Sk8man

Here you go Stan

Marmooska and Fiska tungstens, Mud Bugs both with either wax worms or spikes and/or tiny plastic "tails"

Stinger makes good points. It probably wouldn't be highly recommended by the experts and I don't hunt anymore but if I were doing it I would put one of the Barnes Expander 140's or the 130 Federal JHP in the cylinder lined up with the barrel and the heavier 158's in the remaining cylinder holes and if I had a close shot i'd shoot the chamber round for the energy transfer and if the shot was further out I'd just spin the cylinder to a heavier load....but that is me (the kick or recoil effect will be different too) P.S. Nice grip on that 357 to help kill the shock to the hand.

There used to be a ballistics chart on the Federal ammo website that gave a lot of specs on the different rounds both handgun and rifle info that can give a general idea regarding the particular rounds and distance drop off rates at different distances etc. Might want to check and see if it is still there.....gives a good idea of things but the real world firing of different rounds is still the best bet.

My hunch is that this question will generate more questions than answers. A whole lot of variables involved. To begin with barrel length can be a major consideration in how the particular cartridge functions in it and not all brands of factory loads fire the same. The distance of the shot is another important consideration. The particular projectile (bullet type) is another both in terms of bullet weight and foot pounds delivered at the distance you'll be expecting to shoot.. Accuracy is high on the list too and not all cartridges of the same number of grain bullet fire the same in terms of it from a given handgun, and the best advice I can think of is to buy a few boxes of different weights from say Federal or Hornady which usually fire pretty consistently. My thought is that you will want expansion of the projectile but not fragmentation. The heavier you go with the bullet the more kick you'll experience generally too which can be important for second shots. In terms of foot pounds delivered the 130 gr.Federal Hydrashok JHP and the 140 gr. Barnes Expander deliver about 600 fp with good expansion. The downside with lighter bullets is that with distance they wander more than heavier bullets which also relates to gun barrel length. The heavier 158 and 180 gr. bullets will tend to be more accurate down range but they may have less knock down power at your shooting distance. The most extreme differences in the way any of the factory loads function is between handguns with short barrels (less than 4 inches) vs. longer barrels (e..g. 4 inches and longer). Shorter barreled tend to be more sensitive to particular ammo. The solid point bullets don't expand or mushroom as the specially designed jacketed hollow points do (e.g. personal defense ammo) and they may travel right through your target without the damage you want (depending on area hit). The firearm in the above pic looks to have a barrel length at least 6 inches (hard to tell from a pic and I think they come in 7 and 8 as well) so that should deliver a relatively accurate shot with pretty good knockdown power with the right ammo. I think you may be ahead of the game if you test out a few different loads in that particular firearm rather than just going based on general considerations examining the accuracy of it and how well it expands in an appropriate target done at a distance range you expect to be shooting. Each firearm may shoot somewhat different even the same brand handgun with the same brand ammo.

Nice going. have to take advantage of the chances to get out when they occur in the cold weather.

The recurrent theme seems to be the clearer water conditions have suggested "less might end up as more as far as the fish are concerned" regardless of beam width etc. Too often we tend to overcomplicate the situation with the good old American way of "more must be better" and it isn't always better..... sometimes just adjusting things by running lines further back or away from boat turbulence is all that is needed but often overlooked.