which .357

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

yes, the 24" tube gets a bit cumbersome in the field.

ROTFL! I also do a lot of hunting with an Early Virginia longrifle, which sports a 42" barrel. My 24" bbl lever gun is as "light and handy" as I could ever wish for. The 20" carbine is for my wife and boys.

Hey how do you load for that 200 grain boolit? I've got a Lyman 195 grain RN that does well over Lil' Gun, except in my lever actions. A) I'm a bit hesitant to put RNs in the tube magazine B) I thought the rifling twist was too slow and didn't get great accuracy. Don't know what the twists are, but they don't make a full turn in the barrel.

[Poohgyrr]

This picture has had me wanting a beadblasted stainless M92 for a while now, I like how yours is setup. That is what I was looking for when I found the 20" short rifle. I still plan to buy one, just have to wait a while.........

I totally agree with the above. My 20" Rossi .357



Beadblasted Stainless for durability and low shine.

[Boomer Mikey]

The 200 grain RCBS 35-200-FN is a great bullet for 357 Magnums but you should push them hard in Pumas as the twist rate for Pumas is 1:30". The Marlin 1894's twist rate is 1:16" and will handle lighter loads better.

The RCBS 35-180-SIL is an excellent bullet too.

A great full power load for the 35-200-FN is 13.5-15 grains of H110 or WW296 with a F205 rifle primer and bullets seated to 1.65" COL. This will feed the lever guns and Ruger revolvers well... as usual, start low and work your way up. The Federal small rifle primer works well with this combination and you'll get high powder loading density with this long bullet crimped over the ogive.

Boomer

Thumbnail of the RCBS 35-200-FN loaded to 1.65" COL in a 357 Magnum case and crimped over the ogive lightly (bottom) and an RCBS 35-180-SIL seated in a Dan Wesson 360 Magnum case (top).

The picture on the right shows the 200 seated in a 357 case full length, this works well in TC's and NEF's.

If you have one of those loooong chambers like TC's and NEF's have, you may want to try a Dan Wesson 360 Magnum case and trim to your chamber's length. The 360DW case is 1.410" long (bottom right).

[Blammer]

Black J- I put 15 gr of Lil gun in my 357 mag for my win 94. The bullet is a flat point, on the top and sits flush with the primer on the next shell, so no worries.

I wouldn't put RN in my lever gun either... don't know what the twist on my Win is, I'll have to find out.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

15 grains of Lil' Gun under a 200 grain boolit?! How deep do you seat the bullet. I don't mean OAL, but the actual depth of the bullet in the case?

[Blammer]

.3 or so of the bullet.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Blammer,

Sorry to bother you with nit-picking, but since there isn't official data with Lil' Gun and 200 grain boolits, I don't want to make any stupid mistakes.

.3 or so of the bullet

Is that 30% of the bullet's length is in the case? Or is that 3/10 inches inside the case?

[Blammer]

hold on let me get you some real specific number here....

[Blammer]

OAL of loaded cartridge 1.770
Case Lenght 1.280
Amount of bullet showing in loaded case .490
Lenght of bullet (just bullet) .890
Amount of bullet that is seated in the case .400

[Blammer]

Here is a pic of where on the bullet the .400 mark is. It is where the bullet radius ends and there is a slight lip. Don't know what it's called but it's above the crimping groove.

I had to seat deeper so it would function in my lever gun.

[Old Ironsights]

That's an awfully pointy bullet...

What happened to your meplat? That one looks like it's around/less than 30% ...

[Blammer]

don't know....

I do know that It shoots a pretty good 200 yard group.

[45r]

you can hollow point those bullets with a forster hollow pointer and the small metplat will help getting it centered.you can make the hollow point any size you want and they will do a number on the critters.

[BAGTIC]

If you look at my avitar, you will see one of my favourite rifles, a cleapo second hand 357 Rossi. Gobbles up 38s as well as 357s. Great little rifle! Cheap too. They make a long barrel one, which has a oct barrel and crescent butt plate. I have seen other suppliers in the states offer 24" standard barrels with normal buttplates (not as cool looking, but a much better bet to carry and shoot.

If using a scope is important to you, a Marlin would be a better choice (made in the states as well).

Mick.

What kind of game do you shoot with that .357 downunder?

[TedH]

Another vote for the Rossi 92! Great little rifles.

[Gaucho Gringo]

Each to his own, I can not hit anything with a barrel of less than 24" and heavy. With a long heavy barreled rifle I am deadly, with a short light barrel I would do more damage using the rifle as a club. Just me.