Thread: 7.62x39 or 357mag/38special for goats and similar sized animals

357mag max load, 158gn Powder Coated lead flatpoint, will give you something a little over 1200fps according to Hogdon in an 18in rifle barrel. 16 in and 20 in about 100 something fps each way from that. I max load mine in a Rossi Puma 20 in and it kills goats well out to 120- 130m. Goats are not that hard to kill but be kind and make sure your shot placement is good at the distance your targeting them. I get between 1300 and 1400fps. That's a very traditional velocity for a largish flatpoint lump of lead and has put plenty of meat on the table from various calibres in the 32-35cal range. Just requires a bit of traditional woodsmanship and hunting ability to go with it. If you icome down a bit in range, under the 100m, the same bullet in hot 38sp case around the 1100fps mark will do the same job. Fallow are often not that much heavier or harder to kill than a decent billy goat. Anything bigger or even a heavy Fallow Stag, I would want to be under 50m. 357mag will do the job at that range. I take my 357mag out in preference to my 30-30 cause its just so much cheaper to run especially on goats. Its also nice and light to carry.