I too had a 30 Herrit in a TC Contender. It shot so poorly I sent it back to the factory and they put another barrel on it that also shot poorly. Making cases that would fire in the Contender was a major PITA. I sold it and have never regretted it.
Almost word for word what my friend said!
J $,
Hmmm, it seems like two different people are biased
AGAINST the .357 Herrett. Not that I'm pushing it, but I have at least 4 contender bbls in .30 and .357 Herrett. I've not shot any of them in over 10 years.
I neglected to mention the advantages of the .Maximum... One can still use .38 spec. and .357 cartridges for reduced loads. And I agree it's a clear advantage.
My thoughts in mentioning the .357 Herrett, was that the Maximum and the Herrett are near identical in performance, however the Herrett gets there at lower pressures. Indeed forming .30 Herrett cartridges is a PITA. However the .357 are not bad at all. But understand, they must be fireformed. And to function properly, they
MUST be fireformed properly. That is to form them to headspace on the shoulder and
NOT the rim.
Taken within their limitations, either will work excellently. Of course, .30-30 brass is MUCH easier to come up with.
so that merits at least some advantage.
I'm not here as a proponent or opponet of either, I am merely pointing out the intricities of each respective design.
Since the death of Steve Herrett, and Bob Milek, the Herrett cartridges have lost there best proponents. And, of course, the cartridges have languished. I do NOT expect them to ever return to their former glory. But that does not make them unuseful.
On a side note: The .30 Herrett was designed to give optimum performance in a 10" bbl. The only thing it will do that the .30-30 cannot is use less powder. However in the heyday of Handgun Silhouette, shooters seemed less concerned with efficncy than forming and trimming cases. Admittedly, trimming brass is one of most of our least favorite tasks...
Grasshopper