H&R .357 Max and heavy bullets

[three50seven]

I was sighting in my factory-chambered .357 maximum handi-rifle on Friday and noticed that I was getting remarkably better groups with 158gr. jacketed bullets (1.25" @ 50yds) than with 180 gr. jacketed or cast (3"-4" @ 50yds.) The 158's were loaded in MAG cases, as were the jacketed 180's. The cast 180's were MAXI's. During the course of my research, I read more than once that The factory H&R barrels tended to shoot best with heavy bullets loaded in MAXI cases because they didn't allow for as much "jump" between exiting the case and contacting the rifling. Anyone have a good explanation for this? It's not a big deal for me, 158gr. bullets are easier to come by anyway, but I'm just curious....

[jeff223]

My 357max Contender shoots 158,180 grain and 190grain Ranch Dogs very good.I have no idea why its shoots all of them but I ddon't care either.

My 357max rifle Handi likes 158 grain jacketed bullet only up to this point.I have only shot it at the range 3 times tho

[three50seven]

Thanks for the input jeff, I'm going to do some more testing with the 158's as soon as I can get some loaded up. The ones I shot on Friday were factory JHP. I'm going to try some XTP's and H110 in both magnum and maximum and see what that does.

[leftiye]

My .357 max. Handi Rifle has long throats, so I seat out to touch the rifling. Touching the rifling is a good thing. Jumping is not good in my book, though I do know that up to 1.5 inches of jump (old Weatherbys) can still give good accuracy. I suspect that things get touchier as you use cast, and higher intensities. I need max brass to do this and to help keep the boolits straight. I haven't used anything but a 200 grain custom Mountain Molds boolit, and I'm not interested in light boolits in the max - rifle or pistol. 1680 powder pushes thangs to up around 2000 fps and competes with the .35 Remington.

[three50seven]

I'm fine with using a 158gr bullet, so it really isn't an issue for me. More of a curiosity. I realize I may not be getting the full potential out of the max, but for now I'm fine with that. Need to dust off the chrony next time I'm out and see what kind of speed I am getting.

[NSB]

I spent all last year trying out a lot of different powders and bullets out of my 357max Low Wall. When it was all said and done, the 158g XTPs shot the best closely followed by the 180g XTPs. I tried bullets from 125g up to 225g and used quite a few different powders. Most things shot well, some very well, and a couple outstanding. The 180s were so close to shooting as well as the 158g I ended up using them for deer hunting. I didn't figure a quarter inch would matter much to the deer and it didn't. I documented everything on a spreadsheet. I still have a couple of loads to try with some different primers to see if I can tighten anything up.

[three50seven]

NSB- what powder did you achieve your best results with?

[NSB]

NSB- what powder did you achieve your best results with?
Three powders worked very well. Each bullet had one that it liked the best but these powders worked well in all trials. IMR4227, Rel7, and 2400. My favorite powder for accuracy with the 357mag has always been WW296 but it just didn't do as well as these powders did in the Max.

[Tenbender]

My Max Contender shoots 180 gr. best. I use 180 Single shot pistol bullets from Hornady and 180 gr jacketed HP Remington. Both same point of aim. My longest shot on a deer , 197 yards and my Contender is a 10". Drops'em like a hammer ! [smilie=2:

[three50seven]

Three powders worked very well. Each bullet had one that it liked the best but these powders worked well in all trials. IMR4227, Rel7, and 2400. My favorite powder for accuracy with the 357mag has always been WW296 but it just didn't do as well as these powders did in the Max.
I have some rel7, and usually keep 2400 on hand but ran out the other day...was hoping you would say H110/296 was great, because I have plenty of it [emoji4]

[clearwater]

My Handi rifle only likes 180g jacketed and soft, hollow base cast 150's. My guess is there is a variation in bore.

[three50seven]

That very well may be...

[curator]

I like the Lyman 358467, a 210 grain semi wad cutter gas-check design for my .357Max Handi Rifle. For powder I use AA1680, and Reloder7. I size them to .360 when cast of 80/20 WW/lino. Accuracy is exceptional with velocities hovering around 1600-1800 fps. Sized .358 they hit sideways even though my bore slugs right at .358.