Shooting the Taurus tracker .357 mag

kyotekiller25

kyotekiller25

Well-known member
I bought the Taurus Tracker in .357 Mag a few months back and have been working with H-110 and 158g XTP's.

I settled on 16g of H-110 for a velocity of 1200fps from the 4" bbl, and its giving me about 5" 7 shot groups at 25 yards from a two hand hold. I dont have a pistol rest so I'm sure it can do better. I should also be doing 5 shot groups for accuracy, but I felt I should get an idea of how the whole cylinder does, not just 5 of the 7. Seems I always have 2 bad flyers though. Probly me since I dont claim to be a crack shot with a pistol.

Anyways, I wanted this pistol for protection, and the occasion close coyote, or maybe even deer. I wanted to put a scope on it, but later figured I couldn't. So my range is limited to about 50 yards with open sights considering I do my part.

I have several steel gongs at my range and decided to put up the 10" square at 50 yards and see what I could do. This would simulate a deers vitals. From a 2 hand hold I was able to hit the gong 5 of 7 shots. I was quite happy with that considering I am not a pistol shooter.

I later used my truck window for a rest and proceeded to hit the gong 7 of 7 times. I was pretty happy with that as well.

I am wanting to try some 125g XTP's for plinking and coyotes. Is there anything special I need to pay attention to when loading the 125's as compared to the 158's?? Hoping to get about 1450-1500fps or so with good accuracy.

Thanks guys
 
I think if you drop back in speed a little you'll find your accuracy improves. At least that worked in my 41 mag Tracker.
 
I did 3 different loads at 15, 15.5, 16g. Every load was about identical for group size and all had 2 flyers, so I decided to go with the heaviest charge for the additional velocity. Do you think its worth it to go down to 14 or 14.5g??

Thinking I might try a different powder when I get done with the H-110. Maybe my pistol will like something better. Any suggestions??

I've seen some open sighted pistols shoot 2.5" 5 shot groups at 25 yards off a rest, so thats what I"m going to try and duplicate.
 
Don't know what to say. Most of my loading is for the 38 special for my snubby, the 44 magnum and 41 mag for hunting.

I've found the the 44 or the 41 loaded to velocities between 1250 and 1350 with hardcast Kieth style bullets kill very well and are nice loads to shoot.

I really don't do much with the 357. I've killed 19 black bear with the 41 and 44 and a pile of deer. I use tight group for the 38 and several different shotgun powders for light loads in the 41 and 44.

What I have seen is the 357 will out penetrate the 41 and the 44 mag. I guess it's a smaller bore diameter at the same velocities causes that. Any hardcast out of the 357 at velocities over 1100 fps will shoot all the way thru a black bear unless you hit a shoulder bone.

This is my 41 mag Tracker. It's mostly a pack in the woods gun anymore. I'm just to crippled up to handgun hunt anymore.

TaurusTracker41magnum.jpg


Here's the two 44 Ruger Redhawks I used when I was handgun hunting.

RugerSRH.jpg


redhawk5.jpg
 
16 grains of 110 in a 4" 357 seems like a handful to me. Maybe an O.K. full power load but more than needed for light duty or plinking. I do use Win296(H110) for max power 357 & 44 mag loads but most of my shooting is with modest loads of H Universal. Many use unique for mild to mid handgun loads.
 
As I have found went loading for a handgun (357), when you find your most accurate load, it is based on the FPS. I can change bullet types and weights, but if I keep the spped the same it will shoot in the same spot, and as accurate.
Max loads are fun but very hard on the gun. Have fun
Todd
 
I've been shooting a 6" Python since the mid-80's. The best loads I came up with for it (and it's not exactly what you want, but you might investigate it) ended up with a Speer 140 gr. JHP and either 8.5 gr. Unique and a CCI standard primer or 18.3 gr. W296 with a CCI mag primer.
You'll want to creep up on that charge, but it shoots real well in my pistol and I don't need to hammer the brass out of the cylinder. They're both about middle-range loads in the Speer manual, around 1250 fps. w/Unique and 1370 w/296 out of a 6" barrel.
The Unique load is a bit dangerous, because you could easily double-charge a case without overflowing. I tore down a lot of 50 once when I forgot to do the "falshlight check" before seating bullets. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
Doing penetration tests on wet paper, I found that the 140 gr. Speer had excellent expansion, that's why I stuck with it.
 
Quote:
I am wanting to try some 125g XTP's for plinking and coyotes. Is there anything special I need to pay attention to when loading the 125's as compared to the 158's?? Hoping to get about 1450-1500fps or so with good accuracy.



125 grain bullets from a .357 Magnum at 1,450 - 1,500 fps from a 4" ported barrel is pushing way too hard for your revolver IMHO. I doubt you could get that velocity in the first place, and if you did, OMG the muzzle blast from those ports would be terrific! I would also strongly suspect you’ll be shipping the gun back to the factory for repairs soon if you insisted upon shooting a lot of those red line loads in your gun. Ease up and enjoy life, it passes by so quickly… no coyote is going to know the difference if a quality 125 gr. hollow point smacks him 100 fps slower. A 4” mid size .357 handles nicely with the 125 gr. bullet running around 1,250 - 1,350 fps. It is just as terminal at that level, it is easier on the gun, safer, and easier on the shooter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 


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