Most Powerful .357 Commercial Ammunition???

Little Wolf · August 30, 2005, 08:52 PM

Does anyone know a spot where I can buy .357 jsp ammunition that is loaded HOT!! I mean with muzzle energies at LEAST 700 ft/lbs. Ideally, I'd like it to be around 750-800 ft/lbs. Any source for ammo this potent for big game hunting and/or hog/bear defense would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sulaco2 · August 30, 2005, 08:59 PM

Double Tapp Ammo . com. About the hottest you will find in quality ammo. They normally have 5-10 various type of loads for each caliber that lets you pick weight of the slug and vel.

Jeffro250 · August 30, 2005, 09:03 PM

Try BuffaloBore. Doubletap seems more self defence against things that wont gnaw your leg off(human protection...at least thats what ive mostly seen from them....they seem to follow the fast and light theroy)...those heavyweight BuffaloBore hardcast loads will knock any Boar or smaller bears socks off.

Little Wolf · August 31, 2005, 05:27 PM

Any .357 loads give 800 ft/lbs that you know of?

How effective would those double tap loads be on a bear? Would the 157 grain load be more effective than the 125 grain, even though it has 150 ft/lbs less energy?

CarbineCaleb · August 31, 2005, 06:06 PM

For large critters, you want Buffalo Bore:
http://www.buffalobore.com/

And Grizzly Cartridge Co:
http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/

They make potent hunting ammunition - stick with 170:180gr bullets.

gordo b. · August 31, 2005, 07:10 PM

I haven't calculated the energy, but the Corbon 200 grain Hardcast .357 load produced more velocity than I could get out of any safe load, and it had NO signs of pressure! Out of a 6" .357 Iwas getting high 1300fps readings! The Python was higher than the S&W by about 80fps, both with 6" barrels. This load also produced almost 1700 fps in my marlin carbine, the ONLY .357 load which the recoil was almost nasty!

tipoc · August 31, 2005, 07:14 PM

.357 is underpowered for hogs or bear. Try a minumum of .41. But your call.

tipoc

IM_Lugger · August 31, 2005, 08:20 PM

yes; Buffalo Bore 125 gr. JHC @1700 fps ME 802 ft-lbs.

whiskey · August 31, 2005, 08:37 PM

The Corbon or Buffalo Bore would be my choice.

BTW...

(I hate when questions about ammo turn to validity of use for said ammo against a given adversary)

The last boar I saw shot with a .357mag with 158gr Semi Jacketed Flat Nose Federal load fell over dead on the spot. (220lb Boar) I have seen plenty of pigs fall to the. 357mag. I would not hunt bear with a .357mag, but I would shoot one if it decided to eat me and that was all I had. Bear and Boar are both tough animals, but neither is bullet proof to a 200gr hard cast at over 1000fps.

For your last question about the 157 or 125 loads, the better choice in a hunting/woods gun is the heavy hard cast bullets. The 180-200 HC bullets will go length wise through a grown pig. They are a fine choice for hunting pigs IMO and will be better than nothing (or the lighter loads) against a bear.

But please don't take my word as gospel. I have shot bear and boar, but I haven't shot a bear with a .357mag and I don't ever plan too. As far as pig hunting goes, I have done enough to speak on the subject. I live in Florida, we hunt pigs all year. I used to live in Alaska, there weren't any pigs there. Atleast not that I saw. They did have a section of the game laws that covered ferel swine. But I digress...ramble...sway...stray...

Chris W · September 1, 2005, 08:52 PM

Ft-lbs are not a good measure of a round's effectiveness against game--even though, I believe, some state laws are written as if they were. A heavy bullet load that would be a much better choice in 357 will not produce as high a number as a light bullet load because velocity, but not bullet weight, is squared in the formula for ft-lbs. A 125 grain load, however, will not penetrate deeply enough to reliably kill an animal like a bear, no matter how fast it goes. The fact that it's going so fast actually works against it in this regard, because of the likelihood that the bullet will expand rapidly in the shallow tissues of the animal (i.e., not the deep vital organs) and thus 'put on the brakes' by dumping energy into a shallow and wide rather than deep and relatively narrow wound channel.

WESHOOT2 · September 3, 2005, 08:32 AM

"energy", while interesting, doesn't kill the animal.

Excellent post, Chris W

Long heavy bullets kill animals, except little-bitty varmits; you can explode them with extreme-velocity HP's.....

Marko Kloos · September 3, 2005, 10:36 AM

Georgia Arms "Deerstoppers" are as hot as I have seen any commercial .357 Magnum....158 grain Gold Dot JHP at 1475 feet per second, for over 700 foot-pounds of energy.

I have about 50 rounds of that stuff on my ammo shelf somewhere. I'll pay a nice, crisp $20 to the person who lets me watch them shoot a cylinder full of those puppies out of a superflyweight Magnum J-frame.

