Question to the group,

I am the proud owner of a shiny new Marlin 1894c in .357 mag / .38 sp which I am planning to use as a bush gun this year. There are lots of opinions on the ol' internets about using this caliber for whitetail deer but those opinions are from people who are bigger strangers to me than all of you strangers on here LOL. Plus, I have spent the better part of 15 years reading all of the random information posted on here which makes me fairly confident that certain folks on here actually know what the heck they're talking about when it comes to guns, deer and killing deer with guns.

So, I've got me a box of CCi Blazers 158 gr. jacketed hollow points which I used to sight in the gun this morning... truglo irons, zeroed at 25 yards and very consistent and tight groups.

Myself, I am of the opinion that under 100 yards these bullets are going to kill a deer every time you poke one into its engine room and do it quickly and humanely. Plenty of internet famous types who seem to disagree, with those disagreements ranging from "You need to use 180 gr. bullets from a company I'm clearly sponsored by" to ".357 mag is never enough... my cousin's neighbor has lost all 175 deer he's shot with one"

What say you, trappers?

.22's kill lots of deer.......LOL

I have no input on 357 though.

357's out of a revolver will kill them graveyard dead....out of a rifle, even deader...

For a little extra context... this hunt is in the bush north of Trout Creek and I am typically taking the role of "dogger" so I spend most of my hunt walking through thick brush - cedar swamps and stands of young jack pines.
I can't think of a time or place where I'd be able to see a deer past 25-30 yards let alone squeeze off a bullet at one.
For the few hunts where I am posted or pushing through open terrain, I'll opt for my .270

I know a 38 special 158gr out of a 2" chiefs special will BUT it needs to be a solid not come apart bullet and delivered precisely on the off switch. I've been present when one got brained by one.

You have more leeway using a magnum out of a longer barrel, but that puts even more onus on using a bullet that won't come apart or go splat.

Because you can I'd be willing to try the 180 vs the 158 and see which does better.

good shot placement is always the most important thing in any deer kill , to make it the least track.

but inside 80 yards I don't see any issue with a 158gr JHP , with reasonable shot placement.

not sure I would try stretching it to >100
how confident you could be in your shot placement will deciding distance

Never shot at a deer with a 357, let alone killed one, but if I was gonna, I'd use the Hornadry Levergun stuff, Federal Fusions or Federal Hammer ammo.

I'm sure the regular stuff would work too, but if you're going in knowing you will be trying to tip a deer over, why not use the good stuff?

I prefer the communications cluster to the engine room , there is a spot they are right next to each other so even if you miss the comms cluster you get the heart and lungs




even a 223 or a varmint bullet if you hit this point just forward of the shoulder , they go right down

if you have it quartering at you you get heart lung in it as well

quartering away double lung and heart is good

almost any caliber can work if you can get 6 inches penetration at that point a 357 158 should get much more than that.

if the hollow point is big you might want to stay off the shoulder but it would probably work also

cheap PPU 158gr hollow points go trucking through a big racoon leaving a good size exit that should be plenty to get to where you need in a deer , the question will be how good of a blood trail you get if you don't get an exit and a lot of 357 if you get a shoulder or a cross quartering shot won't exit the bullet will hang under the hide on the far side , we even get this with 20ga slugs often enough especially on closer shots because the slug turns inside out and doesn't penetrate deep as it would if shot at say 50 yards rather than 20 yards.

I usually use 44mag in a revolver , but 357 in a 6 inch barrel works all the time , there are times of poor shot placement is an issue but that is with everything but with good shot placement and a rifle I wouldn't worry about shots inside your 25 yards at all.

In the Blackhawk the SWC won the penetration test, 10 times.
We had no interweb at that time though.

