357 for deer?

Question

I was considering getting a lever action Marlin/Puma/or similar rifle for farm work, then hoping to carry it out to the deer stand too. Would 357 be an acceptable caiber to use? I like the idea of shooting .38s at work and loading up the .357s for the hunting. Or would I be better off with a .44 special and 44 magums ( and are they interchangeable in a rifle???)

Deer shots will be at 75 years or less. Opinions?

Answer 1

I would go with the .44 mag. It has greater knock down power and the .44 special works great for varmints.

You will find the 44 mag kicks little in a rifle. And you have a far greater selection of ammo in 44 mag than you do with 357. I have killed deer with both the 357 and the 44 mag in both pistols and rifles. But the 44 mag has ammo for it with 320 gr hollow point bullets that drops a deer real nice. And yes all the 44 special and 44 mag round will work in the rifles.
They also make a bird shot round for the 44 mag that dispatches rats and mice at close range well, with out doing damage to the inside of the barn.
I tried the 357 bird shot and it did not perform near as well.

My wife has a 44 mag Ruger super Blackhawk that she carries here in Alaska for bear protection. She likes using the 44 special for varmints and plinking cans and such. And she has had one shot kills on deer under a 100 yards several times with it with the mag rounds.
Oh and if you have coyotes getting livestock the 44 mag with a 240 gr XTP hollow point will take them right out!

Answer 2

I'd just start off and say that I got friend that used a .357 on deer and were lucky to get a few. The majority of deer they did shoot were wounded and had to spend more time looking for it than hunting. The .44 mag is a much better choice for deer since its a larger bullet the does travel faster than a .357.
My neighbor that has a Ruger .44 lever carbine shot a large doe in the ribs and droped it in one shot. I forgot what range he said it was but I thought it was around 100 yard maybe farther. He did show me the hollowpoint that he got out of the deer and it mushroomed out real well.
My personal shooting with a .44 is in my Ruger SuperRedHawk and yep I do have a Ruger GP100 6" barrel .357. The power between the two is like comparing apples to oranges the .357 make some nice hits on my 2 liter pop bottle ice blocks but the .44 just destroys them.
To answer the question about interchangeable rounds any .44 mag handgun or rifle would fire specials just like the .357.

Answer 3

Ahh, my favorite question to answer. I started hunting when I was able to hold both ends of a rifle off the ground at the same time. I always "borrowed" a rifle from my grandfather or uncle. But, when I had finally saved up enough money (I thought) to buy a rifle, I found out that the one I had been drooling over all sumer was sold, and non of the others were in my price range. BUT, there just happened to be a used, 3 screw Ruger 7" barreled single action chambered in .357 magnum in my price range. So, I bought the revolver and started a long lasting love of handgun hunting. At the time, there were only limited choices of bullets for use, not like today. But I made do. I harvested a lot of deer with that revolver over the years. I quickly learned my limitations on distance. Back then I didn't think of it in "how many yards", but rather, "how close is the distance to the animal, in relation to the old stump I practiced on". I knew if I could get close, I could take the animal with little problem. YES, the .357 magnum cartridge is great for close in deer hunting. Especially so in a carbine like you are talking about.
Also, the .44 mag is a good choice, and yes the .44 mag and .44 special can be fired from the same rifle. Given a choice, If I could afford either one, I would go for the .44 mag. The extra power and range are well worth it.
Shoot safe

Answer 4

Since you are asking this question in Yahoo Q & A I have to assume that you don't reload. So you're better off with the .44 Mag. Yes, the .44 Special can be shot out of the Puma carbine and I don't see any reason why the Marlin carbine won't do likewise, but I've never owned a Marlin. And yes, I've read the article Doc posted and was fascinated with it, but I'd still go with the .44 Mag to not overtax the smaller .357 carbines with custom hot loads (but that's just me!).

The only caution I've read about in these pistol round carbines & rifles is to not use a bullet with a too long nose (or a sharp, pointed nose which goes without saying due to the tubular magazine). I use the standard semi-jacketed 240 grain flat nose .44 Magnum rounds in both my Puma 1892 and Winchester 1894 Trapper. My bro-in-law has an 1892 .357 carbine & he loves it as his ranch truck carbine. Real handy, he says, for dispatching rattlers and a weapon of opportunity for deer and for hogs caught in traps.

For rattlers I use a .357 Magnum revolver usually loaded with snake shot and the standard .357 Mag rounds for anything else; but to hunt I depend more on my .44 Mag carbine or a standard caliber rifle. In fact I don't own a .357 Magnum carbine but they function identically to the .44s.

Last thing. These carbines, in order to not jam you must work the action briskly. At least my Puma had a pin that worked its way out of the lever at times, dropping completely out or not allowing me to close the action everytime. I used super glue and that stopped the problem.

Best.

H

Answer 5

I would prefer the .44 past 50 yards but the .357 will work with the right load and very careful shot placement. I've even heard of one chap who used a Marlin Camp Carbine in 9mm on deer, his shots were always within 25 yards using 124gr. +P+ loads and said he never needed more than three rounds, the trick was placing them right into the vitals and not trying to break bone or shoot thru a lot of rump.

Answer 6

I'd go with the .44 mag. rifle. Recoil is negligible, factory rounds from light to heavy are readily available, You can use .44 special in the lever action Marlin, and the Marlin is a fairly accurate little rifle.

Answer 7

If you want that .357 get the .357 and I think that you will like it. I had a Marlin .357 and I loved it. I used to be able to destroy clay pigeons laying on the banking of the gun range that I used to go to at 50 yards with open sights.

If I was going to hunt with it this is the ammo that I would suggest.
http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#357
5. 18.5 inch Marlin 1894
a. Item 19A/20-180gr. Hard Cast = 1851 fps
b. Item 19B/20-170gr. JHC = 1860 fps
c. Item 19C/20-158gr. Speer Uni Core = 2153 fps---- Can you believe this?!!!
d. Item 19D/20-125gr. Speer Uni Core = 2298 fps---- Or this?!!!

Answer 8

i have an opinion on this,,,, go for it, the 44 will be more powerful , my mother used to use a .357 mag carbine rifle for deer and have seen her take large bucks with it, i loaded the ammo for her, specificaly for 357 carbine rifles, more power than handgun loads and she loved her rifle,

Answer 9

The .357 Magnum lever-action carbines and short rifles can be loaded to equal or surpass many .30-30 WCF loadings.

I suggest you check out Paco Kelly's article on .357 Magnum leverguns at: http://leverguns.com/articles/paco/357_magnum_and_the_literature.htm

Doc

Answer 10

The 44 will be more certain, and yes you can shoot 44 Spl in a carbine chambered for 44 Mag.