Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles .357 Maximum

Any one loading .357 Maximum for straight wall rifle cartridge deer hunting? I'm having JES rebore a TCR barrel to .357 Max and have not found any load data yet.

I shoot the Max in a contender barrel, data from the Sierra manual...

I shoot a Max in a Martini (plenty strong for whatever the Max can throw at it). Whaddaya wanna know? Load data is everywhere. The Lyman Cast Bullet manual is the tits, lots-o-loads for the Maxi in it.

200 grain bullets shine, jacketed or cast doesn't matter - same velocities, same performance - so save yourself some money and shoot cast if you can. 1680 powder is your huckleberry. Li'l Gun is good too but it seems like 1680 was custom tailored for the Maxi..

I loaded XTP's for the 357 that I Maxi'ed for
a young relative. I took it out to prove it up
before handing it off for hunting. It's a great
deer cartridge. I'd been reading about the
success others had with it before I decided to
go Maxi with it. I didn't have any to use, but
others have used some of the 35 rem projectiles
with success. Dinny has done more with it
than I have and can tell you more about it.
It'll serve you well

I do. For both my daughters. TC encores. 26” barrels. One likes 26 gr lil gun 180 hornady SSP. The other likes same charge but a Speers 180 HCFP. They hammer deer.

I have one in a 14" Van Horn Contender barrel, typically load 180's over H110/296.

The Hodgdon, Lyman, and Hornady manuals on my shelf all have 357 Max load data in the handgun and Contender sections. I'm getting 2075 fps with 180 Fury spitzers using 20.0 grains of Lil Gun in a 16.25" Contender carbine. I really like these Fury bullets for accuracy, too. Match Grade Machine has 357 Max load data on their website, using their barrels, but it seemed very hot so I've avoided it. I'm getting all the velocity I need to meet the 100 yard energy requirement in CO using the Hornady data. I may get a chance to try this load on a mulie doe next season.

And don't ignore the utter versatility offered by the .357 Maximum. Nothing says that one must detonate a full power balls-to-the-wall load with each pull of the trigger. (Such behavior has always made me wonder about some people.) You can load it down to .38 wadcutter levels and every level between there and full max - without bruising your wallet (but maybe bruising your ego), and with the same .35 diameter holes in the target paper and the same fun quotient (maybe more).

The maxi is great easy and fun cartridge to load for. For 180gr bullets 24gr of h-110 or w-296 is a max load so I would start out at 20gr and work up from there for the 180s. What projectile are going to be primarily loading with?

I had one in a Handi. The Barnes 140XPB over IMR4227 shot extremely well out of it. Velocity wasn't blazing vs some other powders, but still considerably better than you'd see out of a 357 Mag carbine.

It's one of the very few rifles I regret getting rid of.

What bullet are you thinking about? For a 158 gr bullet use H110, for 180 gr or 200 gr bullets use AA1680. Post up which bullet weight and I'll dig out my books.

I shot .357 maxi in a Super 14 contender for a while in the late 80s and again in an 18" custom shop contender carbine barrel around 2000 or 2005. Cool cartridge.

If you're not finding data you must not be trying very hard. There is a lot of data out there. Speer, Hornady .. etc. Try the Speer 180 grain flat point, Hornady 180 grain SSP, Nosler 180 grain Partition, and Hornady 180 grain XTP .. some of these are discontinued. As suggested, H110 or 296 for bullets 160 grains and under, AA1680 for 180s and up.

As a f**k around load try an 88 or 90 grain 9mm JHP with a case full of H110, sorta roll crimped over the bullet shoulder. Not extremely accurate but man will they tear up a ground squirrel if you get close enough.

I have been loading for it since 2008. Here are a few things I have learned along the way.

- don't let JES cut the chamber nor modify the extractor/ejector

- do let Mike Bellm cut the chamber and modify the extractor/ejector

- use small rifle primers

- use A1680 with all bullets 158 - 275 grain. 28-29gr with just about any suitable 180gr bullet works well.

- don't shoot any Barnes solid copper bullets. The 140gr XPB is too light and the various 180gr .35 cal bullets are built too tough

- Fury Bullets are tailor built for Maxi speeds

- experiment with crimping. Some of my rifles shot better with a firm roll crimp. Some did not

- Viht Tin Star (when found) is the single best low velocity powder for youth hunting loads

- test pistol bullets in wet newspaper or something similar before hunting deer or black bears. Some pistol bullets like the 158gr XTP-HP expand too quickly

My son and I have killed no less than 15 deer and 2 black bears with our 357 Maxi single shot rifles.

Let me guess, JES uses a revolver reamer which incorporates a loooong throat way too long for a normal ball seat in a rifle.

Yes, Gary, you are correct.

I appreciate all the responses. I did finally find .357 max load data in Speer Number 12. And Hodgon load data on line, just had to look at pistol data section.......

Gnoahh and Dinny, this is a rebore of a corroded .22 Hornet barrel, not a rechamber of a .357 magnum barrel. What issues can I expect from a JES extractor job? Seems like replacing the extractor after the reboring and before rechambering and using the chamber reamer (I'm assuming the chamber reamer also relieves the rim recess) to modify the extractor would work. Also not sure I understand the revolver reamer comment. Are you saying that JES uses a .357 max reamer designed to finish revolver cylinder chambers on rifle barrels? Or a revolver forcing cone reamer?

I do have somewhere another TCR extractor that was intended for an aftermarket TCR 20 gauge rifled barrel setup using a ?90% monobloc that was digitally copied from a TCR monobloc and CNC milled. But that's another story.

If the freebore is a bit long, what's the harm? This is new territory for me and I'm a rank novice compared to you guys. IIRC Weatherby rifles at one time had long freebore to reduce pressure, although those were much higher pressures than I saw in the Speer 13 manual for the .357 max. Also, would one be able to compensate by seating 158 0r 180 gr bullets out a bit?

4570fan, I found load data for 158 and 180 gr bullets but would appreciate any info on heavier bullets.
Thanks, Bill

4570fan, I found load data for 158 and 180 gr bullets but would appreciate any info on heavier bullets.
Thanks, Bill