Ruger 357/44 Bobcat

[Repeat]

Hello to all I'm new here
I'm trying to get some information on a revolver I had custom built back in the late 70's early 80's by a Gun Smith named Bob Hartzel
in Concord Ca.
Bob and a partner "another Bob from I believe Castro Valley area " where building
357/44 Bobcat conversions from S&W and Ruger 357's they ended up going with the Rugers for all the remaining conversions because of the stronger frame's and the fact that the Ruger's came with a second cyclinder ( 9mm para. )
They honed out and re chambered the cylinder to fit a 44 case necked down to .357 with a sleeve on the brass to keep from blowing out the case mouth
I'm looking for any information on load data where I can get the sleeves?
I did find that RCBS does have the reloading dies any help out there??
Thanks in advance
Repeat

[ECVMatt]

You might look up Bain and Davis, they have been doing this for years. They might have the info you need.

[Rekrab]

If ECVMatt is correct, here's your maximum load:

http://handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=357/44%20Bain%20qqq%20Davis&Weight=All&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=

And here are your dies:

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?&sortby=1&itemsperpage=20&newcategorydimensionid=12741

[HighValleyRanch]

Yep, Bain and Davis.
My brother has one of the Ruger Blackhawks in this bobcat conversion.
The plastic sleeves or sabots are virtually impossible to find stock anywheres. We have looked endlessly. The best is probably find some plastic or soft metal and have a machinist make up a ton of them.
Here's a pic of the Blackhawk and what the cartridges look like. The rings tend to break because the plastic is so old now. We just have a few hundred rounds left, so we only shoot this once in a blue moon, but it really turns heads when it goes off!

[ckprax]

Seems like it would be easy enough to machine some sleeves. I bet you could get some screamers out of this. Very neat, I had never heard of this before.

[HighValleyRanch]

Funny, because just as I was posting this, a buddy came by the house with a unique cartridge that the previous evenings instructor gave him to show me.
Looked like a necked down .45 Colt case with a .223 bullet.
Apparently something in the neighborhood of 4000 fps with that one.
There are some weird cartridges out there!

We haven't Chrono these bobcat .38/44 loads but they are hot!

[CaliforniaLiberal]

Anyone else think this is completely crazy? Like putting a 6 cylinder Porsche engine in a '67 Beetle Convertible? Refusing to accept any limits.

I understand the drive to do something crazy but still....


Hey, I know! Lets mount a cut down 16" gun from an Iowa class Battleship on a reinforced M1 Abrahms chassis. Cut off about 20' of barrel, tie down the Abrahms with a dozen 4" hawsers. Keep it from flying back more than about 15 or 20'

Bet that sucker would be loud!


Hey, I know! We could put a 12 cylinder PT boat engine in the Abrahms. With straight pipes, no muffler.