357.....

A call for help to Elmer Keith in 1958. I was in Africa, and the military in it’s wisdom had taken the 45 ACPs from us because it spoke military. They issued 38 special revolvers...and cut orders that said I was going to a strange sounding place in South East Asia to train that country’s military in the small arms we were sending them. In those days it was Eisenhower’s war.

Elmer sent me a S&W five inch 357 model 28, rebuilt by S&W. I loaded 200 grain Lyman cast bullets over all the powder in 45 ACP cases into 38 special military brass. Brass didn’t last too long, but who cared I had plenty and my butt was on the line. One dark night in an ‘A’ Camp, this load punched thru a ½ inch of iron plate and on thru a V.C. that came at us with a sword.....and later, on a delta road, it penetrated thru a very large French truck door, two V.C.s and the closed window on the other side....it was a killer load. It also taught me the power of a heavy loaded 357.....

Years later when I was living in the wilderness of the southeast U.S. I harvested scores of deer with the 357. A number of black bear and a few wild hogs also went down to my heavy loads of the times...old notes state my main load was 173 grain Keith cast 1 in 16 over too much 2400. Imagine my surprise when I started reading some years later that the 357 with any load is too light for deer sized game.

When I was in the Treasury Academy working towards becoming a Federal Agent in the old Bureau of Narcotics in 1966/7 one of my firearms instructors was a Customs Agent named Charles Skeleton...who would become the famous Skeeter Skeleton of Shooting Times fame, he was a wonderful man. He was also one heck of a handgun shot. But we had a difference of opinion...he didn’t believe you should use a 357 magnum on deer sized game, I did. He wasn’t even sure if a 357 from a levergun was enough. (In those days I had a converted 32-20 mod 92 to 357). And there are many fine gun writers today that I respect like I did Skeeter, that also don’t believe the 357 isn’t enough. As I always say...there are better calibers...but that doesn’t diminish the 357's ability.

Friend Kelly Brost of Cast Bullet Performance, killed a very large wild boar not too long ago with a S&W Mod.27 load with his cast 187 grain WFN/LBT bullet over 13 or so grains of 2400. The bullet went completely thru the big pig from side to side with a 2 inch exit. And of course it’s where you place the bullet...and what bullet you use. But it is also what gun you use. Small frame handguns need not apply. I use a number of manufacturers heavy frame 357s....but the two I like most are S&Ws and Ruger SAs.

Outside of the Freedom Arms five shot 357...which is built like a Mosler safe...the Ruger 357 Blackhawk has to be one of the strongest handguns on the market today. Because so little steel is taken out of the cylinder and the frame is so beefed up, it would take a horrible mistake reloading to really hurt one. I have one Ruger stainless steel 357 Blackhawk...it was one of the first stainless SAs Ruger put out in the early 1970s. My enforcement officers gave it to me on my birthday in 1973. From 1973 thru 1976 my main load in this gun was 173 grain Keith over 15.5 grains of 2400. But it was not my heaviest load, just my day to day load....that is running easily over 47,000 pounds of chamber pressure....it also pushed that bullet over 1500 fps. When Lyman, years later, came out with it’s 358627 a 215 grain cast Keith bullet...I switched to that one over the same load from Ruger SAs only. At 1444 fps and nearly 1000 lbs of muzzle punch it is a killer of medium large game.

I have shot feral cattle with this load, from all angles and rarely did this bullet ever stay inside one. We are talking half ton animals or more in weight. And most shots were in excess of 60 or more yards...some closer to 100 yards. Would I hunt elk with this gun and load? Absolutely not! If I were out hunting and ran into an elk and only had this gun and load...would I take it? If the target offered was like the cattle, under 100 yards, a set shot, clear to the ribs heart, lungs, neck, etc....I most likely would.

Deer and Black bear? As I said I have taken them with the 357 often. Again the range is short....the wilderness we lived in was heavily treed, and ranges were under 100 yards most times. Loaded with today’s XTP or Remington 180 grain jacketed hollow points, deer and black bear sized animals go down very well.

The various leverguns in 357 are a whole different class of killing power. When you can push a 180 grain bullet at 1800 to 2000 fps, you are in the 3/4 ton class of muzzle energy. And with the right bullet and range I would take elk class animals. And that brings us to the 357 Maxi and the Rugers chambered for it (and the Dan Wessons) and the wonderful Reeder wildcat 356 magnum. Both these calibers give ballistics between heavy loaded 357 handgun rounds and heavy loaded levergun rounds.

