Back in early 1973 I think it was, I spoke to Elmer Keith (by phone), Marlin had sent him a 22 inch barreled 336 model 45-70 leveraction rifle the year before....they were not into guide guns and such in those days, if you wanted one you had to make it yourself. Elmer was delighted with the gun Marlin sent him. He said he had taught his son how to hunt with a 1886 Winchester in the caliber...and was sure the Marlin would take his heavy load of 53 grains of 3031 and a 405 grain soft nosed bullet. He said the load generated around 36,000 psi and over 1800 fps...if I remember it all right.

I have used this load with the Hornady 350 grain soft pointed round nose in my Marlins...in fact I have gone to 56 grains of 3031 and near 2000 fps and over 1 and ½ tons of energy. And with 54 grains of Rel#7 and 2140 fps/3560 ft.lbs. of muzzle energy you have a load that will kill any animal on earth...even a heart shot with this bullet on an elephant will do it. I would use a only a solid or hard cast on a frontal brain shot on elephant from a 45-70, but also without hesitation. This bullet 350 grain softnose is made for the 458 mag so it is well put together. It is not a deer bullet. If you want to hunt deer and even elk then go with Hornady’s 300 grain flat HP bullet. My load is 57 grains of ReL#7 for near 2300 fps...which is a top load and I work up to it in any new gun I ever use. These velocities are from the 22 inch barrels.

With the 475 grain hard cast Lyman bullet over 45 grains of ReL#7 I get 1700 plus fps...this is a freight train of a bullet and load. It has gone thru not one...but two...telephone poles against each other. The ultimate penetrator for a leveraction rifle....though I have no earthly reason to..but just to find out, I have gone to 50 grains of 4895 under the Hornady 500 grain bullet made for the 458 Mag. At 1650 fps it is going to be ever so hard to stop. I’m sure you could brain an elephant with one. I have a section of large I-Beam about 12 inches long...it was cut from a beam that was taken from a wrecked building that had to be tested to find out why it failed and the roof came down. The web or middle of the my section of beam is ½" thick....one of these 500 grainers at 1650 fps went thru it like butter.

Speer makes the ultimate 400gr. soft flatnosed, jacketed bullet. With 60 grains of H335 and nearly 2000 fps with over 3500 ft.lbs of energy big elk and even a moose wouldn’t be a problem. The only problem I see in these loads...is being sure your rifle can take the pressures and your shoulder can also. I find H335 and Rel#7 the two best powders generally in leveraction calibers...from the 22 Imp(22/30-30) thru the 45-70.

One of the finest molds I have for the 38-55/375 Winchester class of loads is the NEI 270 grainer. This really is two molds....called the ‘Slip Nose’, you cast the nose portion from very soft lead, then place it in the second mold and cast the body of the bullet around it from very hard lead. The photo shows half sections of each mold. In the Winchester Big Bore in 375 this bullet over 42 grains of H335 gives 2000 fps and a ton and a quarter of muzzle energy (I use 38-55 brass in my top eject Winchester 375). With a 3 inch high at 100 yards this bullet is down a little over 16 inches at 300 yards. With the soft nose even animals as small as antelope have gone down quickly. One would expect a cast bullet to just drill thru on such a small animal...but this punches out a 50 cent size exit. It easily does the same on deer and black bear. I like two holes in animals when I shoot them...lets blood out and cold air in increasing shock and bringing the animal to the ground faster.

A 300 grain .379 caliber bullet could be used in the 375 Winchester or the 38-55 Marlin...at around 1600 to 1800 fps it would be the load for all around hunting in the lower 48 states...certainly it would take 95% of what the north has to offer also. And that load of up to 1800 fps with a 300 grain bullet is what a number of commercial 45-70/300 grain loads get. But the 379 caliber will give much better down range ballistics....

I did some interesting tests the other day...using my Ruger Bisley-V with the 4 and 5/8 ths inch barrel and my Rossi 24 inch levergun both in 45 Colt chamberings. Cor-Bon’s 45 Colt-Mag ammo in 265 grain loads gave 1710 fps from the rifle and 1219 fps from the handgun...a nice easy load in both with power to spare...Buffalo Bores 260 grain 45 Colt ammo went 1886 fps from the rifle and 1401 fps from the handgun...if you don’t reload these are two of the finest deer and black bear loads you can find...would I shoot a elk with either load? Without hesitation...even a grizzly if I had too, though there are better loads that I would carry in grizz country. And one of them is the 325 grain Buffalo Bore 45 load.

In my tests this BB 325 grainer went 1709 fps from the Rossi levergun and 1318 fps from the handgun...no pressure signs and easy extraction, don’t know how Tim Sundles, honcho of Buffalo Bore, does it...but he does. And this is definitely bear country ammo...this load even from the short barreled Ruger would knock an elk on his rear with any well placed shot. And when you turn a gun on a six hundred pound animal best be a powerful load.

