357 Maximum articles

[AJMD429]

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Someone on the Ruger Forum posted a list of some sites and articles on the cartridge I thought I'd pass along:

https://www.rugerforum.com/threads/davi ... es.221187/ Ruger Forum thread
https://www.rugerforum.com/threads/194- ... gc.267666/ Ruger Forum thread
The 357 Maximum By: Glen E. Fryxell This link takes you to the LACS (Los Angeles Silhouette Club
https://www.danwessonforum.com/forum/re ... super-mag/ Dan Wesson Forum thread
https://americanhandgunner.com/think-ta ... artin-swc/ An American Handgunner article by Jeff "Tank" Hoover.

[6pt-sika]

I had a Dan Wesson stainless 8” 357 MAX . Kinda wish I still had it .

[AmBraCol]

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Someone on the Ruger Forum posted a list of some sites and articles on the cartridge I thought I'd pass along:

https://www.rugerforum.com/threads/davi ... es.221187/ Ruger Forum thread
https://www.rugerforum.com/threads/194- ... gc.267666/ Ruger Forum thread
The 357 Maximum By: Glen E. Fryxell This link takes you to the LACS (Los Angeles Silhouette Club
https://www.danwessonforum.com/forum/re ... super-mag/ Dan Wesson Forum thread
https://americanhandgunner.com/think-ta ... artin-swc/ An American Handgunner article by Jeff "Tank" Hoover.

I fixed the Fryxell link for you.

[vancelw]

I've got a TC Contender with a .357 Max barrel.
And tons of Jamison and Remington ammo.
Have only shot a raccoon with it so far. My deer woods time lately has been embarrassingly limited.

[AJMD429]

I've got a TC Contender with a .357 Max barrel.
And tons of Jamison and Remington ammo.
Have only shot a raccoon with it so far. My deer woods time lately has been embarrassingly limited.

That's my only 357 Max (Contender 14" ) but I have a nice Williams aperture sight on it and need to shoot it more.

[vancelw]

Mine is a 10" bull barrel.
I've not shot it at targets enough to brag or cry about accuracy.

[Nath]

Always wondered why the max never took off.
Bizarrely 35 Remington is more popular and possibly 35/30. Then there was the new 350Win.
Poor old max, I remember writers pooping it for flame cutting top straps.
Do I remember correctly that some revolvers started to have titanium inserts fitted to resist the flame cutting?

[Sixgun]

The Maximum was designed to push a 180 grain bullet at the same speed a .357 Magnum pushed the 158 grain. Trouble started right away when guys were pushing 125 gr. Bullets 2,000 fps which resulted in gas cutting.......once again, the a.h. of the world messed it up for the guys who wanted to use it as intended.

I had a 7.5 which I sold and the below pictured 10" which shoots like a rifle. It has logged 843 rounds with just a smidgen of flame cutting on the top strap.......shoots like a rifle. It really only shines with the 180 grain jacketed "silhouette" bullet.

During long range club silhouette matches there were a few guys who tried to intimidate me into not using it as they had "regular revolvers." and I was "cheating".......So to please them I used a 6" model 629 Smith and still beat them.....just another reason for me giving it all up..."other people"----006



with a .357 for comparison


My notes on loads if anyone is interested.

[AJMD429]

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I think if it would have fit a carbine or short-action levergun of some sort it would have taken off, but to run it with any 'stock' action wasn't doable, and if you had to go to a long-action 336 or 94 or other such action, there was no reason not to just step up to a 35 Remington or even a 375 Winchester. If stuck with a short-action levergun, the 44 Mag (and maybe even 45 Colt) necked to 357 was decent enough, and just required a re-barrelling.

So it was doomed to be an almost all-handgun cartridge, and as Sixgun said, it got 'abused' and even without that, was a bit of a 'niche' cartridge.

Still fun though. I really like all the 'straight wall' cartridges, from 32-20 to 444 Marlin and everything in between.

[jmiller]

My first 357Max was a Winchester/Miroku Low Wall converted from a .357Mag. It shot extremely well and I took a half dozen or so deer with it. Not being satisfied with having just one .357Max, I ended up with two different barrels for my Encore rifle. One a 24” 1:20 twist (too slow) and the second one a 1:16 20” bbl which I shot another half dozen or so. Two years ago I shot two deer with it at 189 yards and one just around 200 yards. I’m now waiting for a new SSK 16 1/4” 1:16 Encore rifle barrel. It’s due to arrive next week. This is a very nice cartridge if used within its acceptable range for bullet performance. Pistol bullets work well out to a hundred yards if not driven too fast and at that point you can use something like the Speer HotCore 180g pushed to around 2,000 fps out to about 200 yards. In all fairness to the game you’re hunting that’s about as far as you can shoot and get acceptable bullet performance. Last year I picked up a barrel in 358 Win and that added another 150 yards onto an effective MPBR of around 250 yards. If they’d developed a lever gun for the .357Max I think it would have sold quite well.

[6pt-sika]

I had a Lyman mold for awhile that was a 215 grain SWC GC design . I was told it was made for the IHMSA guys to use in the 357 MAX . I never loaded any for the Dan Wesson I had because I traded it off before I got the mold . But the bullet actually worked very well in a couple Marlin 1894’s in 357 MAG .

[wvfarrier]

I would love to have a levergun in MAX. Ive always liked the concept of it.

[6pt-sika]

I would love to have a levergun in MAX. Ive always liked the concept of it.

