I know what I use in mine...21 Grains of H110, WSP Magnum primer, Hornady 125 gr. FP/XTP, out of a 24 " barrel, Starline brass.
Vermin DRT. When it hits the Gong at 168 Yards, even with ear protection you can hear the clang !

 

PJ probably has the best all around load for the 1894C, if we trust his personal opinion.

For deer we've had good results with factory Rem 180SJHP and Fed 180HC. I just trusted the heaviest bullet available. The both shoot to the same POI and have put meat in the freezer. PJ's 158 load may have better trajectory beyond 100yds. Unless you are hunting yotes at petting distances!

Jeff

 

I don't shoot any factory ammo in 357, but... CCI SPM, 158 gr Remington JSP, 16.0 gr H-110 is one of the best I've found.

 

The reason i mention Yotes', is that i've had them come after my dog before when shed hunting with the dog, that didnt workout too good for said Yote', his fate was sealed with a 22 Hollow point, so i know the 357 will work. Im just looking for some ideas on the Better ammo you guys have found as far as good accuracy and reliably functioning and reliably killing stuff...? :biggrin:

 

wondering what your thoughts are for an all around 357 factory load that would be good for deer,and an occasional Yote and anything else that needs some Serious Stopping Now......

If you're going to be reloading soon, you need to be buying quality ammo in good brass so you have something to start with when you eventually take the plunge. Any of the big names should serve you well, meaning Remington, Winchester, Federal, etc. For hunting I'd be buying 125-grain JHP's for Yodel Dogs, 158-SOFT points for deer. Once you start loading your own, pick a good bullet you can buy in bulk, buy as many as you can afford at one time, and work up a good accurate load. My pet load is the Remington 158-grain JHP/JSP (I shoot both) over 16.2 grains of Lil Gun with a standard primer in Starline brass. Remington has apparently stated that they will soon stop selling component bullets, and Winchester is apparently poised to do the same thing, according to a source who should know.

I don't know anyone who offers the Hornady XTP's in bulk, but I'd look into it if I was in the market. As it is, I still have about 5K of the Remingtons I like, so I'm set for now.

I have yet to see a Marlin that doesn't shoot XTP's well, and I ask every Marlin shooter I see if he's tried them. Nearly all have, and I've only met one guy who said some other bullet outshot the XTP. His gun liked the Sierra 170 JHC.

 

I used to hunt feral pig with the Amercan Eagle 158 gr JSP. If I could still use lead here in California I'd probably look at the Hornady XTP in commercial ammo.

 

We've done well, (and when I type "we" I mean my wife and son deer hunt with the CB LTD, 20"), using the Speer 4217 loaded a little hot. Typically somewhere around 14.5-15 of H110 but I've gotten good results using half that of Unique. I suggest you work-up a load that fits your rifle when you get into reloading.

The Winchester White Box Value Pack 125 jsp stuff used to be pretty good and my son tells me he believes he was using it when he killed a couple of yotes last year.

I dunno. I have not shot factory ammo through our CB LTD in 357/38 in so long, I just don't know. I just went and checked the logs and it looks like January of 2008 - I wish I could help. I would think that Win White Box Value Pack 125 jsp ammo would be about as close to an all-around load for your rifle, and pistol, as you are going to get.

BTW, we've tried a couple of different HPs on deer and are not crazy about them. Matter of fact it was a failure to perform with a hollow point that caused my wife to quit carrying the 1894 deer hunting last season and revert back to her 336.

JSPs are the way to go and the heavier the better imho.

 

I guess i will go see what i can get my hands on somewhere with a good selection. I want to get as many boxes as i can like PJ said so i have brass for when i get started loading, BUT more right now so i can empty them out when my 94' gets here :biggrin:.... I will go with 158gr in a SP first and see how they shoot in it and take it from there. Will try a few different brands and see what she likes and take it from there...

Are the 1894 357's Micro Groove also? I forget :hmmmm:, LOL........

