SPEER .357 MAG. 158 GR JSP?

Cutleryotehunter

Cutleryotehunter

New member
I've got two questions:

1. Have any of you used the speer 158 gr. JSP and found them to be too hard? I carry my S&W 6" 686 with me when I am deer hunting and plan on taking a buck with it when one presents a close enough shot. I was out coyote hunting today and on my last stand I setup in my old duck blind in a big cove down by the ocean. The cove was frozen over and there were coyote tracks all over the snow on the ice. I had no luck and as I was leaving the S&W on my hip was begging to be shot so I picked out a piece of ice that was standing up right at around 100 yards. I fired all 7 shots into it from a sitting position using my knees as a rest. I went over to investigate and come to find out the bullets went clear through about 8-11 inches of hard ice and hit some more ice about 10 yards behind that and some how 4 of the 7 bullets were found on the snow. The bullets must of had plenty of speed and energy to go through that much ice but why did they not expand? If I use these on a buck i should get plenty of penetration but the bullet won't dump that much energy inside the buck because it doesn't expand right? My load for these are 15.0 gr. of H110 using cci 550 and col of 1.570". Here is what they look like:

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2. I sighted my revolver in at 25 yards right on the money. I shot it for the first time at 100 yards and it shot about a foot low, does this sound about right? I would never shoot that far at a buck with the .357 mag but it seems like that is an awful big drop. What range do you guys sight your .357's in at? I do have a .44 mag too but its a heavy b&(^%h.
 
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I reload for my dad's .357, but haven't used that bullet, or tested it at 100 yards, but have had similar experiences with bullets though.
Ex: .22 mag cci hollow completely disentigrates squirrels head, no joke, there was just the body. I fire it at about the same distance into my SAT study book, which is about 3.5 inches thick. When it came out the other side, there was hardly, if any explosive expansion that I saw in the squirrel.
Hypothesis- The material the bullet was fired into was so compact that it did not even "give" to the bullet if you will, and went right on through. That might be the reason they did not expand.

BigJake
 
Some people don't like to use .357 for deer. While I have never used that bullet for anything, I'll share my .357 hunting experiences.

Hornady XTP - 158gr JHP
- Wife shot an 8-point whitetail broadside just behind the shoulder with a Marlin 1894CP (16.5" ported barrel) at 55 yds. Bullet barely hit a front-side rib, apparently expanded very well, and went straight on through. Penetration was great, expansion appeared exceptional by the size of the exit wound. Deer ran about 40 yds.

Hornady XTP - 158gr JSP
- Wife shot another 8-point slightly quartering away with same rifle. Complete penetration, apparently pretty good expansion, went through offside shoulder. Deer limped away quickly and died about 20yds later.

Federal Cast-Core - 180gr hardcast
- Wife shot 6-point through both shoulders. Complete penetration, apparently little to no expansion. Deer struggled about 10 yds.

These are just experiences, and I'm not saying that is what will happen every time you use a certain bullet, especially the part about how far the deer ran. (You'll hear people talk about deer hit with a .300 xxx and run "forever" and a .2xx that was DRT.)

Also, I have not killed a deer with the .357 from a handgun. Note that from my wife's rifle, those XTPs surely expand more due to the higher velocity than they would from a barrel less than 8".

If you want more expansion than the Speer 158 gr JSP, try the Speer 158 gr. Gold Dot JHP or maybe the 170gr Gold Dot or the Hornady 158 gr. or 180 gr XTP JHP.

[[Come to think of it, I'm not sure shooting ice will give you a fair depiction of what the bullet will do to a deer, but I'm no ballistics expert either.]]
 
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When our department went to the .357 Mag in '75, they started out issuing the Speer Lawman series in 158gr SP. I was tagged to put on a shooting demonstration and part of it involved shooting at a concrete block. The block was shattered on the first shot.

Shortly after that picture appeared in the local paper, the department went to .38 spec.+P HPs.. Those 158gr loads are meant to be hitting car engines.

I still have a military ammo box full of it and haven't found anything I want to damage that badly.
 
I haven't used that bullet, but I had real good luck with the Speer 140 gr. JHPs. Maybe the higher velocity makes a difference. I'm shooting them out of a 6 inch Colt Python. My .357 is sighted in at 100 yards, and it shoots a little high at 25 yards, so your observation sounds about right to me.
You wouldn't shoot a deer at 100 yards, eh? You better take me with you, then.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I use the 158 gr Speer Gold Dot with Win 296 in my Ruger GP-100 6 INCH and they expand very well from this revolver. In my Model 66 2.5 inch and Ruger SP-101 2 inch i use the Speer 146 gr 3/4 jacket with HS-6. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
A quick ballistics check says that if your zero'd at 25 yds and you have a muzzle velocity of about 1250 fps, you could be dropping 10 inches at 100yds.

Now Evil_Lurker's Python was sighted in for 100 yards, and with the same speed it would be 2.7" high at 25 yrds, which is about what he said.

In either case your energy with a 158 gr bullet would be about 437 ftlbs at 25 yds and 284 ftlbs at 100 yds. A 40gr 22LR with a muzzle velocity of 1250 has about 138 ftlb of energy at the muzzle.
 
I've watched my uncle take a dressed weight of 224 lbs. 10 pt buck at forty yards and it dropped the buck in its tracks, so I know the .357 is more than capable of killing big bucks I just don't feel confident enough to shoot my .357 out past 40-50 yards, however, I am more than confident enough to shoot one at 100-125 yards with my ruger super blackhawk hunter .44 mag. I don't use optics either just don't like them on a handgun feels funky. Oh, by the way I would yell at the buck to give him a warning so you couldn't show me up,LOL /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
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Oh, by the way I would yell at the buck to give him a warning so you couldn't show me up,LOL



Hopefully that will stop him for a look, cause I wouldn't shoot at 100 yards if he was moving. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I've just shot that Python so much that I feel comfortable at 100 yards with it. Lots of reduced-scale IHMSA practice will do it. Having a shooting buddy that grins when he beats your score helps a lot, too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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