158 grain Zero JSP- deer hunting?
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:55 am
Apologies if this belongs in another sub forum- mods, please move if appropriate.
Buddy of mine hunted his new Rossi 357 Magnum this year & took a mature whitetail doe using Buffalo Bore 180 grain hardcast. Through & through the lungs, but she did make it ~100 yards or so on a dead run. He recovered the deer without much drama, but wasn't pleased with the blood on the ground, or that the exit wound was no larger than the entry wound. Buffalo Bore doesn't advertise the exact BHN of that bullet (that I could find), but I'm guessing it's pretty high. My 2 cents to him was that the results were pretty much what I would expect. Plenty of penetration - the energy is certainly there - but unlikely to show any expansion unless it hits something really hard on the way. Great for punching through a bear skull in an emergency, but maybe not ideal for a soft whitetail boiler room. Suggested a 180 JHP or 158 JSP would be more likely to expand.
The only 357 Magnum load I've killed a deer with is the 140 grain Hornady FTX load, & it did fine on my one example. So that might be an option, and I know the 158 grain XTP JSP has a good rep. The easy button would be to get some of the XTPs & load them up for him, but the flat points are nearly unobtainium. Heck they were hard to come by even in the good old days.
He spied some of my handloads with 158 grain Zero JSP, & asked if that would be a good deer load. Couldn't answer with any authority; loaded with 16.5 grains of H110, the energy is there- but don't know what to expect from the bullet. Might slice one open to see jacket thickness & how hard the lead is, but have nothing with which to compare.
My S.W.A.G. is that it's standard cup & core. Given the still low price of these (thanks Zero!!!), would expect that the jacket is on the thin side, & the lead alloy is whatever is cheapest to obtain- not sure if that means near pure, or heavily alloyed.
My concern is that it might be too lightly constructed. Wasn't able to turn up any testing/experience on the web, so might do some homebrew testing to get an idea (a Paul Harrell-esque "meat target" might be in order), but thought it would be wise to check with the gang here to see if anyone had thoughts or experiences to share.
Buddy of mine hunted his new Rossi 357 Magnum this year & took a mature whitetail doe using Buffalo Bore 180 grain hardcast. Through & through the lungs, but she did make it ~100 yards or so on a dead run. He recovered the deer without much drama, but wasn't pleased with the blood on the ground, or that the exit wound was no larger than the entry wound. Buffalo Bore doesn't advertise the exact BHN of that bullet (that I could find), but I'm guessing it's pretty high. My 2 cents to him was that the results were pretty much what I would expect. Plenty of penetration - the energy is certainly there - but unlikely to show any expansion unless it hits something really hard on the way. Great for punching through a bear skull in an emergency, but maybe not ideal for a soft whitetail boiler room. Suggested a 180 JHP or 158 JSP would be more likely to expand.
The only 357 Magnum load I've killed a deer with is the 140 grain Hornady FTX load, & it did fine on my one example. So that might be an option, and I know the 158 grain XTP JSP has a good rep. The easy button would be to get some of the XTPs & load them up for him, but the flat points are nearly unobtainium. Heck they were hard to come by even in the good old days.
He spied some of my handloads with 158 grain Zero JSP, & asked if that would be a good deer load. Couldn't answer with any authority; loaded with 16.5 grains of H110, the energy is there- but don't know what to expect from the bullet. Might slice one open to see jacket thickness & how hard the lead is, but have nothing with which to compare.
My S.W.A.G. is that it's standard cup & core. Given the still low price of these (thanks Zero!!!), would expect that the jacket is on the thin side, & the lead alloy is whatever is cheapest to obtain- not sure if that means near pure, or heavily alloyed.
My concern is that it might be too lightly constructed. Wasn't able to turn up any testing/experience on the web, so might do some homebrew testing to get an idea (a Paul Harrell-esque "meat target" might be in order), but thought it would be wise to check with the gang here to see if anyone had thoughts or experiences to share.