another enough gun question

[smokin54]

I would like to try hunting wild pig with a 180 grain bullet at approx 1800 fps and approx 1300 fpe ,This is from a contender chambered in 357 Maximum and a 3x scope (this is Not .357 mag). Any thoughts on this ?

 

[Two Rugers]

Well someone will dump on me for this but when I didnt know sh*t about Hog hunting I used my Marlin .357 magnum lever action pretty succesfuly when I kept the shots less than 100 yards. That and I havent come accross any monster hogs.

 

[Freedivr2]

I've taken one hog with a .357 magnum (my backup), but only because he was close and I had the shot and the rest. He received a head shot at 50 feet and it dropped him cold. The adrenalin rush made me put a 2nd thru his ear, not sure if it was needed (cept he growled and snorted when I got there, so that's why). Months later I picked up the skull and the entire side (bullet exit side), above the jaw hinge line and just behind the eye, was gone, a hole approx. 5" in diameter. I can't imagine the .357 did that much damage, but it sure looked like it did.

That said, I know that guys will tell you they'll take a .243 out there, use 100 grain bullets and all that, but here's my line of thought on this;

NEVER be undergunned. Remember, you can ALWAYS take a small hog with a big gun, but turn that statement around and it doesn't work well. I wouldn't want to get caught in a situation for a chance for a huge trophy boar and have a .243 in my hands, or have a 400 lb. boar running at me and I've got a pea-shooter in my grip. I use a 30-06 for hogs, if I was strictly handgun hunting, it wouldn't be smaller than a .44 mag, if for nothing else, simply for the knockdown power.

 

[Bishop]

I don't see any problem. Like you said it is a ".357 Maximun", not a standard .357 Magnum. And at 1800 f.p.s. it developes 1295.31 foot pounds of muzzle energy. Most factory .44 mag. loads only develop 750-1150 M.E.
I think the most important thing for you to consider is the bullet. Since the bullet is only going to be .357 in diameter, you probably want a bullet that will expand, but still stay together. Another possibility is a hardcast with a wide meplat.

 

[jrifenbark]

Seems OK to me if you kept your shots under 100 yds. It's apprears to be only marginally weaker than a 30-30 (170 gr. at about 2,000 fps).