.357 Max Wadcutter

[justindad]

I have no sensible reason for asking, so don’t ask why… what if I trimmed .357 Maximum brass to the longest length my .357 Magnum revolver would accept, then loaded a full wadcutter into those cases (let’s assume safe pressures). Shorter pistol life? Wasted money? Guaranteed visit to ER? Get fined for having too much fun?

[Polymath]

My 2 cents. It's a shame to cut down brass like that unless you have no other choice. Always best to trade it. The .357 Max was a solution to a problem that didn't exist. IMO.
My best loads with wadcutters were in lower charges. I shoot a lot of 38SPL in my 357 mag. Shoot all afternoon without hurting my hand.
Recently worked up a Gas Checked 158 hard cast load for a trapper I know. Got all 7 in a 3" circle at 51 ft. Probably good enough for Gov work.
Word to the wise, screaming hot loads will eventually send your gun to the Dr. for retuning. I've worked too hard to turn my guns into door stops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.357_Remington_Maximum

[JimB..]

The longest case that’ll fit the cylinder isn’t generally going to be very much longer than a 357mag case, how long a case can you fit?

[ohen cepel]

I like the Max quite well. Am shooting it out of a Contender though and it has much more power than a .357 Mag. There are Handi Rifle options for it as well as people reaming out the new Henry single shots for it. So, not confined to revolvers.

Cutting the brass down will not give you a 357 Mag case though. Clear warning on Starline's site to not do that;
https://www.starlinebrass.com/357-maximum
So, if you proceed you'll need to work up your own load data carefully as 357mag likely will not apply (apologies if you knew that already).

I think I know what you're going for and can appreciate the idea. May not yield great results, but keep us posted if you do proceed. May push it fast enough to get a lot of leading. How much barrel length would you be working with?

[JimB..]

I like the Max quite well. Am shooting it out of a Contender though and it has much more power than a .357 Mag. There are Handi Rifle options for it as well as people reaming out the new Henry single shots for it. So, not confined to revolvers.

Cutting the brass down will not give you a 357 Mag case though. Clear warning on Starline's site to not do that;
https://www.starlinebrass.com/357-maximum
So, if you proceed you'll need to work up your own load data carefully as 357mag likely will not apply (apologies if you knew that already).

I think I know what you're going for and can appreciate the idea. May not yield great results, but keep us posted if you do proceed. May push it fast enough to get a lot of leading. How much barrel length would you be working with?

I shoot it in a contender and a handi rifle, OP said revolver.

[Mk42gunner]

Option two and four I believe.

The bugaboo is making sure you have safe pressure. If you don't, option one and maybe three come into play.

Robert

[rockrat]

You would probably be better to just seat your wadcutter not as deep so as to have more powder space but remember to keep oal short enough that your wadcutter still fits in the cylinder and you can rotate they cylinder. Keep within published load data.

[stubshaft]

It shouldn't have bearing on pistol life, but would be a waste of both time and money IMO.

[dtknowles]

I have no sensible reason for asking, so don’t ask why… what if I trimmed .357 Maximum brass to the longest length my .357 Magnum revolver would accept, then loaded a full wadcutter into those cases (let’s assume safe pressures). Shorter pistol life? Wasted money? Guaranteed visit to ER? Get fined for having too much fun?

Small differences is case length don't make much difference, you control the powder volume with overall length. Overall length is limited by the cylinder length. You could use 38 special cases and seat the bullets out to max and achive what you are going to get with longer cases made from 357 max or better since the .357 max have thicker heads so less volume in the head.

Tim

[bedbugbilly]

I'm another one who doesn't believe in cutting brass down unless its all you have - especially when a number of different casings are in short supply right now . . . but that's just me.

IF you were to pursue it . . why not consider finding sown 360 Dan Wesson brass? It's length is between 357 Mag and 357 Max. As am example, I had a Hand Rifle in 357 at one time and a lot of folks were reaming theirs for 357 Max. I wasn't interested in doing mine to 357 Max. but the chambers were known for being deep. I was shooting everything from 38 Colt Short & Long to 360 DW Brass (Starline) in it - all worked well for plinking with cast and an occasional woodchuck.

I know it's probably "one of those things" that a person wonders about, but it seems like a lot of work trimming, etc. when in the end, you'd gain what? If your looking to get the boolit closer to the barrel, consider seating the wadcutter out further and adjusting the load - in essence - you would be doing the same thing if you could use longer brass but in the standard 257 casing, what portion of the lead wadcutter that would be surrounded by brass in the trimmed longer casing just isn't covered by the 357 Mag casing.

FWIW - I used to cast and use a 160 grain .358 wad cutter seated out like a RN or SWC in 38 special casing in my 38 special revolvers and the same charges I used for RN and SWC - the WC seated out to the same COAL as the RN and SWC loads. They shot very well and were accurate.

You are only going to be able to use brass that fits the dimensions of the dept of your chambers - i.e. to the back of the throat - so how many thousandths more are you going to really gain in the length of the casing? Unless you had your cylinder straight bored to remove the throats to allow for longer brass. The WC is an internally dubbed boolet of .358 and that is why the cylinder has throats. This is as opposed to a pistol that requires an externally lubed bullet in a 38/357 casing for a larger bore than .357. As an example - I use conversion cylinders sin my .36 caliber cap and ball revolvers. The bore on those revolvers is .375 - this requires the use of a "heeled boolit - .375 in diameter, loaded in a 38 caliber casing (38 Colt Short, Long, Special). Due to these things, the cylinders are straight bored (no throats like a standard 38/357). A heeled bullet is externally lubed (same as .22 rimfire) and the diameter of the bullet matches the diameter of the casing and the casing is crimped on the "heel" of the bullit. In that scenario, the length of the casing is determined by the total COAL of the loaded cartridge and the length of the total straight bored cylinder so that the cartridge will fit and the nose of the bullet does not extended beyond the face of the cylinder which would prevent the cylinder from rotating.

[Charlie Horse]

Case wall thickness is a factor. I've had issues when deep seating long shanked boolits in 357 cases. The cases would bulge and the cartridge wouldn't chamber. I was using the Lee 170 grain SWC. Got the mold on a group buy here.

[MT Gianni]

Wadcutter brass is thinner in the nose end not thicker. You would just be increasing pressure a small amount and wasting valuable Max brass.