I was looking for a real easy reload with heavy 45 cast bullets. Cast Performance has cast bullets in .452 caliber from 300 grains to 395 grains....taking their 335 grain bullet I loaded it over 16.5 grains of 2400. I got 1340 fps from the levergun and 1070 fps from the handgun...very little recoil and the accuracy was just very fine. The penetration in wet phone books was 16 inches for the rifle and 11 inches for the Ruger. A real fun plinking load with power enough for deer.....

I still have problems with folks not believing that the 357 magnum cartridge can be used on larger game than 40 or 50 pound animals. When living in the wilderness in the 1970s my main carry and woods loafing handgun was a Colt S/A in 357 magnum..my load in this gun was 15 to 15.5 grains of 2400 under the Keith 173 grain cast bullet. That is a very heavy load but the Colt in 357 is very strong, because of the amount of steel around the chambers. Certainly today my Ruger 357 S/As take this load in stride. I never chrono’ed that load from the Colt...but from my Ruger 7.5 inch Bisley it is just under 1570 fps and near 1000 lbs of muzzle energy (947 lbs). I harvested around 20 deer a year back then, predominately with the Colt and this load. We fed a lot of families as well as ourselves on venison..which by the way is extremely healthy for you, the fat content is nil and there are certainly no additives like there is in today’s commercially raised/feed lot/pen fattened beef..

Today I like the 180 grain and 187 grain Cast Performance LBT bullets in 357. Over 14.5 grains of 2400 both these bullets will break 1400 fps in the Ruger. Now remember these are for strong guns only...I would not shoot them in any double action, less than the size and strength of the S&W N-Frames. My long barreled S&W mod.27 gets 1410 fps...the down range ballistics are excellent and the power is there. 15 grains of H110 or WW296 will also give over 1400 fps with these two....use the powder that gives you the best accuracy...also the ball powders work at lower pressures than 2400. But 2400 is less abrasive than ball powder on barrel throats.

One of the nicest Winchester 94 leverguns I own is the new 357 mag in the XTR 24 inch barrel version. And that is saying a lot...because I have and had numerous Winchesters over the years. I once had a Tredway Safe that was five feet long, three feet wide, and three feet deep...and it had so many leverguns in it...I couldn’t close the lid on them! This new Winchester has a curved grip in the stock, fine walnut wood, excellent checkering, it is as close as we are going to get to the craftsmanship of the 1920s and 30s. Except for the cross bolt safety I can’t find anything wrong with it, but can find much I like about it. Now with this rifle and certain loads I can get some fairly heady ballistics.

Winchester puts out a gilded Keith shaped bullet/load 158 grains. In my Rossi 20 inch rifle I got over 1900 fps and 1266 ft.lbs of muzzle thump...I would expect it would get at least that from the Winchester. Winchester’s hollow pointed jacketed 158 grainer went 1850+ fps and Federal’s went 1880 fps from the Rossi...these were tested for my book back in the 1980s...they probably have gotten even better today. Out to 150 yards 158 grain ammo at 1800 plus fps muzzle velocity is just deadly on deer. I note this for you because I don’t use them, but I want to put it into perspective...many want to use commercial 158/160 grain ammo, and it is fine stuff. I know they are deer loads supreme from rifle length barrels. But I am wedded to the heavier bullets in the 180 to 200 grain class, especially in the rifles.

I have ten pages of loads I have tested over the years in my reloading books on the 357 alone. The fastest load from the rifle I have is 22 grains of 296 under the 125 grain JHP breaking 2300 fps...it is a varmint load pure and simple....one large jack rabbit I hit with this load at 50 feet just disappeared into tufts of fluff...and a cloud of red mist. I had a German Short Hair at the time...that was a pure bred black and white color, very unusual color. He didn’t like me shooting rabbits with this load...because he loved eating boiled rabbit.

With a 200 grain Cast Performance LBT over 16.5 grains of 296 it nearly breaks 1900 fps from the 24 inch Winchester. The Remington scalloped hollow pointed bullet and the XTP in 180 grains also over 16 to 16.5 grains of 296 will go to 1900 fps....and these are deer and black bear loads for sure.

I have Lyman’s 280 grain cast roundnose (3589 is the old mold number...most likely 358009 or something like that now...this bullet has been offered since 1905 with Ideal then Lyman when they took over)...it is a blunt round nose and with 16 grains of ReL#7 1669 fps and well over 3/4 ths of a ton of muzzle energy. With fine accuracy and penetration...I have shot Tex-Mex feral cattle with this load and it always performed well. And they are big animals. This load has to be hand fed into the rifle because it is so long...but with Lyman’s 358315 I get a 200 grain round nose with a gas check and 16 grains of 296 I get 1900 fps...and almost as good penetration. And it will cycle thru the action. I cut a small flat on the nose for the loading tube. One of the subloads I like is this 200 grainer and 5 grains of Bullseye, for 1260 fps from the rifle. When it is cast soft and gas checked with Apache Blu lube it doesn’t foul and expands well. It is fun to shoot because of the lack of recoil and being able to see the bullet strike.