Coonan Classic 357 Review Deux

Damon555

New member
Having been on vacation for the last week and still having another week off ahead of me I've had time to go to the range a bunch...Pretty good timing considering that I've got the Coonan Classic 357 to mess with. Without trying to mutilate the written word I'll attempt to give an accurate representation of how the pistol has preformed up until now and try to give some insight into what new owners can expect when they get one of these.

In its 357 configuration the gun itself has functioned flawlessly. There has been one ammo related problem....if the pistol is getting towards the point where it needs oil the slide might stop just short of fully locking up the barrel. A tap on the back side of the gun and it fell into place....I think that has only happened once or twice. This was after shooting a few 38 specials through it too. I've never shot a factory round out of this gun so my guess is that factory 357 ammo would just fine too.

The 38 special spring was used in a few different ammo tests. First I tried some of my powder puff 38 special loads....they wouldn't cycle the slide as expected. The heavy 38 special +p load I came up with had no problems making the gun function. Unfortunately shooting 38 special and 357 in the same barrel causes some issues when switching back to the longer case. So I've come to the conclusion that although the gun functions fine with heavy 38 special loads being a reloader negates any real cost difference between the 2 calibers....It's full power 357 loads from here on out. That's what this gun is built for and that's what it's going to get.

The sights are top notch as expected with a firearm of this quality. The white dots are very bright although they are not night sights. The sight picture is also perfect in my opinion. There's just enough of a gap on each side of the front sight blade that it easy to snuggle down into the rear sight.

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The trigger is a perfect compliment to the pistol as it doesn't pull you off the target when you touch off a shot. A slight amount of take up on the first stage then a very clean break when all the slack is taken up. No overtravel to speak of and a positive reset combine to make for relatively easy follow up shots.

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Magazines aren't abundant for the Coonan Classic. But they are easily acquired through Coonan inc. I ordered a new magazine on a Monday and had it by Thursday of that week....all the way from Minnesota. $67 bucks to my door....certainly not cheap but when you see the workmanship involved in these magazines you will soon understand why they aren't. Basically they are a scaled up version of any 22 lr semi-auto magazine. Coonan is nice enough to include a handy little magazine spring compression tool for ease in loading. Those are some heavy duty mag springs!

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The finish on the gun is very nice although I was hoping there would be some checkering. Bead blasted stainless on the top of the slide, the dust cover and the front and rear straps along with brushed stainless sides. The bead blasted finish does a fine job helping grip the gun. The dull finish on the top of the slide also helps keep the glare down for the sights....so it isn't all boos for the lack of checkering.

One of my initial complaints was that the grip panels are too light....Well I've got another theory to test out here....The more I shoot it the more handling the grips will get....the more the grips are handled the more color they will pick up along the way....So the jury is still out on the color of the grips....I'm hoping that they get darker as they become worn in.

It would be remiss of me to not include at least a mention of this machine's thirst for oil. This thing goes through more oil than an engine oil pan with the plug removed! The gun comes with a small bottle of fp10 lubricant and a large piece of paper tells you the Coonan has been de-greased and needs to be lubed up before shooting. The lube is very light and requires reapplying every box of ammo or so. It really lets the gun run "loosely" which is what it needs to do to cycle the massive slide and compress the 22 lb recoil spring! The pistol hasn't told me that I've run it too wet yet so I'm going to keep on lubing it up often.

Those are my follow up impressions of the gun after having run a good number of rounds through it already. If you are looking for something a little different the Coonan Classic 357 definitely qualifies.
 
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What bullet profiles have you shot? I'm assuming round nose flat point bullets will work just fine, but was wondering if even SWC's will function.
 
The loads have all consisted of RNFP, HP and TCFP bullets so I can't comment on other profiles. I'd be willing to bet that SWC's will work too.
 
I'd say that when it comes to .38 Special in a Coonan, my experience differs from yours. I'm in a situation where I am forced to use .38 due to rules at my club -- so if I want to shoot the club's steel plate racks, .357 Mag isn't allowed. Because of this, I have a lot of hands-on experience with both .38 and .357 handloads through my Coonan.

I have no problems/NONE running either just as long as the loads are full-nuts for either chambering. I developed a Coonan-specific load in .38 that is, depending on your selected published data source, "barely over max" for .38. This load uses Alliant Power Pistol to send a jacketed 125gr FP to 1,050 fps and I have run a couple thousand rounds of this load, my Coonan loves it. Yes, with lighter 10-lb spring installed.

I can and many times have gone back & forth at will, spring change and then .38 or .357, no failures of any sort.

The magazines-- better than upscaled rimfire magazines, notice how the follower tilts along it's range of travel. The magazines are expensive... not because they are fantastic, but because of economy of scale. Only Coonan makes them, they only fit/run/work in a Coonan. If 20 makers produced them and a hundred manufacturers built a pistol that used them (such as a 1911), $30 would be possible.
 
Oops, forgot to mention also why .38 is a fine option even though a handloader sees very little difference in cost between.38/.357 -- quite simply, it is the BRASS. .38 brass is more plentiful in almost any way you might define "plentiful" and the Coonan throws brass from hell to breakfast. Losing .38 brass is less painful to me (to most anyone, I would suspect) than losing .357 brass.

But don't come to any mistaken conclusion--
Oh YEAH, I still shoot the big bombs in my Coonan, and it definitely is more FUN running harsh .357 Magnum in it. Shooting .357 from a Coonan is painful, but only in my face due to ear-to-ear grinning! :)
 
I certainly understand your perspective.....As a novice who has had very little exposure to more expensive firearms I'm just passing along my impressions.

All my shooting is strictly for recreation. When I was shooting at my outdoor club we had a similar restriction about magnum caliber weapons shooting the plates....that encouraged me to load up a bunch of 38 target ammo for my GP100....That thing is crazy accurate....I'm hoping that the Coonan can set my personal bar higher with 357's!

Aren't these things awesome? It's nice to talk about something different for once....I've been coming to these forums for a long time.....it gets kinda boring rehashing the same old topics.
 
Also have to totally agree about the light color tone of the original wood stocks. It isn't attractive, IMO. Obviously, very subjective, I'm sure some like them.

I have the black aluminum grips that Coonan offers. They are not low in price, so I can't say if I'd have had the guts to throw money on them -- I bought my pistol used and the original owner bought them. I can say that I have experience shooting two other Coonan Classic pistols besides my own, and my (perhaps too expensive) aluminum grips are FANTASTIC and no way no way no way would I go back to the smooth and unattractive original wood.

^interpret this as "treat yourself, buy them, no regrets" ;)
 
Found an alternative picture hosting site and added a few to the original post.......Photobucket can kiss my rear end!
 
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Shot mine today. What a blast on metal plates, Those babies sure move when hit with a hot 158 gr JHP. I even shot up a few of those hard rubber balls. This gun is accurate with a very nice trigger. I went through a box of ammo quickly. Time to reload another batch.
 
Yet another gun that is kept fed by the AP press. Mine shoots 158gr SWC just fine, but the 125gr JHP loads are more spectacular. ;-)
 
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