 

I favor a Dardas cast 158 gr RNFP on top of 13.5 gr AA#9. That's my load of choice, although I've used 6 gr of Bullseye on occasion, both with standard primers. THe AA#9 load is about the same as a standard factory load, the Bullseye is a little weaker.
I also have been known to shoot the same bullet with 3 gr of Bullseye in a .38 case for target work. My 1894 has never seen a jacketed bullet or factory ammo, but I've heard of folks getting good results with Winchester white box.
I like cast bullets because they're cheap, they don't ruin as much meat as a hollowpoint, and really penetrate. They tend to be less forgiving than an expanding bullet, but if you need to shoot through bone or tough hide they really dig deep.
This is going to be a fun thread, there will be a great variety of answers, thoughts, options, and opinions given. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's input.
GH1

 

Oh, I almost forgot. Congratulations on your soon-to-arrive rifle. I've had mine since 2009 and absolutely love it, it's far and away my favorite rifle.
GH1

 

For what its worth the 130gr USA 38spec load is great shooting and quiet...Its a super utility, plinking and pest round...for Bambi I use a bigger gun, but if I was going to I like the 170 Sierra like PapaJ spoke of over a max load of H110 or Ramshot Enforcer

 

I've been experimenting with combinations of powder, primer and bullet and results for 5-round groups at 25m are below. Still a fair few combinations to try, inc for jacketed bullets, and my reloading technique could be better as I've quite a variation in different lots using the same components. Best so far is 4.5 or 4.7 grains Titegroup. (Primers are CCI 500 not CCI 550, my mistake.)

 

I bought a 250 count bulk pack of 125 gr. Rem. Golden Sabers. These are great for plinking behind AA#5.

 

I seldom buy ANY factory ammo. I'd suggest getting on gunbroker and looking at reloading supplies. Get a feel for prices...and don't forget to factor in shipping!...and buy once fired casings. Prices are a lot cheaper in larger lots so I look for 500 and preferably 1000 unit lots since I also do some pistol shooting.
Although I cast my own boolits, you might try some different types to see what you and the gun like. My preference is for Night Owl Enterprises 180 or 160 grain wide flat nose. Cast boolits are relatively cheap...casting your own moreso.
Investigate powder types also. H110, 4227, 2400, etc are slower "rifle type" powders and require a larger amount per charge. RED DOT, HERCO, UNIQUE, TITEGROUP, etc will save you money there.
Go to castboolits web site and do a search for gmdr. Lots of good loads listed. Your atavar mentions a 45/70. I have yet to have a round of factory ammo for one in over 40 years. You can do plinking/target loads for it pretty inexpensively also.

Only problem with an 1894 is it tends to use up your ammo.

 

'fraid I only punch paper, no .357 hunting in the UK only the odd rabbit even then its a bit naughty. And no jacketed allowed on our range. So no real advice from me, sorry, but what I've found out using lead RN-FP 158gr as bought is; They lead up my 1894C after about 40 shots to a point of 5in groups at 25yds off a rest! Best I can get so far is with 3.2gr Bullseye in .38spl giving 1in group of 10 shots ignoring a couple of fliers, when its clean. Unique is not as accurate as Bullseye in the range of loads I'v tried. Been looking at the internet about lead hardness and came up with putting the bathroom scales on the arbour press in the workshop and pressing a small steel ball into ingots, using the Brinell formula relating ball, indent and hardness and some roofing pure lead as a known hardness, these so called hardcast are only brinell 8. So am going to try even lighter on the charge and realise that HBN 8 is never going to go well in .357. Going to have to try some of my brothers moulds and cast up some hard bullets and see what I can do in .357 as I'd like to be able to put in groups of say 2.5in max at 100yds of a rest.

 

First off, congrats on the new to you Marlin 357.:congrats:
I don't have a 1894, but have a Rossi w/24" ss barrel
A load the I've come up with is 9.4 grs Blue dot and either 158gn. rnfp or 180gn. rnfp.
Both shoot to poa at 75 yds.
Took a small buck a couple yrs. ago with the 158gn bullet at or near 90 yds.
I also use that load with a 210 gn. swc in a 41 special case for my Blackhawk.

 

3pounder:

Look at 'powder coating' those lead boolits - eliminates leading and may make for a better fit.

 

For me the Best All 'round (Plinking, Target & Hunting) Load I have found is:
Federal Small Rifle Primer W/ 7gr HS-6 in Remington Brass behind a Lee 158gr RNFP As Cast from straight Wheel Weights.
Accuracy is around 3/4 inch @ 50yds, Mild Report & Virtually No Recoil.
UncleSarge58

 

I use 14.8 grains of Hodgdon "LilGun" with The Hornady 180 gr XTP. The load is very accurate and the .357 rifle begs for a heavier bullet than 158 grain....just sayin.