I was under the impression a 357 MAX would not cycle thru a Marlin 1894 , hence the reason the 357-44 Bain and Davis came about.

[AJMD429]

I would love to have a levergun in MAX. Ive always liked the concept of it.

I was under the impression a 357 MAX would not cycle thru a Marlin 1894 , hence the reason the 357-44 Bain and Davis came about.

I think that is correct. Plus it is pretty high pressure as well.

[TraderVic]

A number of guys over on the Henry Rifles Forum have purchased the Henry Big Boy Steel single shot 357 and reamed them to 357 Max, and are having fun shooting them.

[6pt-sika]

A number of guys over on the Henry Rifles Forum have purchased the Henry Big Boy Steel single shot 357 and reamed them to 357 Max, and are having fun shooting them.

To each his own . If it’s a Henry and doesn’t shoot 44 rimfire more than likely it won’t intrest me . The original Henry’s I like , not do much the present manufacture .

[jmiller]

Win/Miroku 357mag reamed to 357max. Shoots 1moa with several loads and looks pretty good also.

8342AE97-F284-4F3D-A9D8-ADD62C4DBD9D.jpeg

[Nath]

Win/Miroku 357mag reamed to 357max. Shoots 1moa with several loads and looks pretty good also.
8342AE97-F284-4F3D-A9D8-ADD62C4DBD9D.jpeg

[Rusty]

If you go to the graybeard's outdoor forums there is a section there for centerfire H&R rifles. There were quite a few guys there that were re-cutting .357 magnums a while back when they were avalible to turn them into maximums. There's also a lot of reloading information on those pages if you sift through them.

[horsesoldier03]

I recall those articles as well. In fact, I had gotten the order form to purchase and had a .410 shotgun to send in to have a .357 mag barrel headspaced for my receiver. I ended up mis-placing the form and the next thing I knew they announced they were closing shop.

[AJMD429]

If you go to the graybeard's outdoor forums there is a section there for centerfire H&R rifles. There were quite a few guys there that were re-cutting .357 magnums a while back when they were avalible to turn them into maximums. There's also a lot of reloading information on those pages if you sift through them.

If I recall, weren't there two different receiver types manufactured and the one designed for shotguns was not recommended, perhaps not so much due to any strength difference but the firing pin diameter and protrusion...? However I think frames that started out as rifles were considered very good candidates for such conversions.

I still have a Ruger No1 in 7 mm Remington Magnum, which just isn't a cartridge I really need, and if I did I would probably want to have it in a heavy super accurate bolt action gun. I've thought of many different rechamberings I could get for that, since with that action you can pretty much use any cartridge from 17 Hornet to 416 Rigby. The No1 has never really seemed to have a reputation for being super accurate, just super strong. I know some of them are 'fairly accurate' though, but I just never could get excited enough about any particular cartridge to rebarrel the gun in it.

I did think about a 357 maximum though.

But then I figure why not scale it up a bit and go 375 Winchester...?

Or 'just' a 45-70...? (but I don't want to have loads around that would detonate my Marlin Guide Gun )

Or 500 S&W (but why do that when I already have a BHA 89 lever gun...? )

Or 444 Marlin fast-twist with integral suppressor.... ( I still haven't really thought of a good reason not to do that other than the cost, plus it's another thing I don't really need )

...but it would be really cool to launch some custom cylindrical hardcast bullet of about 700 grains out at about 900 ft per second...very quietly...

"click" s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s THUMP...!!!


As my son says....

"You suffer so with your First-World problems... "

[piller]

By the time I had money for toys, H&R was out of business. I haven't really looked to see if anyone makes a single shot break action rifle anymore. I probably will get a . 357 Magnum levergun sometime. The . 357 Maximum does not seem to be anything I would be interested in. I can get a levergun in . 357 Magnum and work up loads for it and my GP100, and hunt hogs and deer within 100 yards. Most shots I have had in the last 15 years are under 100 yards.

[AJMD429]

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Agreed the 'ordinary' 357 Mag levergun will do pretty well.

If you really want more power in a 357 caliber, then if you don't mind a little longer action, a 336 Marlin or 1894 Winchester can be had in 35 Remington which is even more power behind the same class and caliber of bullets.

Or if you want to stick with an 1894 Marlin or 1892 Winchester and the shorter action, get a 44 magnum, 41 magnum, or 45 Colt necked down to 357 caliber, like the 356 GNR Reeder wildcat mentioned in the other thread. I presume the easiest way to do that would be to get the larger bore gun and then re-barrel it so the action would already be set up to feed the larger cartridge.

[elmo123]

I have a Winchester AE Trapper in 357 Magnum that I rechambered to 357 Maximum. I bought another a carrier and cartridge guides that I altered so you can load and feed the Maximum cartridge ammo through the action but it won't feed 38 & 357 magnum ammo also so I reinstalled the original parts which makes it a single shot with the Maximum cartridge which is fine with me.

I was surprised at the velocities I could achieve through the 16" barrel with modest loads and I can load the 200 grain bullets designed for the 35 Remington.

[yooper2]

I've had a 10 1/2" Ruger Maximum for years and Dad had a Seville. He was pretty serious about Silhouette shooting for a few years and did well with the Seville. Mine is mostly a range toy for smacking steel way out yonder but I've killed a few coyotes and a fat old doe with it. The only bullet I really shoot in mine anymore is the Lyman 358627 which is basically a 215gr gaschecked version of the Keith bullet. It does very well with 4227.


Eric