Look, .357 Magnum 1911s.

[m1aowner]

http://www.dancoonan.com/coonan_357.html

[zefflyn]

Those have been around for years. I've seen one in person, but didn't get to fire it. They seem like nifty guns - much lighter than the DE.

[Inoxmark]

One of the users of the old Calguns here had one of those. I think his name was handcannon or something like that.

[saki302]

LA gun club had one for rental (dunno if they still do). I shot it- it'a little ergonomically weird for a 1911, but seemed to shoot fine. It's noticeably wider in the grip.

-Dave

[BPA]

ive had a colt 1911 357 national match in my hand but that thing was way to much money, still wish i bought it

[rkt88edmo]

Yup. A few years ago my wife was reading a one of her romance novels and told me to read this part about a woman arming herself for self protection. It went on at length about her decision making process and how she decided on the .357 for its power, and a semi-auto for its capacity and reloading.

I scoffed, auto loading .357 - no way, I told her the author was an idiot, but then I looked up the specific manufacturer it talked about, Coonan.

She still makes fun of me about how her romance novel authors know more about guns than I do.

[ivanimal]

Yup. A few years ago my wife was reading a one of her romance novels and told me to read this part about a woman arming herself for self protection. It went on at length about her decision making process and how she decided on the .357 for its power, and a semi-auto for its capacity and reloading.

I scoffed, auto loading .357 - no way, I told her the author was an idiot, but then I looked up the specific manufacturer it talked about, Coonan.

She still makes fun of me about how her romance novel authors know more about guns than I do.

Thats why you married her, she is smarter than you.

I like the 41 Magnum version, it seems to be better powered and worthy of the extra recoil to performance ratio.

Cool guns. I got to shoot an autoloading 44 Magnum once when I was young and it beat my butt. I did not realize I was shooting a collectors item at the time. It was an AMT automag. I recall it had a wierd letoff on the trigger and that made it uncomfortable to shoot. My rich uncle in San Mateo owned it. He had some great guns.

[maschronic]

how much is the coonan 357 mag handgun??

[bwiese]

how much is the coonan 357 mag handgun??

It is out of production. If you found one it'd ordinarily be $1K+, but expect to pay more in CA due to PPT-only issues.

I have heard they weren't super-reliable, and liked only certain loads.

It's a nice novelty, but I wouldn't wanna bet my life on an autoloader feeding rimmed cases.

[lugee]

for some reason, that grip looks weird, I don't know how well anyone would be able to grip that 1911.

[CALI-gula]

I have a Coonan Model B in its box, with it's little Coonan key-chain and tools, etc., with 3 extra mags. Took it to the range once, put about 50 rounds through it, and it functioned flawlessly. I specifically got it well before SB15 kicked in as I knew I might never see another afterwards. When I bought it, it was not much of a price difference than any other mid-range quality 1911.

I also have a .357 Magnum conversion kit for my an LAR Grizzlies, which shoots well, but all of its components need to be mated together. You can't simply swap parts among the LAR Grizzly .357 Mag kits because of their hand-tuned matching.

When most people hear of or refer to a ".357" 1911 (or most any other semi-auto) they typically mean .357SIG. Though short, it's similar ballistics and power so I hear; may as well get the .357SIG so you can actually get magazines for it!! Coonan and LAR Grizzly mags in .357 sell in the $100 range - EACH! (Neither is made anymore).

Weirder than the above is my semi-auto Mateba revolvers in .357 Magnum and .44 Mag. Very accurate, very unique.

And somewhere around here, I have a 4 barreled COP DA in .357 magnum. It is "NIB" and I have never shot it, and think that if I ever did, I would only run .38 Special through it. It's beefy, but not sure if I would fully commit to its flip-open action to be secure enough for .357 Mag.


.

[s281c]

for some reason, that grip looks weird, I don't know how well anyone would be able to grip that 1911.

Looking at it the grip does look a little "different", but it's not too bad when you hold it and shoot it. I've not had any problems with any of mine, although I don't shoot them much, they're just very finicky with ammo much like any of the Desert Eagles are.

[BPA]

I take it back. the one i saw was a 38 special. not a 357.

[CALI-gula]

I take it back. the one i saw was a 38 special. not a 357.

Many of those .38 Special Colts 1911's were Gold Cup National Match models from the early 1960's to the early 1970's, but many never worked well. When they did work, they were great. They discontinued it for a reason and .38 Super was a better round for the comparable purpose. Failure to feed and extract were common problems. By the way, they are meant to shoot .38 Special wad cutters only. In any case, if looking for something like that, try to find something in .38 Super - much more enjoyable and reliable to shoot, and magazines or parts much more common to find.

The last one I saw at a dealer sat in his shop for over a year, and this was just 2 years ago, so after SB-15; it was like new (but no box) and had a great price, but I guess it was just so esoteric that it seemed nobody ever wanted to buy it. I passed on it numerous times (buying other items that could be considered just as equally esoteric by most people's opinions). I nearly bought the thing out of pity!! It was a beautiful gun... but it just seemed to broadcast "problem gun" just by looking at it.

.

[Moonclip]

I saw one for sale in CA for low $4's like a year ago and didn't buy it!