And 22 from a rifle beat both of those.
Oh my lol.

i've killed 4 deer with a 6" barreled .357 with 158gr JHP bullets. Range 25-65 yards.furthest traveled about 75 yards. I don't see a problem if you watch your range

I've shot 2 with 158 grn Remington golden sabers out of a Savage model 24 (20ga/ .357) and they worked well, probably went 10-15 yards.
I've shot 3 with 180 grn Gold Dot reloads with H110 out of a Marlin.
All were dropped in their tracks, and a buddy got 2 with Winchester 180 grn Supreme with the same results.
Personal preference is 180s but 158s with a quality bullet will work.
Just don't use plated HP bullets as the velocity out of the carbine will blow them up with no penetration or wound channel.

Slydogx, I've got the same rifle you are using and all of my 4 kids and a couple grandkids have used it with the same load for their starter deer rifle. I held them to a max range of about 75 yards and had no problems with putting deer down. I've lost count of all the deer that gun has put on the ground. All behind the shoulder shots and complete pass throughs.

I would not hesitate to shoot a doe if I had a good broadside shot. For a big buck I would prefer something bigger, but I have limited property and want the deer I shoot to drop before they get to the property line.

I didnt read all the responses yet.

when Indiana went from bow, deer slugs, muzzle loader and 357 hand guns and uo to alowing pistol cal rifles. My cousin got a 357 mag marlin. I got a single shot h and r youth gun for my daughter. I hunted with my daughter as well.

If I posted my guess of deer killed between my cousin daughter, boys and myself i would be called a lier on here. So I won't

I will tell you my load is a 158 ge hornady xtp with 15.9 gr of win 231. Personal furthes shot with a 357 carbine was 127 yards and droped her. but I was aiming at the bace of her skull.

They typically run 30 70 75 yards with a good heart lung shot..

As far shooting deep enough. Quarting to shot my daughter took out the bathroom window as an example was 35 yards. went through chest in front of the shoulder through the top of heart bottom of a tpart of each lung and through the of side rib cage and stoped under the skin with perfect advertisement worthy slug.

they shoot over 1800 fps out of longer rifle barrel and do the job fine. Anyone says any different just took bad shots, can't track or uses the wrong bullets. But most likely issue just talking with zero experience and repeat what they read or what told.

Edit to add. I Like it enough I picked up a pre safety jm stamped marlin in 357 and 39a .22 at an estate auction a few years back

I have killed several deer and a bunch of hogs with a 158 grain JHP out of a 357 Magnum handgun with great results. I have switched to the Hornady 158 grain XTP soft point in my rifle because Hornady says that the 158 could blow up at rifle velocity if it strikes a larger bone. With that said, I have never had a 158 XTP blow up out of a rifle and haven't shot one yet with the soft point. But yes, they will work just fine at the ranges you are talking about if you put the bullet in the vitals.

I got mostly pass through shots but the worst thing I has out of a 158 xtp was core jacket separation.never had any blow or come apart hiting bone.

Thank you all, this is why I love this place

Only experience I've had with XTPs is out of a .44 mag model 29 and Taurus lever action which worked well, but what your saying about this is the same issues I've been told from other people about. 357
They work good out of a 6"-10" barrel, anything faster does the same thing as plated bullets.
They don't have the base core and thicker jacket to allow at higher velocities.

This is pretty close to my experience. 357 with 6" barrel, ranges from 25-55 yards.

Only real difference is that I shoot 165 gr JHP's. Remington Core-Lokts to be exact. I don't think there'd be much difference in performance from any quality bullet only 6 grains lighter.

All shots placed in the boiler room exited the offside and left a good-sized exit wound and easy-to-follow blood trail. I don't think any went more than 75 yards.

I use JHP ammo out of our Henry .44 mag with what I consider excellent results on deer out to 100 easy. I will have a .357 some day soon and I'll probably shoot something similar to what you are thinking in it, and I'll be very confident it'll do the job. The hornady leverevolution stuff was accurate but little to no expansion. Deer don't even act like they are hit, tiny entrance and exits, like shooting FMJ's or something.