.357 Maximum

A

ammo.crafter

New member
I've been hunting with a TC Contender in .357 Maximum and find it to be an excellent round for deer and wild boar.

I would have thought some one would have produced a lever action in this round by now.

Has any one else used this cartridge or am I the only fan?
:confused:
 
I suspect that the 357 Max is too long to feed through a Winchester 92 sized action. It would probably feed through a 94, but then you have to compete with bottle necked cartridges. It would be interesting to compare the ballistics of a 357 Max in a rifle compared to a 35 Remington of equal barrel length.

I've got a 357 Mag/20ga Savage 24 and I keep hearing a voice in the back of my head telling me to ream it out to 357 Max....
 
I shot a deer with an Ordnance Tech SSP-86 (predecessor to Lone Eagle) a little over a year ago - in .357 max with Rem factory 158 gr HP ammo. It was a good shot but I wasn't impressed with the cartridge's performance. No blood trail and didn't find the "deer" until 10 am the next morning a long ways away. All that was left was most of the spine, one foot, and a lot of hair and blood (dozens and dozens of yotes in this area). It had trotted, not ran, off - but still managed to cover 150 yards in a semi-circle pattern. Because nothing was left, I don't know exactly where I hit, but I think it was a good double lung. Sold it, but neat pistol though.

Having said that, one of my next 3 guns is going to be a contender rifle in .357 max with a 10" SBR'ed Bulberry barrel with 1 in 12" twist - dedicated to subsonic loads like 230 gr wadcutters, suppressed of course.
 
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This is a lever gun......sort of. It sure is fun to shoot.
 

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"It would be interesting to compare the ballistics of a 357 Max in a rifle compared to a 35 Remington of equal barrel length."

Nearly Identical. I get just over 2100 fps from my Max rifle with 180 Hdy SSPs. Off the shelf 35 Rem is about that if you can find 180 gr ammo for it. My gun won't shoot heavier than 180gr.

The main difference between the two is roughly 10 grain of powder.

My only regret with the Max is that I could have done better for less effort with a single shot 30-30 with spire point bullets and hot-ish loads. Even better with a 30-30 bolt gun.
 
It would be interesting to compare the ballistics of a 357 Max in a rifle compared to a 35 Remington of equal barrel length.
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Nearly Identical. I get just over 2100 fps from my Max rifle with 180 Hdy SSPs. Off the shelf 35 Rem is about that if you can find 180 gr ammo for it. My gun won't shoot heavier than 180gr.
Click to expand...

I suspected as much. Which answers the OP's question about why nobody has made a lever action for it. Because of the cartridge's length, it would require an action as long as one for the 35 Remington. If you're going to need an action that long, you might as well just get one in the well established 35 Remington.
 
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Yeah I am a fan. I have a bunch of maxes that need to be fed. I buy brass in bulk when available so I can keep shooting. Great stuff when you can find it.

I have thought about turning a 94 into a max shooter, but why? As much as I like it, a 38/55 makes more sense in a 94 and would be easier to come by.

Max shooters tend to be a loyal bunch. I know I love to shoot mine and folks I talk to about it, love theirs also.
 
A couple weeks ago Ohio Game Commission allowed rifles for deer for the 1st time.
Restrictions are the rifles must be chambered for straight walled ctgs. only.
That is no restriction at all for me!
I have 2 Marlin 1894s in .357, one in .44 mag. one in .45 Colt & an 1895 45-70.
I'm a happy camper.
I'd love to see a lever gun (Marlin 1894) chambered in .357 Max.
I'd buy one just because.
I'd LOVE to find an 1894 in .41 magnum also.:D
 
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