Re: Sidearms when hunting
I've had mixed results using a .357 on hogs.
One night after returning from town, we stumbled on some ferals and gave chase with a spotlight in my Blazer. There were 3 of them amd the Python was the only thing that I had on me. The hog I lined up on first was colored like a Hampshire with the wide white vertical stripe just behind the shoulder. I managed to get a round into him on the go and he never slowed down a bit.
Thinking that I might have missed, my wife commented that she could see a small dark spot in the middle of the stripe. We had given chase through some open pasture and ran them into a thicket. I managed to get a oouple more into him and he slowed down to where he was just standing. I got out with my headlights lined up on him to dispatch him when I heard something to my right and being blinded by my own lights, I stepped toward the noise out of the light...and it was another hog. I shot it one handed and it went down right there....dead. Had it rushed me it would have been on me before I could have responded. Dangerous close, I might add.
For hogs, the .357 is marginal. It will give you the penetration. Much better than say a .45ACP. In this instance, I was using hard cast bullets which was probably a good thing.