Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 357 Maximum & Bradshaw/Martin Bullet

I will agree that firing "tens of thousands" of rounds can erode a barrel, isn't that possible with any caliber? World champion Silhouette shooter David Bradshaw did most of the original testing of the 357 Maximum for Bill Ruger & he is still shooting #18 with great success. He's also the one who designed the bullet I mentioned. But if there is someone more knowledgeable than him, perhaps they can speak up. And yes the 375 Supermag is a dandy caliber also.
Dick

Dan Wesson decided to roll with it, or saw something different and continued to make 357 Maximums years after Ruger disbanded their Maximum frame, also being investment cast.

I believe it was a concern, but I believe over time the issue has been proven much ado about nothing.

HawkI, of course you are correct as usual. It was the light weight bullets with ball powders for the most part that shot down the Maximum but it's possible it will never return, too bad if that's the case but I do know there are a "couple" of industry people interested, all I can say. All we can do is hope. Many said Ruger would never bring out a 5 shot 480 either!

Dick

Nice shooting. Nice gun. Also a classic though discontinued mount if I am seeing correctly .. redfield 3-ring? I had one on a 10-1/2" .44 with a 4x Leupold at one time.

I'd love to have a Ruger .357 Maxi. Stainless would be nice.

Regarding top strap flame cutting, I really don't see why the .357 maxi would be any worse than the .454 Bisleys. Big charges of spherical powder at high pressure should be big charges of spherical powder at high pressure. It would seem to me they must have resolved it 'cause the .454s are still in production.

Non-357 Maximum with 357 Max performance... John Taffin did extensive testing with the then new Freedom Arms 353. He loaded 357 magnum ammo in the FA-83 to equal and exceeding the 357 Max! Yes this is 357 magnum ammo that would grenade just about any other 357 magnum revolver.

However, with careful reloading you can have your SS 357 Max revolver...it just costs one hell of a lot more than a Ruger.

Dick, congrats on the deer!

It doesn't take 10s of thousands of rounds to erode the forcing cone of a magnum revolver barrel.

You're the one that said it, not me. CraigD, I was shooting with Bob Baker one day & he told me the velocity he was getting with his 357 magnum FA & I was shocked by what he told me. I shot it for about an hour one day at Raton, New Mexico. He had taken an antelope at a very long distance a few months earlier with it with one shot. Not sure how long the brass would last but for sure his loads were faster than my 357 Maximum. Extremely accurate & tight tolerances make things happen.

Dick

Bill Ruger, Jr. and David Bradshaw shot the first 2 prototype Ruger 357 Maximums with load that ran 70 to 75 thoussnd PSI and shot cases of them. They knew about flame cutting the top strap but it stopped rather soon after it started and produced them anyway. Bill, Jr. and David tried to talk Bill, Sr. out of stopping production.

This is not 100% correct

How many does it take?

I guess it depends. But about 2000 rounds will cook the rear of a .44 magnum Blackhawk barrel pretty good. But .44 magnum Blackhawks don't gas cut the top strap very much.

On the other hand, S&W magnum revolvers don't cook the forcing cone of the barrel very much but they gas cut the top strap pretty quick. .357s are worse about than .44 magnums. The worst gas cutting I've experienced on one of my revolvers was a S&W 686.

Not very many people really put a lot of rounds through firearms. Playing the IHMSA game will give you a good idea what lots of shooting does to a revolver when you're shooting high pressure ammo.

The gap between a cylinder and a barrel is a very hostile environment when shooting 35,000 psi ammo.

Industry standard pressure on the Maximum is 40,000 psi.

I have been looking a buying a Henry single shot rifle and having it rebored to 357 max. Low recoil but still deadly on the muzzle end of the rifle. It would meet the new straight walled cartridge specs for a couple of states, MD and DE.

Personally I would try to find a 357 Magnum Henry single shot rifle and rechamber it.

I'm a huge fan of the 357 Maximum and wish it was factory available. Unfortunately without factory ammo I don't think it will happen. Also, the 350 Legend has cemented itself into existence so much that S&W has chambered revolvers as such.

