.357-44 Bain and Davis Handi-Rifle?

[Romeo 33 Delta]

I just saw this and had to jump in. I've had a B&D in a Handi-rifle for years.

I don't hunt with it ... just punch cardboard. Novelty? Sure, but that's half the fun of shooting, isn't it? I sure get comments at the range.

[Who's this Guy ?]

I just saw this and had to jump in. I've had a B&D in a Handi-rifle for years.

I don't hunt with it ... just punch cardboard. Novelty? Sure, but that's half the fun of shooting, isn't it? I sure get comments at the range.

Thanks for weighing in Sir. Was there much to the conversion? Could you post pics of the chamber area? How is accuracy of the gun?

[357maximum]

OK now I have a question born out of curiosity.

Has anyone ever tweaked out Sub M.O.A or M.O.A accuracy with180-200 grain cast boolits at 1.8 to 2K+ velocity with that super dooper short neck on the 357B&D?

[BABore]

OK now I have a question born out of curiosity.

Has anyone ever tweaked out Sub M.O.A or M.O.A accuracy with180-200 grain cast boolits at 1.8 to 2K+ velocity with that super dooper short neck on the 357B&D?

I have! I have!

Oh ****! It was with a Max.

[troyboy]

The HR will handle it no problem. There are 2 frames one is a sb1 and the other is the sb2. The sb1 is a shotgun frame with a large or small firing pin hole. It will work for all the shotgun 30-30 45-70(trapdoor levels) 357, 44mag and the like. The factory even fits 357,44mag barrels on sb1 frames. The sb2 frame will handle up to 500smith. Spend some time on GBO. There is a forum over there dedicated to Handi rifles.

[uscra112]

While ordering a .357 MAX reamer from Dave Manson last week, I learnt something interesting. Industry standard barrels for pistols have bores as much as .004" smaller than .35 rifle barrels. Anybody with a .357 B&D reamer may therefor have a reamer with a pilot that is too small for your rifle's bore, and may make an off-center chamber thereby. Bad juju.

There's a number of smiths that have reamers for .357 Max that not only have the right pilot, they cut a proper throat in your barrel, which the B&D reamer may or may not do. Go for .357 Max and don't look back.

[Romeo 33 Delta]

Who's this guy ... all my smith did was order a finish reamer and cut the chamber.

Accuracy ... well let's saw it shoots better than my 66 year old eyes can handle.

I will have to make an effort to drag her out to the range this year ... it's been a while. In the meantime, I'll check my records to see what, if anything, I wrote down.

I do remember that it was a "fun" shooter though!

[Who's this Guy ?]

The beauty of the handi-rifle is in the price. Overtime I may eventually do both!

[44Vaquero]

My Grandfather and I built 2 on H&R Shotgun frames one (.357 B&D) and another .357 mag necked down to .32 cal 20 years ago, with barrels I picked up from Gun Parts Corp.

As I recall ballistic performance was outstanding with both. The B&D was well in 30-30 range and the home brewed .32/.357 still beats the 327 mag(Yes, I know the barrel is longer than anything the .327 is chambered for.) I will have to dig out the old loading bench notes for actual velocity data.

My Grandfather was a Pattern Maker, so neither rifle was too hard to convert in his home workshop.

[Steve E]

I still have a 357 B&D barrel from Bullberry and an Encore 38 Spl Rifle barrel converted to 357 B&D by Mike Bellm as well as a Marlin 94 in it, a Ruger Blackhawk and am about to convert a Ruger 77/44 to the B&D shortly. Maybe I should stop now, but then what would be the fun in that.

Steve E.........

[leadman]

You can have Gary Reeder rechamber the Handi to 356GNR for you. This is a 41mag case necked down to 357. Has a very short neck but works well even with cast. I think he has a couple other cartridges like a 445 SuperMag necked down that would work.

[tacklebury]

Well, Maxies are very popular with the GBO Handi guys. The one thing I think the BD has going for it is simply case capacity. It would seem to me that in a rifle this might let you get a bit more, especially with some medium to slow powders like RL7 or RL19. Whether the bullets could hang on, might be the question.

[rockrat]

Wonder about using the 445 supermag case necked down to 357 and maybe with a bit longer neck?

Have a Ruger #1 in 357max. It will push the 35-200 RCBS boolit to 2200fps. I have shot the 358156 to the 267gr "Hammer" boolit in the rifle. It only doesn't like the 180-190gr boolits. 200gr up shine in the rifle.

[leadman]

rockrat, take a look at Gary Reeder's website. He has a 358GNR based on the 445SM.

[TCLouis]

In answer to the "Max" velocity question, I get 1750 fps out of my 10" contender barrel with 80 grain bullets, so rifle should beat that by about 65 - 85 fps/inch.

Boolits may e a bit faster yet.

[BAGTIC]

I have one of the original factory chambered .357 Maximum H&Rs. Go with the Max and don't look back.

[bruce drake]

Necro-posting here but hey, when you are recovering from surgery and not allowed in the garage by the wife, you get a lot of free time to think up things...

That being said, I've got a spare Large-Ring Mauser 98 action and I have been thinking about making a 35 Remington Mauser with a 20" 1-14" twist .358 Shilen Barrel Blank I have....But then I saw that there is a 357-44Magnum wildcat called 357-44B&D and that my favorite reamer rental people have it in stock along with Midway having the dies from RCBS that won't break the bank...

So, now I'm thinking of making a single shot 357-44B&D rifle for next year's hunting season. The reason why I'm choosing to usw the 357/44BD is that 44 Magnum brass is a more readily available than 357 Maximum brass and I've got several 35 caliber molds that will allow me to build loads ranging form 150 to 200gr in weight.

Has anyone have good reload data along with any photos of success with this cartridge and NOT a 357 Max pitch (we've already seen that on this thread)

Thanks,

Bruce

[Moonie]

Years ago I had a Hornady manual that had load data for that cartridge.

[troyboy]

357-44 Bain & Davis.pdf Here is some load data

[jason f]

Wonder about using the 445 supermag case necked down to 357 and maybe with a bit longer neck?

Have a Ruger #1 in 357max. It will push the 35-200 RCBS boolit to 2200fps. I have shot the 358156 to the 267gr "Hammer" boolit in the rifle. It only doesn't like the 180-190gr boolits. 200gr up shine in the rifle.

i have a handi rifle that uses 445 sm brass necked down to 35 caliber.
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