I have found bullet selection to be critical with any pistol cartridge fired from a carbine/rifle barrel. My son shot a black bear in June with his Maxi loaded with a 180gr Barnes TSX FN bullet. The bullet produced very little damage and the bear ran 265yds before expiring. That bullet is probably better suited for the 360 Buckhammer and larger cartridges. Next time he'll use a 180gr Fury TN bullet. It hits hard and will most likely cause more damage but we'd rather have that than chase a bear in a swamp again.
Do you know how fast that bullet was moving? Asking because I have some .358 win rounds loaded with that bullet at a little over 2200 fps. Barnes said they tested them up to 2200 and also that they expand down to 1400. I have high hopes but your results don't sound real promising.
Weagle, My MV was 1980fps. It had very little hydrostatic shock. 2200fps would be better but I see no reason why that bullet couldn't be pushed harder. Losing petals can be a bad thing if they create additional wound tracks.
Gavin and Guy on Ultimate Reloader just released a video of their beginning tests of the Henry .360. Velocity of the Remington ammo in the 20” barrel was pretty close to the numbers on the boxes, probably over the typical velocities of factory .35R. Trigger pull was decent. Rifle’s not bad looking either.
Gotta keep in mind that this was designed to meet straight-wall regs, and also I’d imagine, to work in existing leverguns where the .30/30 works. Bolt actions and autos using the .350, .450, and hopefully the .400 ain’t going anywhere. I’m thinking a Howa Mini or RAR .400 would be pretty good, and not so hard on the back end as the .450.
I have a Browning Low Wall Traditional Hunter in .44 magnum. They also made those in .357 and .45 Colt. They have 24” half-round half-octagon barrels, and both open sights and a tang peep. They made a similar model in .30/30, .38/55, and .45/70 on the High Wall frame, and it was a much heavier rifle, which made sense with the .45/70, but was overkill for the two smaller rounds and took them out of the handy woods rifle category. That Miroku LW has also been made for, among others, .243, .260, and 6.5x55, so it’s more than strong enough for .30/30-class rounds. If they’d gone with the LW, I bet they would’ve sold like hotcakes, not that they were necessarily trying for that. The ones they did make are pretty hot items on the used market. I paid a pretty penny for mine NIB quite some time back, but not as much as they sell for now. Always wanted a .357 too, but those are the hardest to find, the .45 the easiest.
I think 30” would be overkill. My .44 is no lightweight, and the 28” HW versions are pretty heavy for woods carry.
J-Pro: When Bellm rechambered a 308 Bellm in a Contender for me he said to keep loads at 300 Savage levels. SAAMI max pressure for a 300 savage is 46,000 CUP. I am confident a 50,000 psi load will stretch even a G2 Contender frame.