44 mag vs 357 mag

Originally Posted By: UnkMight think twice on matching it with a handgun, most folks don't enjoy plinking with full power .44 Magnum loads after the novelty wears off..usually about half of the first box of ammunition.

This is exactly why the 45 Colt is a better choice. It can be loaded down further than the 44 mag, and loaded hot enough to outperform the the 44 mag also......
 
Originally Posted By: Chris_Brice America's fascination with cartridges starting with 4 baffles me sometimes.

It shouldn't. They kill stuff better than cartridges that start with 3.

People that handgun hunt big game with a 357 when the 45 Colt, 44 mag, and even the 41 mag exist, baffle me.

The 357 does not impress me one bit out of a handgun. It's a pea shooter. Good for women and children, maybe.

In a rifle it is like a completely different cartridge and energy/velocity are much more acceptable.

Sounds to me like you just don't like the big guns much.......
 
Originally Posted By: 2muchgunSounds to me like you just don't like the big guns much.......

Exactly why I prefer the 357mag and not afraid to admit it! I have problems with recoil. Not that I can't handle it physically ... I just have way better control over lighter recoiling firearms! My success goes through the roof when I'm shooting something that I can enjoy.

Shooting my Marlin 1894C is very comparable to a 22lr rifle.
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Originally Posted By: Ricky BobbyOriginally Posted By: 2muchgunSounds to me like you just don't like the big guns much.......

Exactly why I prefer the 357mag and not afraid to admit it! I have problems with recoil. Not that I can't handle it physically ... I just have way better control over lighter recoiling firearms! My success goes through the roof when I'm shooting something that I can enjoy.



There you go! I have a S&W .460 magnum that is just a hoot to take to the range every now and then. But after a cylinder or two of full house stuff I either start shooting .45 Colt loads or just put it away.

I also have a .458 Winchester Magnum. 5000 pounds of energy may be just the ticket for cape buffalo or charging elephants, but in this part of Idaho at least they are not routinely encountered. 5 shots with this gun are plenty for me. More than plenty.

But I can stay all day long at the range shooting rimfires and .224 centerfire rifles. Lots of fun and you will never get worn out from shooting them. The less punishment that you have to take the better and longer that you can shoot. Simple.

I had to have Ruger replace the barrel on my Super Blackhawk many years ago simply because I shot the old one out. That is never going to happen again. Not at least by me anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: Rustydust.357 would be the way that I go. Shoot .38 Special for easy and quiet fun and the .357 for more splat factor.

Pumpkins are fairly easy to kill and they do not spook easy. If charged by one you should have time to place a kill shot with no trouble.

Keep in mind that some folks will think that you are out of your gourd for hunting them, but after you get the hang of it, shooting them gets as easy as pie. Pumpkin pie that is.

First place winner in the "Funniest Post" category! Thanks for the chuckle!
 
Originally Posted By: YoteAddictionI'm getting my girlfriend her first gun (shes done quite a bit of shooting but never had her own). Ive already decided on a rifle chambered in either 357 mag or 44 mag. My first thought was the 44 just because, well, I've always wanted one, but alas it isn't for me. So my question is, assuming identical rifles and average for caliber loads, how do the two rounds compare in areas like felt recoil, noise, and trajectory/ballistics ? Just for point of reference the gun will be used mostly for paper punching and pumpkin popping.


If nothing bigger than deer are on the menu, then the .357 in a rifle will do just fine. If bigger steaks are the target, I too would go with the .45 Colt.
 
Seems everyone is missing the obvious here... Which pistol do you have, or which one do you want?

Since you're suggesting a first rifle in pistol calibers, especially 2 calibers that allow the utilization of more than one cartridge for target shooting, pumpkin shooting, possibly hunting, and/or self defense, (without a specific preference of your own mentioned), one has to assume you are looking at the future purchase of a pistol to go with the girlfriend's rifle.

The smartest thing to do might be to find someone who has a pistol in each caliber, try them out, and make up your mind which you want to shoot, before buying the rifle. IF you roll your own, you might want to throw the 45 Colt in there as well, as 2MG suggested; if you don't reload, and are basically stuck with factory loads, that may not be a viable option for you.

As was stated earlier in the thread, the 44 mag with full magnum load, can be a little disconcerting for some. It is not by any means, a handgun round for everyone. Speaking from experience however, the 357 with hot handloads can be about as ugly!

Find someone who has both, get together at the range, or out in a vacant field someplace, kill a few rabid pumpkins, and decide which you want to shoot in a handgun, and you'll have the answer to your question on the rifle.
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootistI think your girlfriend would be happier with the .357.

Yes, it is very "girly" if you ask me.........
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Originally Posted By: Ricky BobbyOriginally Posted By: 2muchgunSounds to me like you just don't like the big guns much.......

Exactly why I prefer the 357mag and not afraid to admit it! I have problems with recoil. Not that I can't handle it physically ... I just have way better control over lighter recoiling firearms! My success goes through the roof when I'm shooting something that I can enjoy.

I have no problem with that. At least you admit it. Some like to beat around the bush incessantly.

