38spl and 357 mag in 357 maximum chamber

bearhunter said:
No, I have tried that. It does work with lighter bullet weights, such as 125 grain but that moots the point of chambering for the MAXI. I have shot everything from the 125 grain to the 250 grain Speer flat base bullets out of both of my rifles and they work well. My barrel twist rates are 1-12 and have a No. 2 contour.

Being able to utilize other ammo is nice when the Maxi isn't available.

The first 38S&W cartridges I shot through the one were surplus 38/200 cast lead rounds. They shot much better than the later surplus with jacketed bullets. 38 LC were ok but I only had a limited amount of rounds and just shot around 20 to see how well they would do. 38 spcl. with 158 cast lead round nose were again acceptable. All had little or no felt recoil and would make for great plinking days. The 357 magnum had more recoil and was definitely more accurate and at close to max loads needed to have jacketed bullets to reduce fouling. This summer I will be experimenting with hard cast, gas checked bullets to see if those work well. The 357 Maxi was the best of all when accuracy/velocity/versatility were taken into account. With good bullets I wouldn't be at all afraid to take a Bear/Deer out to 200 meters. With the right powders/primers the 250 grn flat base, jacketed bullets can be driven to faster than expected velocities that easily achieve/exceed factory 30-30 Win performance. NO, I won't give out the load because it's stout, maybe to stout. It works well in my Martinis and both have had over a thousand rounds of these through them without showing any signs of overpressure.
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Thanx. I was just wondering. I have a 45-70 (1895 GG), and I often like to play with it, so full-house loads are little, shall we say, stiff, so I load will load it with 405 gr. cast and something like Trail Boss.
 
357 Maximum shoot verry well with hard cast 180 and 200gr loads. The loads I used in my revolvers and Contender were all top end loads. Bonus the 38 SPC and 357 mag loads work well for young shooters.

You do not require jacketed bullets for these cartridge to obtain top velocity and accuracy. Hard cast bullets of the correct diameter are all that is needed.

357
 
Papaclaude said:
Thanx. I was just wondering. I have a 45-70 (1895 GG), and I often like to play with it, so full-house loads are little, shall we say, stiff, so I load will load it with 405 gr. cast and something like Trail Boss.
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IMR4227 would likely fill all of your needs for a slower/bulkier powder well. I have used it in many old original black powder cases with a lot of success and with reduced recoil.
 
I was getting key holing with the 38 special. On a whim I switched from bevel base 158 LSWC to a flat based bullet. Some how this eliminated the key holing and improved the accuracy in my 360 DW chamber.

The 360 Dan Wesson will chamber in your 357 maximum. If you have trouble find maximum brass, Bullet Barn has the 360 DW brass.
 
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