Chris W · September 3, 2005, 11:14 AM

Marko, I've done it. No film to prove it, and it's not any fun, but I've shot Deerstoppers and even a few hotter handloads through my 12 oz 340pd (keyword: FEW). Not for ordinary use, by any means; but if I'm in a piece of wilderness where my uber-lite j-frame is all that's going with me, I need to know what it's gonna feel like, right? (unsurprising answer: it's gonna hurt)

WESHOOT2: thanks

DennisE · September 3, 2005, 02:05 PM

"Buffalo Bore 125 gr. JHC @1700 fps ME 802 ft-lbs."

I'm sitting here wondering what that would be like fired from my Sc/Ti S&W 386! LOL! Dennis

4thHorseman · September 4, 2005, 12:03 AM

Quote:

I'm sitting here wondering what that would be like fired from my Sc/Ti S&W 386! LOL! Dennis

Wow! It's even painful just sitting here thinking of it.

Probably clear up any sinus congestion problem you are having at the moment too!

Berettafan21 · September 4, 2005, 05:07 AM

Don't forget barrel length and how that factors in. Some of the above mention specs are for 4" barrels and others for 6" barrels.

Hal · September 4, 2005, 05:44 AM

All the above comments remind me of why I have such little use for the .357 magnum...

700 ft. lbs. from a 220 gr .44Magnum doing a fairly sedate 1200 fps. is a pussycat to shoot.

Easy on the gun/easy on the gunner.

mfree · September 6, 2005, 12:34 PM

"I'll pay a nice, crisp $20 to the person who lets me watch them shoot a cylinder full of those puppies out of a superflyweight Magnum J-frame."

Hey Marko,

Bring it

I'll try that, once...

August 30, 2005, 08:52 PM	#1
Little Wolf Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2005 Posts: 168	Most Powerful .357 Commercial Ammunition??? Does anyone know a spot where I can buy .357 jsp ammunition that is loaded HOT!! I mean with muzzle energies at LEAST 700 ft/lbs. Ideally, I'd like it to be around 750-800 ft/lbs. Any source for ammo this potent for big game hunting and/or hog/bear defense would be appreciated. Thanks.

August 31, 2005, 06:06 PM	#5
CarbineCaleb Senior Member Join Date: May 27, 2004 Posts: 2,745	For large critters, you want Buffalo Bore: http://www.buffalobore.com/ And Grizzly Cartridge Co: http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/ They make potent hunting ammunition - stick with 170:180gr bullets. __________________ “Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.” Niels Bohr

August 31, 2005, 08:20 PM	#8
IM_Lugger Senior Member Join Date: June 27, 2004 Posts: 2,011	Any .357 loads give 800 ft/lbs that you know of? yes; Buffalo Bore 125 gr. JHC @1700 fps ME 802 ft-lbs. __________________ "I feel the Beretta is a great character, it's so strong and elegant. The other guns look dumb to me." - John Woo

August 31, 2005, 08:37 PM	#9
whiskey Senior Member Join Date: January 19, 2000 Location: Clarksville, TN Posts: 431	The Corbon or Buffalo Bore would be my choice. BTW... (I hate when questions about ammo turn to validity of use for said ammo against a given adversary) The last boar I saw shot with a .357mag with 158gr Semi Jacketed Flat Nose Federal load fell over dead on the spot. (220lb Boar) I have seen plenty of pigs fall to the. 357mag. I would not hunt bear with a .357mag, but I would shoot one if it decided to eat me and that was all I had. Bear and Boar are both tough animals, but neither is bullet proof to a 200gr hard cast at over 1000fps. For your last question about the 157 or 125 loads, the better choice in a hunting/woods gun is the heavy hard cast bullets. The 180-200 HC bullets will go length wise through a grown pig. They are a fine choice for hunting pigs IMO and will be better than nothing (or the lighter loads) against a bear. But please don't take my word as gospel. I have shot bear and boar, but I haven't shot a bear with a .357mag and I don't ever plan too. As far as pig hunting goes, I have done enough to speak on the subject. I live in Florida, we hunt pigs all year. I used to live in Alaska, there weren't any pigs there. Atleast not that I saw. They did have a section of the game laws that covered ferel swine. But I digress...ramble...sway...stray... __________________ "So he cocked both his pistols, spit in the dirt and walked out in to the street."

September 3, 2005, 08:32 AM	#11
WESHOOT2 Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 1999 Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country) Posts: 14,324	abso-f###-lutely; minimum .400", 200g, 1000fps for bear* "energy", while interesting, doesn't kill the animal. Excellent post, Chris W Long heavy bullets kill animals, except little-bitty varmits; you can explode them with extreme-velocity HP's..... __________________ . "all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"

August 30, 2005, 08:59 PM	#2
Sulaco2 Senior Member Join Date: June 5, 2005 Location: Seattle Posts: 1,247	Double Tapp Ammo . com. About the hottest you will find in quality ammo. They normally have 5-10 various type of loads for each caliber that lets you pick weight of the slug and vel.