Since the age of the Maxi handgun is gone...we have to look to custom gun builders. And there are many that are excellent and do absolutely fine work...building the shooter a gun he can treasure all his life....something special that is uniquely his, a gun he can bond with....and custom guns go up in value never down when it’s built by one of the masters...like Stroh and Morrison...Linebaugh and Bowen....and of course Gary Reeder. There are many more and I’m not slighting them by not mentioning them...I just don’t know them and their work.

As I said in my article on the 357 Maxi...it was one of Ruger’s finest handguns, and handgun developments....and I mourn it’s passing. I gave Gary Reeder my prize Ruger Bisley with a 7.5 inch barrel and unfluted cylinder. He is rebuilding the gun, making it extra accurate...beautiful....and rechambering it to the 356 GNR. Also fitting it with a second cylinder in standard 357 mag so I can shoot both from the same gun. Gary’s prices are excellent, and his turn around time is in just a few months. It is of course based on how much you want done to the gun....his prices are unitized....see his web site.

Pushing a 180 grain bullet at 1600 plus feet per second from a 356 GNR/Ruger is duck soup. I hit a feral bull in the back ribs at an extreme angle, the bullet was the Lyman 215 Keith at 1500 fps plus from a Ruger SA Maxi. That bullet went forward crossed over the animal broke it’s neck and exited the off side. It went thru about 30 inches of flesh and bone. The neck vertebra was 2 ½ inches thick and it shattered that completely, the exit was around baseball size...I suspect some bone went out with the bullet. He was a good sized Tex-Mex bull...we didn’t have the opportunity to put him on the cattle scales because the Indian school’s truck was waiting. It took two good sized horses to drag him back to the road after he was field dressed. I figure he had to be near 1200 lbs on the hoof. (How do you get 1200 lbs of beef into the bed of a truck? You cut him up with a chain saw...very messy but effective).

The two 180 grain jacketed bullets I use exclusively (and there are many more fine ones...I’m just used to these two) are the Hornady XTP and the Remington scalloped hollow point. The Maxi/GNR class handguns will push them well above 1600 fps. I am not much for scopes on handguns but that doesn’t mean I don’t use them. I think a S&W mod 27 with a 8 inch+ barrel rechambered for the 356 GNR topped with a good small scope and 180 grainers at 1600+fps would be excellent. Light to carry, yet with the power and reach to take medium sized game with placed shoots...for me to 150 yards. And a T/C Contender chambered for this round with a ten inch barrel would be a baby carbine in power......

My 357 S&W 8 inch mod 27 is circa 1970. It has seen a lot of heavy rounds thru it. But not as heavy as the Ruger SA’s loads. My main load for the S&W now is Cast Performance’s 187 grain WFN/LBT over 14 grains of 2400 for 1389 fps (average of five shots with a 13 fps variance) and 800+lbs of muzzle energy. I was on my way home from a trip last fall. Long driving and tired my Ranger topped a hill on Old Sonoita Rd 10 miles outside of Tucson. In the middle of my hunting unit....there off the side of the road way out in a field, was a fat, large, mule deer doe. I had more trouble getting off the road, so I could take her legally, than I did harvesting her. As I climbed up over a little rise and peeked over to where she would be...her butt was towards me at about 70 yards away, and she was grazing. So with that S&W 8 inch, I planted the 187 grainer in her butt. It exited the side of her neck. She just fell over. Strange I wasn’t half as tired anymore.

It was a longish shot for a 357 on deer...but I know the gun and the load well past 100 yards. And those Cast Performance cast bullets are hard so fouling is nothing, but they do show some expansion in larger game. I have use their 357s/41s/44s/45s all in heavy loads and they all perform very well on game. In rifles like the new Winchester 94 and the old Rossi 92s...plus the Marlin leveraction in 357, this caliber becomes a veritable killing machine. I don’t know if Taurus who bought out Rossi will resurrect the fine 92 action leveraction, but I certainly hope so. Taurus has brought out Rossi’s model of the old Remington pump 22LR...so there is hope yet. But there is the fine Winchesters and Marlins still available....

If you have not yet tried the 357 in a rifle, you are short changing yourself. Every shooter should have at least one light, easy to handle rifle that doesn’t recoil yet gives substantial power. Believe it or not...with 125 grain jacketed bullets you can even reload varmint ammo. My Winchester has a 24 inch barrel, and loading the 125 grain jacketed Remington bullets to 2400 fps plus is not hard. Varmints that used to laugh knowingly at me when I had a levergun in my hands....suddenly learned that distance was not a safe element for them with my leverguns any more.

