Ruger .357 Maximum?

[GLL]

Have any of the Ruger single shots ever been available in .357 Maximum or do you have to build one up yourself?

Anybody out there have one?

Thanks,

Jerry

[cabezaverde]

As far as I know, they were not available at all from the factory. If they were available, it would have been a special run type deal for a distributor.

[PPpastordon]

I believe the Ruger #1 and #3 were made in special runs in .357 Magnum. In this action, a Maximum would be a simple re-chambering job, and probably someone has done it. However, I do not believe any factory guns in the Max were ever made.
The Max makes a great cartridge in revolver, single shot pistol, or long gun. Thats why I have all three. Accurate enough for varmints, powerful enough for deer and similar sized game, and on top of that it is pretty easy on the powder and boolits.

[MtJerry]

New England Arms made a 357 Max in the Handi Rifle a few years back.. They can still be found from time to time.

Most of us who missed out, are getting 357 mag barrels and getting them reamed to 357 Max.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Anew England or similar in 357Mag with a rechamber job would be the go wouldn't it? Seems a shame to waste a Ruger.

[GLL]

Could anyone recommend a shop to ream a .357 Magnum out to .357 Maximum? I am not sure about my local gunsmith!

Jerry

[Scrounger]

A bit of information I got from the Handi-Rifle Board at GreyBeards was that someone there had bought the .445 SuperMagnum reamer and reamed out his .44 Magnum to the .445SM. By hand, no lathe required. And he was loaning out the reamer to other posters on the site to do their own guns. As oft happens at GreyBeards, he screwed the pooch and was banned from the site. I think I have his email address if you're interested. It would be just as simple to ream out a .357 barrel to .357 Max, and he might have that reamer too or know someone who does. You also might go to the Handi-rifle Board and the Thompson Contender Board at GBs to get information from people there.
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/smf/index.php/topic,83914.0.html

As my memory gets warmed up, I recall that the gentleman in question is one of our own, jeff223. You could send him a PM.
See, I don't mind the edited label if it improves the post.

[MtJerry]

Could anyone recommend a shop to ream a .357 Magnum out to .357 Maximum? I am not sure about my local gunsmith!

Jerry

Find someone to rent a reamer from and do it yourself. I did both my 357 Max and my 445 Super Mag ( I was in the group buy for the reamer with Jeff223 as noted above by scrounger)

Tje 357 max is just about one quarter inch longer (maybe less - I haven't got the exact measurements) than a 357 mag as is the 445 Super Mag.

Take the barrel off, insert reamer with a copious amound of cuttin oil, and turn until the case head cutter kisses the existing case head space on the barrel. Clean and you are done.

It tool me all of about 10 minutes from start to finish.

Leftoverdj - a member here has/had a 357 max reamer, but it has been used MANY times and might not be a good choice. Last I heard, he was retiring it.

I am currently shooting a Lyman 200gr. RNGCHP out of my 357 Max with 17gr. of 5744 and getting splendid accuracy with it. 30-30 ballistics with a 200gr. pill. Good deer medicine! And, I can still shoot 38 special, and 357 mag out of it. (The 231 load below is a 38 special load)

I am also shooting a Lyman 358495 (140gr WC) over 4.5gr. of 231 in 357 MAX brass and it is death to blue grouse in the mountains. Less noise than a .22 and cost even less to load.

My 445 Super mag (Originally an NEF 44mag reamed with Jeff223's reamer) is still a work in progress since I have started casting my own. I am trying to get a Lyman 429244 (255gr SWC GC) to decide what powder it likes. Prior to casting my own, I found that a Speer 270gr. Gold Dot over a stiff load of 296 was a good shooter and caused some very pleasing "bang-flops" on our Montana mulies. That load was giving me 444 marlin performance out of a barrel that I could still shoot 44 special and 44 mag.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I have come to the conclusion that these calibers out of rifles are very good performers. If they would have been availible much earlier in history, they would have been the calibers that would have suited a huge variety of needs for the average homesteader during the western expansion of our country. Small game loads and large game loads all out of the same rifle.

[MtJerry]

As oft happens at GreyBeards, he screwed the pooch and was banned from the site.

I sincerely hope I don't offend you, but I am very well aquainted with Jeff223 and the incident at that other site. It wasn't his fault. There a lot of people on the WWW that call that place "gray-weird's" for a reason.

Again, no offense to you, and I apologise for the thread drift.

