357 Maximum

[morthrane]

As a wild idea, I've heard of people taking 5.56 cases, trimming them at the neck, fireforming them to almost straight walled, and loading them with either .355 or .357 bullets depending on the barrel they're using, calling it 355/357 Rimless Max.

Obviously wildcatting is more work than buying brass, but 5.56 brass is essentially free. You'd also need to make some changes to the bolt (or whatever it's called on a TC)/extractor too.

rimless .357 would headspace off the mouth, not the rim, presumably. You'd lose the ability to run .357max and .357mag (or even .38sp) in the same barrel/bore, iirc.

[Junkie]

rimless .357 would headspace off the mouth, not the rim, presumably. You'd lose the ability to run .357max and .357mag (or even .38sp) in the same barrel/bore, iirc.

Hmm, good point. Could you not set it up so max rimless headspaces on the mouth and mag/38 headspace on the rim? of course, you'd need a significantly different extractor for rimmed vs rimless anyway...

[Wrangler John]

When Elgin Gates designed the .357 Super Mag he had brass cases welded up out of two sections of standard .357 S&W Magnum cases to extend case length to 1.605". The concept caught on to provide sufficient power to topple the steel ram silhouette at 200 meters in International Handgun Metallic Silhouette (IHMSA) competition. I recall that Gates worked with Remington to produce the cases and loaded ammo. Ruger and Dan Wesson both produced revolvers, some with 10" barrels and target sights especially for IHMSA production class competition, and Thompson Center added 10" and 15" barrels.

When Remington adopted the cartridge they had to rename it .357 Maximum as S&W owns the copyright to any handgun cartridge name including the word "Magnum" or contractions of Magnum. Gates, the founder of IHMSA also ordered a batch of specially head stamped cases offering them for sale through IHMSA. While these cases are long gone, except for my supply laid in during the 1980's, Remington occasionally produces a batch of unprimed brass every few years.

A "problem" arose when Ruger's revolvers were found to have the top straps eroded by flame cutting above the cylinder/barrel gap. Gates criticized Bill Ruger for making the cylinder 0.125" too short against his recommendation, as the Dan Wesson revolver with the longer cylinder wasn't as effected. Still the gun writing press went nuts, blowing the problem out of proportion, and Ruger eventually canceled production. My copy of the Ruger showed that the erosion was minimal and halted at a point where it was cosmetic and no way weakened the frame.

The .357 Remington Maximum, is beyond a doubt one of the most accurate cartridges in a revolver I have worked with. Using Sierra's 180 grain FPJ Match bullet and Winchester 680 powder (substituting ACC 1680 today) the Ruger would shoot .75" 10 shot groups at 50 yards from a rest. I won several early IHMSA revolver class competitions with the combination, nearly shooting a perfect score of 40x40, except missing one turkey at 150 meters when my leg cramped. The 200 meter 50 pound ram targets all fell with a resounding "clang".

Would the .35 Remington be a better choice? Yes, while ammo is currently available for both: .35 Remington: {https://www.midwayusa.com/35-remington/br?cid=7538) along with brass (http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...ategoryId/811?). .357 Remington Maximum (http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...ategoryId/513?) and loaded ammo (http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...categoryId/32?), the .35 Remington will be more flexible with its greater powder capacity and ability to shoot heavier bullets at higher velocity. I owned a Remington Model 141 pump action rifle in .35 Remington (it had a unique spiral magazine tube that allowed use of pointed bullets) and found it a good a deer and pig cartridge. Then there is my solution to such problems of choice, I buy both (if my wife shrugs her shoulders and doesn't ask, "why do you need that"?)

[lostinsurf]

The OP said -
I assume the Contender and Encore can be loaded, with respect to this cartridge, to the same level, correct? I've looked through the data and see no difference in load levels.

The answer is Yes they may share ammo without problems. I assume both TC receivers are rated the same to handle any recipe given in the manuals.

However, the longer barrel in my Encore obviously gets higher velocity.
The TCs will get higher velocity than revolvers because there is no B/C gap.

[dfletcher]

Dies, brass & bullets arrived - I bought the dies because even though I have 38/357 already I don't want to fiddle with readjusting or spacers. I think this barrel will be used as a "35 caliber" light rifle, a good match for my 16" 30 carbine Contender barrel. I suppose I'll use H110 or Win 296, the manuals say most are compressed loads.