Just like handguns I don’t particularly like scopes on leverguns....but with quick detachable rings so both scope and peep sights can be used I can live with them. And they do help my older eyes. With the 180 grain bullets ability to reach 1800 to 2000 fps plus out of 357 mag chambered leverguns you are touching the bottom side of the old 35 Remington ammo of the 1930s. And that was always been rated as a deer slayer supreme. Ball powders become the champs over my beloved 2400 in rifles with heavy slugs....also H110 (WW296) will push the 115 grain hollow points over 2500 fps and crows and small vermin just dissipate into amino acids, red and white cells, and a fine mist on the morning breeze.

41 Magnum...

The 41 magnum has garnered very little following with shooters over the years. Yet one indicator to a rounds effectiveness is the number of guns you see on the used gun racks. Very rarely does a good 41 magnum show up...because those that have...know. My Ruger SA in 41 magnum is over 30 years old. The first animal I shot with it was a feral pig in Virginia in 1970...it whacked that pig with just as much authority as I could have ever wanted. I settled on a Lyman 240 grain cast bullet over 21 grains of 2400 and never looked back. Deer, black bear, Russian boar, feral pigs, feral dogs, and cougar.....all one shot kills with the mighty 41. I have had more one shot kills with this caliber than any other outside of the mega-mags (454/475/500). I carried a four inch S&W in law enforcement for years. And had designated the caliber as the official round of my Agency in the 1970s. Though I let my agents carry anything that was safe, that produced close to 500 lbs of muzzle energy with commercial ammo, and they could qualify with under combat conditions.

Marlins on and off again 41 Magnum levergun is one fine small handy but powerful gun. It’s 20 inch barrel will produce nearly 2000 lbs of muzzle energy with the 240 grain bullet....and there is little in the lower 48 that could stand up to that. The 220 grain bullet from a 20 inch 308 bolt gun at 2200 fps is only a few hundred pounds ahead of it in power. From such a small rifle and cartridge comes such power potential with reloads. Rugers 41 SAs are very strong, and will take the rifle loads without a problem...the combination is excellent. A Ruger/Bisley in stainless with a short 5.5 or 4 and 5/8ths inch barrel would be perfect. I just wish Ruger would listen....

The one instance of raw power that I can give with the 41 mag came from a Marlin levergun....and my 240 grain cast load. In 1978 I shot a large feral bull in the Texas road map as he was quickly running from me. At 70 long paces the bullet struck and crossed over from the right hind quarter side, went completely thru him and broke the left shoulder. He topped out at over 1000 lbs. I have no doubt that at 1350 fps from a handgun on a side shot, that bullet would exit an animal that large after wrecking everything in between. As I wrote in my article for SIXGUNNER back awhile ago....the 41 Magnum is misunderstood, mostly unknown, it’s Sunday’s child.....

44 Magnum...

The S&W mod 29 was and is a classic in all it’s variants....Ruger’s Super Blackhawk was the poor man’s hunting revolver. It’s fame spread thru the 1970s into the late 1980s....states in the U.S. were being pressured into passing laws to allow handgun hunting, bullets molds in all kinds of weights were hitting the market new companies like NEI and LBT rode the wave. It was the golden decade for the 44 magnum. In the 1990s many other handgun companies started producing 44 magnum revolvers....Winchester in circa 1958/9 brought out the model 94 leveraction in 44 magnum....while in Texas in the early 1960s I found the Winchester 44 to be in pickup racks, lady hunters hands, hung over fire places....if deer could have started a committee against hunting in Texas, the 44 mag Win 94 would have been their screaming point.

My first Ruger 44 magnum SA was a 7.5 inch barrel. I prefer short barrels but Ruger didn’t make them...So I cut the barrel back to around 5.5 inches and carried it in a cross draw holster. It was loaded with Norma copper coated steel jacketed soft flat nose 240 grain slugs loaded to about 1400 fps from my revolver. We used to run cattle on the weekends for local ranches...for extra money. This instance is probably why I consider wild cattle so dangerous.

I was on a small cutting horse, she was only about 1200 lbs but as agile as a cat. We were running the breaks and shallows and such pushing the unmarked cattle into herds so they could be branded. When out of nowhere this steer hits my horse in the rear ripping her two inches deep and almost fourteen inches long. My horse went violently sideways and down in the rear, I drew the Ruger somewhere between the saddle and the ground I was heading for...and started working on that devil steer. Five shots, the last one in his forehead, so close it burned the hair on his face. After that you couldn’t convince me the 44 magnum wasn’t the most powerful handgun in the world. But the truth is....as powerful as it was it was those heavy stout Norma bullets that save the day. Their penetration were awesome...two of the rounds went thru his shoulder in a upwards direction and exited high on his back ribs..two completely thru the neck but not hitting the spine and then the one in the forehead when he tried to hook me....they are called ‘short horns’ but I didn’t think so then. The last bullet took out most of the back of his head when it exited.....I learned a powerful lesson that day, a lesson that I have carried into the hunting fields and law enforcement ever since...heavy, stout bullets, at good velocity transmit more shock and stopping power to the target than fast light bullets.