[Scrounger]

I sincerely hope I don't offend you, but I am very well aquainted with Jeff223 and the incident at that other site. It wasn't his fault. There a lot of people on the WWW that call that place "gray-weird's" for a reason.

Again, no offense to you, and I apologise for the thread drift.

No offense at all, I quite agree with you. Jeff is top-notch. Maybe my choice of expression was poor. GB is legendary for his antics, you should hear JumpTrap's story. I expected to be kick-off myself the other night but so far it hasn't happened. Someone asked if he had to use an FFL to ship a rifle to an FFL in another state. GB said absolutely, I said not at all and told the guy to call his local ATF to confirm it. The whole thread was disappeared into thin air. I expected to be kicked out but nothing so far. I'm real good at walking narrow lines...

[Scrounger]

Buy the reamer (Get a good price, (Brownell's or Midway)), use it as much as you like, sell it on Ebay for 90% to 100%+ of what you paid for it. Cheaper than renting by a good margin.

[MtJerry]

Buy the reamer (Get a good price, (Brownell's or Midway)), use it as much as you like, sell it on Ebay for 90% to 100%+ of what you paid for it. Cheaper than renting by a good margin.

Why didn't I think of that :???: :drinks:

[rhead]

Buy the reamer (Get a good price, (Brownell's or Midway)), use it as much as you like, sell it on Ebay for 90% to 100%+ of what you paid for it. Cheaper than renting by a good margin.

Actually I wound up getting almost 110% of retail after reaming 3 rifles. Somebody must have wanted it bad. Maybe if I had rented itout a few times then I could have gotten 125%.

[GLL]

Thanks for all of the responses and suggestions.

I will get a reamer and try my skill ! ???

Before I start I will contact Jeff 223 and get some more info.

Best Regards,

Jerry Lewis "GLL"

[RugerFan]

As far as I know, they were not available at all from the factory. If they were available, it would have been a special run type deal for a distributor.

Hmm...I thought I remember a BH version 357max a while back. I did a little searching and came up with an article by John Taffin. Here is an excerpt:

"In the 1980s Ruger brought out the stretched frame/cylinder version of the Super Blackhawk in .357 Maximum, which is a 1.6" cartridge case instead of the normal Magnum length of approximately 1.3". Both the cartridge and the gun proved to be superbly accurate and a very effective long-range silhouette sixgun. It was dropped from production because of complaints of gas erosion on the bottom of the top strap, which was actually caused by shooters who did not understand the cartridge. It was originally designed to shoot 180- to 200-grain bullets at the muzzle velocities of 158-grain bullets in the .357 Magnums. Problems arose when some tried to see how fast they could drive lighter bullets. The 10 1/2" barreled .357 Maximum Ruger Blackhawk is one of the finest long-range sixguns it has ever been my good pleasure to shoot."

[Four Fingers of Death]

With a name like Greybeard, you expect a few grumpy old farts I suppose.

[PPpastordon]

4fingermick;
"With a name like Greybeard, you expect a few grumpy old farts I suppose."

Uh - I think I might resemble that remark!

[Four Fingers of Death]

I resemble that, but cut the wiskers off as soon as they started to turn grey.

[rockrat]

You can get a max reamer from Dave Manson for around $45, I think. He does a good job.

[cabezaverde]

Rugerfan,

I was talking rifles. The SBH in 357 Max was pretty well known.

[RugerFan]

Rugerfan,

I was talking rifles. The SBH in 357 Max was pretty well known.

Oops! I mis-read your post. I was thinking single action as opposed to single shots.

[Coogs]

OLD POST! But just found it and had to comment. Ruger made at least one Hawkeye in .357 Maximum. Rumor has it there were two, one NIB taken out of the factory collection, the other made up of parts. Kinda unique as they were supposedly made with the transfer bar system, the original Hawkeyes were not. There was also a gentleman out of Alabama, Jimmy Dillon that was buying up a lot of Hawkeyes in the 80's and rechambering them in .30 Herret Just my two cents worth. Coogs.

[NSB]

Could anyone recommend a shop to ream a .357 Magnum out to .357 Maximum? I am not sure about my local gunsmith!

Jerry
If you want it done right, contact Mike Bellm via his website http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/. He's the undisputed master of the .357MAX. Ruger did make a single shot in 357mag, they called it the Trooper Model. Very hard to find but if you could find one it would be a very simple matter to have it reamed to 357Max.