All of the Urinary Olympics aside, congrats on the fine casting, coating, loading, and shooting!

What's that weigh?
It looks like a dandy sneaking around gun.

I don't know how many rounds I've fired through this 357 Maximum, I've owned 4 of them & all have shot well except one spit a lot of powder out the cylinder gap. Even it shot well but it was annoying. The one I have now probably has 3500-4000 rounds through it & you can see from the left handed group at 75 yds above that it still shoots just fine. I don't shoot ball powders through it & I fully expect it to last a life time with fine accuracy. I have no idea whether Ruger will ever make them again or not but I think there were lots of lessons learned from the first go around.
A stainless gun sure would be nice, we will just have to wait & see. Handgun hunting is more popular than ever & I still think a low recoiling, long range gun has it's place, and from what I've read on several other forums a lot of hunters feel the same way.

Dick

This thread is the perfect example of people regurgitating information they read on the internet and in magazines, then repeat it as fact, without having any personal, first hand experience with the subject matter.

This whole (and I am paraphrasing here) "you can't do that, as the topstrap cutting and barrel erosion will be too bad." is the perfect example. People without any firsthand experience simply parrot what they read elsewhere and it has become "Internet fact".



Idaho1945 actually does has firsthand experience and decades of it proving that the "Internet fact" is simply wrong, but people want to argue with him.
Referring to an article in a magazine means very little. Anybody can write an article, and these days, pretty much anyone does, most of whom should not, due to the fact that they are generally ignorant of their subject matter. Usually they are repeating what they have heard, without going out and getting some first hand experience. The cycle of erroneous information continues..

Bristoe,

How many thousands of rounds of .357 Maximum have you personally fired through Rugers?

Not what you read about, or your friend claimed he fired, but you, personally fired?

If Ruger decided they wanted to produce new .357 max guns, and if top strap erosion was truly a significant issue, beyond cosmetic, Ruger could take a page from S&W and use a replaceable blast shield, such as the ones seen on the Scandium Model 329.

This reminds me of someone at the bottom of a mountain telling someone else that it is impossible to climb a mountain, while the other person is already sitting on top.

SMH

Amen Mackay

But then again I never thought I’d see Bristoe post anything hunting/shooting related anyway. Seems all he knows how to do is be a curmudgeon and hole up in a hotel when the weather gets bad. Guess he doesn’t know how influential Dick and the guys are with Lipsey’s and if they clamor for it, their track record shows that there’s a pretty good chance it’ll come to fruition.

And congrats Dick on the buck. How’d the rest of the boys do on the elk?

I would love to be able to say a little bit more about this but I can't. I would also like to show the video of the Montana white tail I shot at 123 yds facing me but don't know how. One shot kill & went right down. Would also like to show the photo of the one I shot at 180 ys & the one at just under 220 yds but if you weren't there you wouldn't believe it anyway. Both one shot kills.
Mbogo2106, one of the other grandson's got a 6X6 bull this morning, it closes tomorrow. They are out there now, getting it out, I'll try to show photo's tomorrow, thanks. As I was reading John's reply I got this photo of another one of my grandson's with his 5X5 bull, 750 yds ranged with his 280 Ackley Improved, 2 shots, both were hits.

First photo is a buck taken at just under 220 yds with the 10.5" 357 Maximum & 173 gr Keith bullet, second buck was at a range 180 yds with a 180 gr cast bull. The antelope was on a Utah depredation hunt at 155 yds with a 180 gr cast bullet. The doe mule deer was on the same Utah depredation hunt at 136 yds with the 357 Maximum & the same 180 gr cast bullet. This was with 2 different Maximums. I have a lot more, plus the video.




Dick

Very believable Dick. The 194 grain Bradshaw Martin bullet powder coated at 10-11 brinel expands and holds together like a bonded bullet and would be very deadly.

Very nice and great shooting on the buck in the 1st post.

I'm assuming the 173gr Keith performed well for you also? I have a bunch loaded with 2400 and they shoot great out of my 6 inch Security Six. I've been threatening for years to use it on deer.