140 grain 357 XTP's, 50 & 100 yards
Today I gave the 140 grain XTP (started at about 2000 fps from my 16” Rossi 92) a chance to fail an impromptu penetration test. I set water-filled Window Wash jugs in front of an old cable spool end and shot them at 50 and 100 yards. I figured I’d be able to pick the bullet or fragments out of the wooden spool end, but such was not the case. Both shots penetrated the jug and spool, including the separated jackets which were recovered from the ground behind it. What was left of the cores achieved at least some penetration into a second spool, where I normally hang targets. It has about 10 layers of old target paper on it and I didn’t bother with peeling them off. The photos-
50 Yard Jug on the left, 100 Yard Jug on the right:
Holes In Spool End- 50 Yard Shot on the left, 100 Yard Shot on the right:
50 Yard recovered jacket:
100 Yard recovered jacket:
My take is this. While the 357 Carbine doesn’t hit like a ‘real’ rifle (ground floor of 20” 30-30) it does hit hard enough & penetrates well enough to be useful on game to the size of deer, assuming reasonable range/proper placement. It should make a kick-ass defensive carbine. It is awfully handy, cheap to feed, versatile and accurate enough to be interesting. I think it’s a worthwhile compromise.
One of the reasons I bought mine is for a defensive suburbs
Rifle with a "harmless" cowboy gun look and I was already reloading for 357. I consider it one of the most fun to shoot rifles I have. Also figure it will be a good center fire starter rifle for the youngun some day and not a bad little woods deer rifle.
I do beleive that if you live east of the Mississippi
and reload you could make do with this one rifle and might not notice any inconvenience.
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Sincerely,
Hobie
Agreed - the deer here in TN aren't all that big
Nm
Agreed - the deer here in TN aren't all that big
And where we hunt your usually shooting under 80 yds, so more than enough gun at that range.