.357 MAX

[ammo.crafter]

Does any one have load recipes for the .357 Remington Maximum?
I already spoke with Mike Bellm and I was merely curious what other reloaders are doing.

Thanks.

[NoSecondBest]

What gun are you using? Rifle or handgun?

[steveno]

you don't say what gun you are going to use? all of my loads were in a TC using H-110 and WW-680 which is no longer available. the H-110 loads were out of the Hornady manual using their 140 grain hp. I won't give the charge weight as they were a little over the manual and I pretty sure the bullets were over stressed considering the damage they did on targets.

if you are going to use them in a revolver than the powder to use is H-4227 and don't use any bullet light than 158 grains

[ammo.crafter]

Sorry, I'm using a T/C with a 14-inch barrel.

Using Hornady 180gr XTP and Bear Tooth 210gr cast lead gas check.

[steveno]

I used the Speer 180 grain flat point rifle bullet as there is a little more of the bullet outside of the case. it is a .358 diameter bullet but it shot very well and maybe the best of all of the bullets tried for accuracy. whether or not it would expand in a deer is another question. of the lighter bullets the Remington 158 grain soft point shot very well also and MidwayUSA had them in bulk at good prices.

[NoSecondBest]

I have an entire spread sheet on load data I've developed for the 357max in my Browning Low Wall 1885. I will say that the two best powders I've used are 4227 and Rel 7 for this gun. The best/most accurate bullet to date in my gun has been the Nosler 158g HP. I've always considered the Hornady XTP to be the best handgun bullet in every gun I've owned, but the Nosler shines in this caliber for accuracy. I do use the 180 XTP for deer hunting and it's worked very well for that purpose. I haven't bothered too much with rifle bullets in the gun since my sole purpose has been deer hunting in dense woods areas and woodchuck hunting where shots weren't over 150 yards. I've gotten several loads to group under 4" at 200yds.

[Clark]

I don't have the gun.
I have the brass, a reamer, and lots of candidate guns.
I have played around on Quickload looking at possibilities.

There is big leap from 357 max SAAMI overall length 357 max longer overall length that is possible with a throated chamber.

There is a boat tail bullet out there. I think to get a sure deer kill at 400 yards, it will take the long OAL and a boat tail.

[NoSecondBest]

I think to get a sure deer kill at 400 yards, it will take the long OAL and a boat tail.

There is no such thing as a "sure kill at 400 yards" with any caliber rifle and the 357max in any configuration won't even come close to a reliable 400 yard caliber. It's positively anemic at that distance. There isn't that much magic in the world to make that happen. That goes right along with the warning label on a box of .22lr shells that advises "dangerous to 1 mile".

As an aside to this, send your gun to Mike Bellm and get the throat done correctly by him. TC has the worst throat/chamber out there for this caliber.

[Clark]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond or not covered by currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The Firing Line, nor the staff of TFL assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.
The 357 max as defined by SAAMI has two limitations I would exceed if I were to take it long range deer hunting; 1.99" max OAL and 48 kpsi max average pressure.
If I use AA#9, 48kspi, 1.99" OAL, 225 gr NBT, 25" barrel, I get 1359 fps
With a 200 yard zero, I am down 8 moa at 270 yards 1100 fps 586 fp
But if I boost to 85kpsi I still only get 1494 fps
But if I boost OAL with 1.6" brass + 1.35" bullet - 0.15" boat tail -0.1 seating contact = 2.7" OAL then I get 1837 fps
If I combine the two I get 2115 fps
If I switch to a slower powder and combine the above two improvements, W296/H110 I get 2318 fps
Now if I zero at 200 yards, I am down 8 moa at 385 yards, 1622 fps 1250 foot pounds.
I have killed a lot of deer out to 629 yards, and I don't pull the trigger unless they are going to die.
Here is a pic of the gun [that has the firing pin to firing pin hole fit to gfet CCI450 small rifle magnum primers to 85kpsi] when we had the same conversation last year:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...hlight=rolling

[ammo.crafter]

Thanks all!