August 30, 2005, 09:03 PM	#3
Jeffro250 Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2004 Posts: 286	Try BuffaloBore. Doubletap seems more self defence against things that wont gnaw your leg off(human protection...at least thats what ive mostly seen from them....they seem to follow the fast and light theroy)...those heavyweight BuffaloBore hardcast loads will knock any Boar or smaller bears socks off.

August 31, 2005, 05:27 PM	#4
Little Wolf Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2005 Posts: 168	Any .357 loads give 800 ft/lbs that you know of? How effective would those double tap loads be on a bear? Would the 157 grain load be more effective than the 125 grain, even though it has 150 ft/lbs less energy?

August 31, 2005, 07:10 PM	#6
gordo b. Senior Member Join Date: October 20, 2002 Location: Peoples republik of Calif. Posts: 961	I haven't calculated the energy, but the Corbon 200 grain Hardcast .357 load produced more velocity than I could get out of any safe load, and it had NO signs of pressure! Out of a 6" .357 Iwas getting high 1300fps readings! The Python was higher than the S&W by about 80fps, both with 6" barrels. This load also produced almost 1700 fps in my marlin carbine, the ONLY .357 load which the recoil was almost nasty!

August 31, 2005, 07:14 PM	#7
tipoc Senior Member Join Date: December 11, 2004 Location: Redwood City, Ca. Posts: 4,114	.357 is underpowered for hogs or bear. Try a minumum of .41. But your call. tipoc

September 1, 2005, 08:52 PM	#10
Chris W Senior Member Join Date: May 5, 2002 Location: Central WA Posts: 450	Ft-lbs are not a good measure of a round's effectiveness against game--even though, I believe, some state laws are written as if they were. A heavy bullet load that would be a much better choice in 357 will not produce as high a number as a light bullet load because velocity, but not bullet weight, is squared in the formula for ft-lbs. A 125 grain load, however, will not penetrate deeply enough to reliably kill an animal like a bear, no matter how fast it goes. The fact that it's going so fast actually works against it in this regard, because of the likelihood that the bullet will expand rapidly in the shallow tissues of the animal (i.e., not the deep vital organs) and thus 'put on the brakes' by dumping energy into a shallow and wide rather than deep and relatively narrow wound channel.

September 3, 2005, 10:36 AM	#12
Marko Kloos Senior Member Join Date: January 12, 2000 Location: Enfield, NH Posts: 5,521	Georgia Arms "Deerstoppers" are as hot as I have seen any commercial .357 Magnum....158 grain Gold Dot JHP at 1475 feet per second, for over 700 foot-pounds of energy. I have about 50 rounds of that stuff on my ammo shelf somewhere. I'll pay a nice, crisp $20 to the person who lets me watch them shoot a cylinder full of those puppies out of a superflyweight Magnum J-frame. __________________ "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." --A.E. Van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher the munchkin wrangler.

September 3, 2005, 11:14 AM	#13
Chris W Senior Member Join Date: May 5, 2002 Location: Central WA Posts: 450	Marko, I've done it. No film to prove it, and it's not any fun, but I've shot Deerstoppers and even a few hotter handloads through my 12 oz 340pd (keyword: FEW). Not for ordinary use, by any means; but if I'm in a piece of wilderness where my uber-lite j-frame is all that's going with me, I need to know what it's gonna feel like, right? (unsurprising answer: it's gonna hurt) WESHOOT2: thanks

September 3, 2005, 02:05 PM	#14
DennisE Senior Member Join Date: September 3, 1999 Location: Treasure Coast, Florida Posts: 494	"Buffalo Bore 125 gr. JHC @1700 fps ME 802 ft-lbs." I'm sitting here wondering what that would be like fired from my Sc/Ti S&W 386! LOL! Dennis

September 4, 2005, 05:07 AM	#16
Berettafan21 Member Join Date: July 30, 2005 Posts: 66	Don't forget barrel length and how that factors in. Some of the above mention specs are for 4" barrels and others for 6" barrels. __________________ Sell your plasma and buy another gun!

September 4, 2005, 05:44 AM	#17
Hal Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 1998 Location: Ohio USA Posts: 8,563	All the above comments remind me of why I have such little use for the .357 magnum... 700 ft. lbs. from a 220 gr .44Magnum doing a fairly sedate 1200 fps. is a pussycat to shoot. Easy on the gun/easy on the gunner.

September 6, 2005, 12:34 PM	#18
mfree Senior Member Join Date: May 25, 2004 Posts: 506	"I'll pay a nice, crisp $20 to the person who lets me watch them shoot a cylinder full of those puppies out of a superflyweight Magnum J-frame." Hey Marko, Bring it I'll try that, once... __________________ "If it's rare, strange, or odd, i want it." I drank the cool-aid. Coal Creek Armory