45 Calibers...

All the while from the 1960s thru the 1980s while learning reloading, hunting, shooting and working with the 357s, 41s, and 44s, I was playing with the 45s. I have always been fascinated with the 45 calibers from the 45 Colt short to the .458 magnum, I love them all. Since the day I shot a zebra across a water hole in Africa with a commercial 45 Colt load from a Colt SA...I have been hooked to things 45....

From the tender age of 17 to today I have had at least one 45 ACP in a 1911 format auto close by. There were times when there wasn’t but they were short and always rectified. I have had Stars, Llamas, Colts, custom built, old military and new military 1911 styles. Some good, some not so good....a Star I had in 1971 was one of the best I ever had....the Charles Daly two feet away from my hands now is it’s equal. I read all the time that the 45 auto is not a hunting handgun. Well that is not what it was designed for...but certainly it will kill good sized animals at reasonable range for it’s modest ballistics. One of the very fine things about the 45 ACP is it’s ability with the right bullets to penetrate...and create a half inch hole all the way thru it’s target. I once shot a very large Eland with two rounds of 45 ACP military hard ball...it died just like any other big bag of meat would with two half inch holes running thru it.

I have been in, studied the results of, and investigated many shootings involving all kinds of calibers....I can say with certainly the 45 acp stops gun fights with single hits most times. The 125 grain hot 357s and the 180 grain plus 45 hollow points are the deadliest on the street, but don’t discount hardball for personal protection. It served well for over seventy years in four major wars and lots of smaller conflicts, and still does. Yes the forties are coming on strong and more power to them.

Would I shoot a deer or black bear out to fifty yards or so with a 45 acp?...The answer is I all ready have, a number of times. As I have reported before..when living in the wilderness from 1970 to 1976 ( over five years) I used to harvest about 20 deer a year....several black bear...a number of turkey and many wild pigs and dogs...the 45 acp was just another of the calibers I did it with. It never failed me when I did my part.

The 45 Colt caliber/chambering is my all time favorite. Like the 1911 auto loaders...I have had the 45 Colt in all kinds of guns and makes. Colts, Colt clones, revolvers, Rugers, T/C Contenders, Taurus, and a few custom built handguns. The most beautiful to my eyes is the New Frontier Colt, and the strongest for hunting is of course the Ruger Blackhawk. (The Freedom Arms is really a 454 chambered for the Colt). S&W’s double action N-Frame 45 Colt...especially the slick Mountain Gun is outstanding...the Colts and the clones are fun, great to handle and fire and hunt with, but when the game gets big the Ruger 45 SA is the gun to beat.

Now that my law enforcement career is winding down...a Ruger SA in 45 Colt chambering with the short barrel in the standard grip or the Bisley style, could do me for the rest of my life. If it had to be that way...thank goodness it doesn’t. They say the slowness in reloading makes the Single Action revolvers less than worthy for personal protection. I once broke up a bank robbery with a 45 Colt single action (Ruger) and never had to worry about reloading....even stopped the get away car with a coupla’rounds down thru the hood into the goodies on top of the engine.......

My short Ruger now is the Vaquero style. With fine color case hardening on the frame, deep blue, and Ruger’s synthetic ivory grips...it’s as hansom as it shoots. And shoot it does. It’s a strong handgun and there are a plethora of loads listed everywhere, and my article on the 45 Colt round and pressure is in the SIXGUNNER back files. I have a Rossi 92 action with a half octo/round barrel...24 inches...it will put out 300 grain bullets to 1800 fps...the same as commercial 45-70 Winchester 300 grain deer loads...and deer and black bear and such wouldn’t know the difference. The Colts and the S&Ws must be keep down in pressure, but a 300 grain bullet at 1000 fps is still a killer load and they will take that without hiccupping a bit. I know a number of Lawmen that carry S&W 45 Colt revolvers...they prefer them over the autos. And they are well protected. To each his own....

