Contender Carbine .357 Max

[richhodg66]

Went to peruse a couple of local gun shops in a nearby town. Contrayry to what I'm hearing here, guns are not flying off the shelves and both had mostly the same line up as a month or so ago when I was last in there.

One stood out, a short and light barreled Contender Carbine in .357 Maximum for $399. Has the synthetic stocks on it, so ugly, but did have a scope base.

I really never gave it a lot of thought, but I have a lot of .38/.357 reloading infrastructure, I would guess a guy could load the maximum cases on a standard .357 set of dies? I have lots of molds, etc. Any down side to shooting standard length .357 magnum brass in one?

Seems like a pretty good price for what it is.

[Tatume]

Standard 357 Magnum dies are used to load the 357 Maximum. There is no downside to using 38 Special, 357 Magnum, or 357 DW in the 357 Maximum, if you are willing to clean the chamber (which I'm sure you are). If the barrel is good to begin with, all of the family of cartridges should be very accurate. They are in both of my 357 Maximum Contender barrels.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

Yes I agree that’s a good deal. A useful barrel, too. Pretty slim pickings for factory chambered .357 Maximum rifles.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

You got a good Deal I had a 14" Max barrel years ago I sold it off to buy a 14" 44 barrel 357 Max brass was hard to find then now that Starline makes it I kinda wish that I kept it 180 gr XTP shot good out of it

[P Flados]

I load for 4 different 357 maximums (2 Dan Wesson revolvers, a 10" Contender & a 14" Contender).

Every time I have done careful testing, any load that is decent in a magnum case is more accurate in a maximum case.

And 38 Sp are normally just plain bad.

Shop around. I think Remington ran off a batch of 357 max recently and can be found for less than Starline.

[richhodg66]

Well, I haven't bought it yet, I suspect it's gonna be there a while.

My Dad was a real fan of Contenders. I only have one rifle in .17 HMR, which is pretty much a worthless caliber, but it was too good a deal to pass on. It is very accurate and I always figured I'd sell off that barrel and get something more worthwhile.

I may have to go back and try to do some horse trading for this one.

[NSB]

I've had three .357max guns, two Encores and one Low Wall. All were great shooters using Max brass. Not so much with Mag brass. As stated above, the good loads in a .357mag were just so-so in the Max chamber. The 38spl were just plain bad. With Max brass they all shot very good.

[Beerd]

Well, I haven't bought it yet, I suspect it's gonna be there a while.

I may have to go back and try to do some horse trading for this one.

You know the factory stopped loading .357 Max ammo a LONG time ago.
And that plastic stock (tap, tap, tap) sounds kind of hollow.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I wonder why they quit making those Contenders? Knew a guy who had a 45-70 with a T/C scope on it. Had a 10" ported barrel and with those 405 gr. Rem loads it was a fun pistol.

[richhodg66]

I wonder why they quit making those Contenders? Knew a guy who had a 45-70 with a T/C scope on it. Had a 10" ported barrel and with those 405 gr. Rem loads it was a fun pistol.

I don't really have much interest in them as pistols. This would be a neat little easy to load for thing. USeful too, I would think. Factory ammunition is something I couldn't care less about, I have too many molds, powder, etc, that would work in this I would never even consider buying ammo for it.

[Texas by God]

That sounds like a neat little rifle with thump if you need it. I thought that's a good price.

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[roadie]

Was it the Contender .357 Max that had the long throat?

[rosewood]

If that is a carbine bbl, the bbl go for $300. I would have been all over that if I found it. Rosewood

[richhodg66]

I did find one treasure there. This place is a pawn shop, but always has a lot of guns and I suspect they make most of their profits on guns. They have some reloading stuff and occasionally used reloading stuff. Today, they had a nice copy of Phillip Sharpe's Complete Guide to Handloading from the '40s for $5. Needless to say, it left with me.

I've also been having a renewed interest in Remington 788s, I've had several over the years, down to just two now, but at another shop, there was a very, very good condition 788 in .22-250 for $489. Seems people have been wanting crazy money for 788s the past few years, so that surprised me.

[quilbilly]

I have had one for 20 years and it is among the most useful rifles I own as a light bear rifle. The only drawback to it is so light weight that with full house loads, the rifle's vibration (not recoil) is very unpleasant. I use mostly plain base boolits in it now so the vibration is no longer an issue but a 184 gr RFpb at 1400 fps will do anything I want it to at 75 yards or less. For a fun load I shoot a 150 RN at 1200 fps. Both are 2 MOA at 100 yards with iron sights.

[MT Gianni]

I wonder why they quit making those Contenders? Knew a guy who had a 45-70 with a T/C scope on it. Had a 10" ported barrel and with those 405 gr. Rem loads it was a fun pistol.

To the best of my knowledge they have never stopped making them. They are now owned by S&W who still makes the G2 and Encores. Haus of Arms is making the original frame.

[Earlwb]

Well I see the .357 Maximum as being a rimmed version of the .350 Legend. Muzzle velocities are close to being the same. But the Max is much more flexible with a large choice of bullet variety. The Legend is limited to .355 inch bullets while the Max uses .357 inch size bullets. So a carbine in .357 Maximum would be pretty neat to have. Especially if you hunt in those states that allow only straight sided cartridges for hunting.

[725]

Have one w/ a MGM barrel. Fantastic little rifle. W/ a Vortex 2 x 7 scope, 180 gr Hornady XTP & a mid-range dose of H-110, it's a one hole, for me. (Sandbagged - bench rested)

[Tatume]

Well I see the .357 Maximum as being a rimmed version of the .350 Legend.

Since the 357 Maximum is decades older, I see the 350 Legend as a rimless version of the Max.

[richhodg66]

Since the 357 Maximum is decades older, I see the 350 Legend as a rimless version of the Max.

Or, both are copies of the .351 WSL.

Honestly, I'd probably be more excited about this one if it were just a standard .357 Magnum chambering. I'd really rather not buy any special brass for anything at this point.