation for ranges out to 200 yards takes no more than a couple of seconds.

So, for long range, the handloaded .357 is just a little challenged, but under the controled conditions of a rifle range it is more than capable of hitting well out where we should not be shooting at game. Computed velocities at 100 and 200 yards are 1270 and 1090FPs and impact energy at 100 and 200 yards is about 642 FPE and 480 FPE respectively. Point blank range on the 16" vital area of a deer should be about 180 yards or so.

January 31, 2012, 03:07 AM	#5
Scharfschuetzer Senior Member Join Date: January 28, 2012 Location: Puget Sound Posts: 293	I have a 24" Marlin Model 1894 in .357 calibre. It has the Ballard style cut rifleing so I've been successful in using cast bullets in it as well as jacketed bullets. With 180 grain Remington jacketed hollow points over Hogdon's L'il gun powder it shoots just shy of about 1500 FPS (from memory-remodeling the war room and can't find my note books) over a chronograph and a little faster, about 1600 with a 180 grain cast bullet. I chose the 180 grain bullets to maximize the SD and BC of the loads just for long range shooting. When zeroed for 100 yards, it was about 3" or 1.5 MOA high at 50 yards and its drop at 200 yards was about 20" or about 10 MOA. That's a lot of drop between 100 yards and 200 yards. I didn't try it any further than that. The group size was about 2 1/2 MOA at 100 and 200 yards for 10 shot groups during calm conditions. Not much difference between the jacketed and the cast bullets in accuracy, but both were very susceptable to wind drift at the extended ranges come the afternoon wind. My lever guns all have Lyman or Redfield aperture sights with a post front sight. This gives me a military sight picture that is extremely accurate and gives me the ability to keep up with the wind reasonably well. The peep sights can be slipped quickly up or down depending on range or have 1/4 MOA adjustments for final or fine adjustments. The amount of wind deflection for an old M14 rifleman was hard to believe. A small sticker on the stock has my elevaton settings for the peep sight in MOA, so slipping the elevation for ranges out to 200 yards takes no more than a couple of seconds. So, for long range, the handloaded .357 is just a little challenged, but under the controled conditions of a rifle range it is more than capable of hitting well out where we should not be shooting at game. Computed velocities at 100 and 200 yards are 1270 and 1090FPs and impact energy at 100 and 200 yards is about 642 FPE and 480 FPE respectively. Point blank range on the 16" vital area of a deer should be about 180 yards or so. __________________ Scharfschuetzer US Army Distinguished Rifleman Washington State Distinguished Rifleman NRA Police Distinguished Expert Last edited by Scharfschuetzer; January 31, 2012 at 09:30 AM.