In the last fifteen years or so the handgun scene has gone thru a revolution. Two things happened around 1983/4. John Linebaugh started building extra strong handguns for his designed cartridges and the 45 Colt loaded top end...and Freedom Arms brought out the first commercial 454 Casull. The handgun world has never been the same.

In 1983 Freedom’s owners the Bakers...sent me a dozen guns to test. And test I did.....wrote them up for Safari International’s magazine. I bought the most accurate of the bunch a fixed sighted 4 and 3/4 inch...I still have it and after multi tens of thousands of rounds it is still going strong. I DON"T RECOMMEND THIS LOAD...it is my worldwide hunting load for very large dragons, hardpans, and small game like elephant and such....27 grains of 2400 under a 340 grain SSK cast bullet giving over 1600 fps from the short barrel and 1660 from the 7+ inch barrel Freedom SAs. It wrecks brass but for African hunting what’s a few cases.....

As a stunt once to show a bunch of non believers...I shot one of these megaloads thru an old railroad tie...it was 12 inches wide...very dense...very thick....and it stopped their 270 rifle loads....(I didn’t tell them expanding bullets have a hard time getting thru thick wood) my 454 SSK 340 grainer sailed thru leaving a nice half inch hole you could look thru....

Friend Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel Knives has hunted the world with his 454s. He has taken the worlds largest Rhino....elephant....lions...and who knows what else. The handgun that Freedom Arms builds is one of the top four finest handguns in the world in my humble estimation. It is a custom production grade revolver. It is exceptionally beautiful as well as one of the strongest handguns on the market today. You pay a price for one...but it will last a life time...then get passed down thru generations of the family.....in the photo of my fixed site FA you will notice I changed the front site.

What I do with fixed site hunting handguns...is pull the front blade site. Then fix a low base Lyman or other make short dove tail rifle base to the barrel. Then I can change the inserts for the different weight bullets I use, and it also gives me windage ability...so it becomes a fixed/adjustable sited handgun...neat!

Linebaugh...the name alone stirs the hearts of handgunners....I have been privileged to call John my friend for many years. He is honest, trustworthy, and one of the great gunmakers of our times. To own a Linebaugh handgun is to own a treasure. His 45 Colt chambered Ruger framed five shot revolvers will give every bit of the power of the 454s. One of the things I like most about John’s guns is there accuracy. When you can work up loads that go into one hole at 25 yards with many bullet weights and powder combos for the caliber, you know you are working with quality.

Personally I feel the five shot 45 Colts and the 454s will do everything that needs being done in hunting today...from elves to elephants. But I have to admit the 475 Linebaugh is a sweet caliber. I like it over the 500 Linebaugh. For some reason I can shoot the 475s with heavy loads...but can’t tolerate the 500s. It’s just me I guess.

There are several guns I want to mention...first of course is Linebaugh’s handguns, an investment. And now Freedom Arms is also chambering for the 475...and everything I said for their 454 fits for the 475....but with more power potential. Another custom gun maker is Hamilton Bowen...the southern gentleman of the custom gun business. Ham Bowen is an artist in steel...his guns are not only functional and powerful...they are beautiful. Jim Stroh, Milt Morrison, Gary Reeder I can recommend them all...they are the top of the line gun makers in this century...check out their web sites...they each have their own style...pick what pleases you.

I have been asked constantly on my E-Mail what lever rifle could the 475 Linebaugh be chambered for....none! Oh you can do it...just like you can with the 454 but I have seen fine Winchester Big Bores converted over to 454 with the best of gun building and steels, and they still can’t sustain the pressure and back thrust...they break down. But there is an answer.....

Gary Reeder of Flagstaff Az. builds the nicest rifle on the Marlin 45-70 action I have ever seen...and he chambers it for the 475 Reeder...which is the 475 on the 45-70 full case. This elongates the pressure curve and gives outstanding velocities and killing power with the 475 caliber in leveraction rifles. I fired one extensively...it was the proto type and John Taffin wrote up his tests on it in GUNS or AH back a few months ago. Also using this proto type. I was bouncing 400+ grain bullets off of 500 yard rocks in New Mexico in June with this rifle...till I got tired. What a blast....Africa any one?

For the work done Gary’s prices are reasonable and his turn around time is wonderful. There is extensive reworking of the Marlin to be done for this new caliber, plus parts, a new barrel, new loading tube and more. But for someone that wants the best, the most powerful in a levergun, the 475 Reeder is the only way to go.

The world has turned into a new century...with it in the gun industry we have seen many changes, some good, many not so good. But without a doubt the finest offerings are the new mega-mags in handguns our fore fathers would have never dreamed of......I’m sure Old Elmer is looking down and smiling.......