Contender in 357 Mag

[N21911S]

Please favor me with your thoughts for a really good accurate boolit mould for a 357 Mag 10" bull barreled Contender. Now that I have one I'm hearing horror stories about the long throat.

[ShooterAZ]

My 10" Contender shoots everything I feed it very accurately. That is from the Lee 105 up to 200 grainers and quite a few in between. There have been no issues with throat whatsoever. Maybe I got lucky, but it isn't the least bit picky about what I shoot through it.

[leadhead]

Your right about the long throat...had a friend that had a older .357 barrel that was a real
tack driver...he sent the barrel back to have the newer front sight installed and when it came
back, it wouldn't shoot worth a damn...they had cut the chamber longer for "safety reasons".
Might as well have made a jack handle out of it then...It was trashed and never shot again
with any bullet.
Denny

[Sur-shot]

Yep, the RCBS silhouette bullets in 180 and 200 with H-110 or 296 with rifle primers like the 205m is a wonderful combination in the 357 single shots. Do not load it like a revolver, push the TC hard. That powder shoots best at the top and bottom of its load levels. The old factory 357 loads all flattened the primers, flat, in a revolver. So the TC will run when hot.
Ed

[Iowa Fox]

Your right about the long throat...had a friend that had a older .357 barrel that was a real
tack driver...he sent the barrel back to have the newer front sight installed and when it came
back, it wouldn't shoot worth a damn...they had cut the chamber longer for "safety reasons".
Might as well have made a jack handle out of it then...It was trashed and never shot again
with any bullet.
Denny

I've got a older 10" with the old throat, it shoots the 358156 and the 358429 sized to 360 very well. The 358429 is at its upper limit as it only drops at 360, the old 358156 drops a full 361. I've got a little newer 10" with the long throat and I've never been happy with anything I have tried in it. Plus with the long throat it leads like crazy

[GhostHawk]

Handi rifles in .357 have a long throat also. So long that 4 out of 5 of them from the factory can chamber .360DW brass. Which incidentally works pretty dang well.

You might have to trim to get perfect fit. I would do a chamber cast or pound cast so you can see exactly what you have to work with.

As for bullets, my .357 mag Handi rifle shoots the Lee .358 158 gr round nose in .360DW brass into cloverleafs.

[upnorthwis]

I used .357 Maximum brass and only had to trim a little off to get it to work. With the .357 Mag. brass if you seated to get near the lands, the bullet would only be in the case .030.

[Tatume]

Please favor me with your thoughts for a really good accurate boolit mould for a 357 Mag 10" bull barreled Contender. Now that I have one I'm hearing horror stories about the long throat.

Ignore the stories and shoot it. If it shoots to your satisfaction, good. If not, then start looking for a cure. But first find out if it shoots before you try to fix it.

[mdi]

Ignore the stories and shoot it. If it shoots to your satisfaction, good. If not, then start looking for a cure. But first find out if it shoots before you try to fix it.

Sound advise...

[Hamish]

What Tatume said,,,,,,,,.

Personally, my favorite loading uses a 360-230.

[35isit]

As stated don't try to fix it if it's not broken. Mine likes all the usual heavies. It also loves an old Ideal full wadcutter with 231 or hp38 powder in .357 cases. Shoots good enough to shoot IHMSA field pistol silhouette.

[fatelvis]

I'm a big fan of the Lyman 357627, (or NOE's version, the 360-225SWC) in the 357 mag or Max. It's accurate, and enables you to seat it out pretty far, filling long throats and giving additional powder space in the case.

[arlon]

I have one of the old 10" octagon barrels. It shoots everything I've stuck in it quite well. My favorite was a commercial cast 180 sil bullet. Not sure the exact mold they used but it worked well.

I just got an old Ideal 357 446 mold to try. I've heard this is the worst bullet known to man in the 357 so I figured it would be perfect to try in the TC. If it works, I will be totally satisfied the OLD TC 357 barrel will shoot ANYTHING. Haven't tried it yet though.

[HeavyMetal]

I have had several 357 barrels for my Contender, super 14, 10 inch bull and the one I kept was an original 10 Octagon.

Reason: it was not "cut" for those stupid shotshells TC thought should have been a hot seller! Actually had a 357 Bull with the screw on choke, what a loser that was.

now for a boolit: try the RCBS 200 grain rifle mold, borrowed one from a bud and made a couple hundred and tried them in the Octagon barrel just for grins, Holy Mackerel Andy!!

Hated the Gas check part of the mold so bought an Accurate 4 bang for the same booklet with out the gas check shoots as good if not better!

I'f go with the other posters and say shoot what you have and see, but my experience is you won't be happy but each barrel is a different story!

HM

[CIC]

I have no experience with a TC but I had similar thoughts about my Handi Rifle. I head about how long the throat was. So after I stopped worrying about it, I got 2 Lee molds the 158 TL SWC and the GC 158 SWC. Guess what, they both shoot great. The TL is for 38spl loads and the GC is for full on 357 mag loads with lilgun. I would just pick up something and try it out.

[xringshutr]

The NOE 180 WFN is a GREAT boolit and very accurate in all of my 357's. Now that I think of it, I need to try it in my 20" 357 Bellm Contender Carbine barrel! Thanks for prompting me on that one!!