[Coogs]

The Ruger you probably are referring to was a commemorative #1 in .357 Mag produced for the California Highway Patrol. Not sure of the total numbers produced. They were so marked as CHP and I believe there was a medallion in the stock also. There was an over run of them, unmarked, and not sure of their numbers either. Never heard it called a Trooper Model though. Coogs.

[gewehrfreund]

What Coogs said^
There was no "name" for these. Ruger (No. 1) numbers are almost always a guess, but the conventional wisdom says about 1500 of the marked rifles were made and ca. 300 of the unmarked overrun examples.

I bought one of the overruns in 1984? when I was a grad student at Ohio State. It came from Bumblebee distributors and cost me around $300 or so without looking at my records.
(I still have it with it's original box, paperwork, etc.)

[Coogs]

The model designation was 1A..............by the way. Coogs.

[jmorris]

Noticed this thread and have a question for the fellows that have converted to max. I have a project in the line up and thought about chambering it 357 max and even have gathered up some brass for it but I am not sure how much I will really use it.

I have buckets of 38 spl loaded and a good bit of 357 mag as well but thought it would be neat to play further out (maybe 300 yds) with it but most shooting would likely be with the shorter cases at 100 yds and less.

How did reaming for 357 max effect accuracy with the shorter (cheaper) cases?

[NSB]

Noticed this thread and have a question for the fellows that have converted to max. I have a project in the line up and thought about chambering it 357 max and even have gathered up some brass for it but I am not sure how much I will really use it.

I have buckets of 38 spl loaded and a good bit of 357 mag as well but thought it would be neat to play further out (maybe 300 yds) with it but most shooting would likely be with the shorter cases at 100 yds and less.

How did reaming for 357 max effect accuracy with the shorter (cheaper) cases?
My Low Wall shoots really well out to 200 yds.....I've gotten five shots in three inches with select loads. The accuracy of the gun with 357mag is mediocre at best. Too much jump with the shorter case. Having somewhere around 1,000 cases I don't really care. I just load the max down if I want a lighter load.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have buckets of 38 spl loaded and a good bit of 357 mag as well but thought it would be neat to play further out (maybe 300 yds) with it but most shooting would likely be with the shorter cases at 100 yds and less.

If you rechamber to 357 Maximium, I'd be grabbing a Rossi 92 in 357 as well. Awesome bit of kit, great plinker with everything from popgun 38s to hot 357s, although if you had a 357 Max, the Rossi would probably be plinking / light hunting only. A real fun gun. The rifle in my avitar is a Rossi 357. I bought it cheap for a practice / back up / learner's loaner rifle, but it is such a good little rifle, it has become one of my most used rifles. Definitely the best money I have ever spent on guns.

[jmorris]

I have several lever 38/357 rifles already this build is going to be single shot. Guess I'll go ahead and chamber this single shot project in 357 max, can't have one of everything without one...

[BAGTIC]

.357 Maximum in rifles require a different reamer than .357 Maximum in revolvers to work best. Mike Bellm's site has lots of good explanations.

http://www.bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=121

GB may have been annoyed because they rent a .357 Maximum rifle reamer and they may not have wanted the competition.

I have a Ruger .357 Magnum single shot that has been rechambered to .357 Maximum and I think its a good deal..

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have several lever 38/357 rifles already this build is going to be single shot. Guess I'll go ahead and chamber this single shot project in 357 max, can't have one of everything without one...

Looks like you are way ahead of me, haha!

[rockrat]

I also have a Ruger 1a I rechambered to 357 max. Makes a nice rifle and on par with the 30-30

[Coogs]

One of these days I'll get me a #1A in .357 and rechamber it to Max. Really should have it to go with my Max pistols.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I would have thought that the 358Win was a better option for the Ruger1A. But, if you picked up a 357Mag 1A, I suppose the twist rate would be wrong. I didn't realise the No1s came out in 357.

[quilbilly]

Some years back I traded for a T/C Carbine 21" barrel in 357 Max. I really like it. I have shot it with 155 -RN-PB, 160 SWC-GC, 170 SWC-PB, and most recently the new Lee 200 gr RF-GC. All have shot well with the right loads of either Unique for the plan base boolits or 2400 for the gas check boolits.

[Pardini]

I've one of the Ruger CHP models and had it chambered to Maximum. Never really did much with it. Cast some 200 GC Boolits. Made one load up it shot poorly and I never got back to it.

I dug out what's left of the Boolits from back then and am going to try it again with Lil Gun.

I'd like to hear about everyones pet load for this caliber.

[Coogs]

Pardini, if ya get tired of it, keep me in mind!Coogs