CD

 

For coyote, 110 to 125 HP. For deer 140 to 180. The problem for me is having the correct bullet for target of opportunity. I now shoot everything with whatever I'm hunting for. Say deer, 158 soft point. If I see porcupine or coyote, it still kills them.

I had had the same problem with bolt guns. I loaded .243 70 grain bullets for coyote at about 3450 fps and 100 Nosler Partitions at about 3000 for deer. Never had a coyote load up when I saw one. The 100s kill them too. By the same token, I standardized the .270 loads with 140s and the .30-06 loads with 180s. Those may be more bullet than needed for the lighter animals, but they still kill them. Best wishes,

 

Fredbuddy, have slugged my bore and its a true .357, the bullets mic. at .358 so the fit isn't too bad, maybe .001in more would help, could try compressing them endwards then sizing back. Dont want to try lots of different powders and end up with stuff I wont use. The press came with Bullseye and I use Unique to reload my vintage .310 so thats my choice for a while. and I have 500 158gr RN-FP. Will look into coatings.

 

Very interesting to read this thread in the context of 3-cent primers. [emoji848][emoji51]
My, oh my, how we have taken for granted the low cost of reloading. [emoji52]

R/Griff

 

Indeed an interesting read. I'm still sitting on 60K+ primers, that will probably hold me until the price doubles what they are now 🤣🤣🤣

 

I was down to around 35K various primers last time I counted. Somehow I neglected to stock up on large pistol mag primers though. I reload pretty much everything except rimfire and most shotgun ammo, so I never look at ammo prices in the store. My son and I were reloading earlier this week and he mentioned what the new price was for his 250gr xtp and barnes 225gr 45 colt loads were. So I looked up 44 mag 225FTX and 240XTP loads and did some quick math. Last time we were at the range we'd shot up well over $400 worth of ammo (if bought new price) between his Henry 45 and my Marlin 44mag. Needless to say I didn't have anywhere near that much money in that ammo.

No wonder no one was staying long at the range.

 

Went to the range yesterday to test some .357 loads using Titegroup and Hornady 158g XTP'S. At 50 yds bench rested the best I got was under an inch 5 shot group using 6.1g of the Titegroup which is the max load for that combo. This was about the same size group (7/8") that I got using PMC factory ammo. Titegroup might not be the ideal powder for this application, but it's what I currently have the most of. I think anything under an inch at 50 yards is pretty darn good for my 1894 Marlin.
As a side note, I had previously been shooting a lot of .38 special out of my two .357 guns and had a difficult time chambering and extracting the .357 rounds. I'm pretty sure I had a carbon ring build up in the chamber from the 38's. I did a very thorough cleaning when I got home and think I took care of the problem. Both guns now chamber and extract dummy rounds easily.

 

For factory ammunition, Remington .357 Magnum 158 JSP's, when zeroed at 100 yds (with a Williams Foolproof receiver peep mounted and the original front sight), you'll be 1" high at 25 yds, just under 2" high at 50 yds, and dead on at 100. I've chrono'd this load at 1600 fps from my Marlin 1894 CS. It's a killer on deer to ~75-100 yds so sighted. Groups run less than 2" @ 100 yds.

With handloads, using Hornady's 158 XTP Flat Point & 15.0 grains of Winchester 296 with Federal 550 Mag primers, I get 1557 fps (chrono'd) & 1-1/4" 100 yd groups. These were 5-shot group averages with a 2.5x scope mounted. Trajectory varies a bit from the receiver peep...giving me impacts that are 1/2" high at 25 yds, 1.5" high at 50, with a dead on zero at 100. It's really a great deer load for close in (<100 yds), woodland hunting & one that is my go-to for any & all hunting with the Marlin carbine and has done for 3 deer, a cpl of racoons and one horse feeding raiding possum.

HTH's, Rod, Pic of my 1894S in .41 Mag using the same Williams Foolproof receiver peep. 2nd close-up Pic of my Century Limited 39 with another Williams Foolproof mounted, makes for a nice neat sighting arrangement and far better accuracy than the OEM factory rear sight.

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