Big magnums are not for everyone. I know that. I just like to have a little fun. However, I'm quite serious that for deer and heavier critters , I prefer something larger than a 357....
 
I have had a 44 Mag,(S&W 629 Classic) and now have a 357(S&W 4"686). They will both kill a deer at Bow ranges. My wife really likes the 357 cause she perfers to shoot 38's with less recoil, I perfer my handloaded 357's.
 
I'm familiar with it. Not impressed. I won't go into the long story of the tracking job through a jungle of a northern Michigan cedar swamp the 357 put me through.

Let's just say the exact same shot with my SRH 480 Ruger or 45 Colt Bisley Blackhawk and no tracking would have been necessary. I did hit the coyote that was chasing that big doe through the cedar swamp also. Never looked for it.

In rifle form the 357 is okay for deer. Not my choice, but okay. In pistol form I prefer larger. And I'm not saying it won't kill a deer. Just not my cup of tea. I like BIG handguns, and BIG leverguns. Hence my screen name.........
 
What's funny here is my wife loves shooting full house 44 mag loads, no complaints. Hmmm. I also fail to see a good reason for the 357.
 
Originally Posted By: 2muchgunI'm familiar with it. Not impressed. I won't go into the long story of the tracking job through a jungle of a northern Michigan cedar swamp the 357 put me through.

I completely understand where you're coming from. I had negative experiences like this when I 1st started hunting with my .204 several years back. I was about to give up on it ... until I started to realize that I had made some poor shot placements along with poor ammo selections. It was much easier to blame the caliber of my rifle at the time, than it was to blame myself. Since then, I have really come around full circle with my .204 & enjoy it more than ever!

2MG, I think you should give the 357mag another try. You might change your opinion!
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As a matter of fact there are several reasons for those two choices. She is fairly recoil sensitive (my sks is about as much as she can comfortably shoot more than ten or fifteen times, and it doesn't exactly shoulder thump) she does seem to have a fascination with large holes in things, and there is a possibility that eventually she will want to deer hunt with me, as she goes out with me currently but isn't sure about actually killing an animal herself. Mostly though, I KNOW she will like either one of those, but I'm as confident about several other possible choices. And the ammo is fairly cheap and easy to reload. So I could potentially change my mind, there isn't any one specific thing that made me decide, it just seemed the best option.
 
Also, for the record, should she decide to hunt with me, I hunt a lot of brush land, and the average shot on a deer is fifty yards or closer. I believe that is within reasonable range for both calibers. I was going to just get the 44 for potential hunting, but seen as how I know the gun will just be a paper puncher (or eggs, or cans of pop, pumpkins, whatever the funnest thing we have handy to shoot is) for quite a while longer, I began to wonder if the 357 would be a better choice. I however am not familiar with aspects like recoil, bullet drop, noise, etc of the two rounds.

P.S. As much as I would LOVE to get a pistol in either of those calibers, and as reasonable as the suggestions are that that may be why I am looking at these calibers, as a NYer I don't have as easy access to pistols as some others, and have not yet even seriously considered enduring the obstacle course of obtaining a pistol permit.
 
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Ricky, I have taken a couple deer with the 357. I know what it will do. There is just no way I will ever like it as much as the bigger stuff. Poor shot placement wasn't t the problem, poor cartridge selection was.

Dead is dead. I get that that. But when you hit a deer with a big bore, the effect is much more dramatic, and one that I like. I like anchoring critters in their tracks. The guns I shoot will do it alot better than the 357 IME.

When you hit a deer with a flying anvil and it leaves it's feet upon impact, I get a warm fuzzy feeling........
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Hit a deer or black bear with a 400gr Uni-Cor Gold Dot or 335gr hard cast Keith style bullet sometime(2 loads I use) and you will see what I mean. It's a whole different level of THUMP than a 357, and one that I like....

 
If you are mostly going to be target shooting, worried about the girlfriend being recoil sensitive, and are sure you won't be shooting over a hundred yards at a deer, I think the 357 is the clear choice personally. Components for 44 aren't exactly hard to find, but you see more deals on 357/38 components, and it is a little cheaper to reload for. There is also ample supplies of both 357 and 38 brass. I am not going to argue with 2muchgun, but I think a 357 is way more than adequate for deer within a hundred yards. But then again I just as much bow hunting of big game as rifle hunting, and have no druthers about popping a deer at 50 yards with my bow. If you are taking it hunting just make sure you are using a bullet suited to hunting rather than lite personal defense. I have never used a lite personal defense bullet on deer, but from what I hear they can expand quicker than some people like. Put in some 180gr full house 357 mag rounds and the deer won't be alive to [beeep] about performance.
 
Yeah, I've been hunting deer exclusively on my family property for ten years (not much compared to some of you veterans out there, but enough to make the point) and in that time, only once has any of us taken a shot over a hundred yards (115 paces if I remember correctly). I would guess at least 70% of the deer we have shot (and unfortunately also the deer we only shot at) were inside of fifty yards. Ill tell you what too, hunting is a whole different thing when the deer is so close you can see its hair ripple over top its muscles and count the snot droplets flying through the air as a 20 gauge sabot slams into it, makes the whole thing a lot more personal.
 
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