I used to load a 158 grain Hornady XTP to nearly .30-30 velocity with H4227 for my Marlin 1894C. Nowadays, I just shoot the Lee 125 grain flat point around 1500 fps or so. Lotsa fun and still outpaces most .357 handgun loads. For actual hunting, I reach for my .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, or several .30-30's. We have bears here in Eastern Kentucky, some of them are pretty darn big. My part of the state, coyotes are a much more severe problem.
My brother used to hunt bear in WI with a bow. Not for the faint of heart and not for this camper, no thank you.
Around here a .357 handgun with a 6" barrel is minimum legal for deer. Out of a rifle I understand the ballistics and like the'94. Cool.
I've been screwing around with a Coonan m1911 in .357 and in a handgun and breaking the 1400 fps barrier is a challenge; that's in an enclosed semi-auto with a 6" barrel. W296 and H110. Hard Cast SWC. Fist of God loads.
I never put a chrony on any of
these loads (because I didn't have one) but they were generally in the 260-300g range and the cases are cavernous repositories for W296, H110, or compressed 2400 if you want to put on a light show. Blew up it's share of bowling pins, steel plates, fluorescent light fixtures incautiously close by, and about anything else it got pointed at. It was a bowling pin league gun from it's previous owner. This thing was and likely still is the number one, hang on to your teeth granny, holy **** release-the Kraken things in an m1911. It's a Grizzly Mark 1 in .45 Winchester Magnum. It's retired for a number of good reasons, stress on the user being big on the list.
You got a REAL bear problem go get a 12 ga. or 30-30 and don't depend on handguns of any kind.
You mentioned coyotes. A friend let me shoot a Cz rifle with a set trigger in 7.62 x 39. Don't know the model but it was cool and the ammo's cheap.
