How about a 35-55?

[Boomer Mikey]

The lousy chambers in my 10" and 14" TC Contender 357 Remington Maximum barrels continue to haunt me.

Maybe there's a way to get rid of the 0.400" long "cone" SAAMI calls a throat in the 357 Maximum.

It looks like a reamer can be made to create a more versitile 35 caliber for the Contender.

The original wildcat was called the .350 Maine Guide.

With friendly and available 38-55 brass for cast loads and heavier 375 Winchester brass for Jword bullets this cartridge has all the potential of becoming a better cartridge than the 35 Remington for the Contender.

180-200 grain jword bullets and 180-250 grain cast boolits should work well with a wider range of powders like 4198, 322, 335, 4895 than the twitchy, sometimes temp sensitive H4227 loads of the 357 Maximum.

The cartridge length would feed fine in 30-30 actions meaning a 357 magnum barrel screwed onto a 30-30 action and rechambered to .350 Maine Guide would make a perfect woods gun for North America, the 35-55.


Boomer

[Pepe Ray]

Oh my look-- the wheel!!

COTW. any year, The 35-30(35-30/30) had a long career. Also, the .357 Herrett if you wanted an OAL closer to the 30 Herrett.
J.D.Jones did the .358 JDJ as a propriatary ctg. These are done up by SSK Industries. Done on a .444M case, these will fit any where a .307Win will.
In short, your right, there are a lot of options. Keep us up to speed on your changes.
Pepe Ray

[Doc Highwall]

It might be more expensive to buy a reamer plus all the work you will have to do to set this up in a lathe plus labor, then to just get a new barrel. My big caliber on my contender is 375Win. 220gr.Hornady AA1680=2074FPS. 10"barrel. Standard dies,cases.

[Nobade]

Another one that works really well in Contenders is the 35 Remington rimmed. Just cut the chamber with a regular 35 Rem reamer, and set the headspace with the normal gauge. Then make a rim cut with a boring bar, and make brass out of 303 Brit or 30-40 cases. A form and trim die plus a full length set is all you need for dies. A TC 35 Rem extractor can be made to work, or one for the 30-30.

[Boomer Mikey]

Im going to rechamber these barrels to 35/30-30. It's almost identical to Maine Guide #2 with 30-30 WCF case and a 30 degree shoulder.

I ordered the reamer today.

Check this thread for more info:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=16474


Boomer

[Boomer Mikey]

Another one that works really well in Contenders is the 35 Remington rimmed. Just cut the chamber with a regular 35 Rem reamer, and set the headspace with the normal gauge. Then make a rim cut with a boring bar, and make brass out of 303 Brit or 30-40 cases. A form and trim die plus a full length set is all you need for dies. A TC 35 Rem extractor can be made to work, or one for the 30-30.

This was a great suggestion, easy and effective.

If I was going to 38 caliber I would get a 375 Winchester or 38-55 barrel for my Contender or Encore, about as much energy as you want to hold in your hand.

Thanks,

Boomer

[cabezaverde]

I own one of the kind of rare original Bullberry 444 marlin Contender barrels. This was made before everyone quit the 444 in a Contender. Shooting factory loads, it is not as bad as someone might think. If you stoke it hot with 265 FP Hornadys, you can actually feel the screw that runs through the grip pressing against your palm in recoil.

Nobade mentioned the 35 Remington rimmed. Mine uses 30-40 Krag brass, and it is a wonderful round to load and shoot in the T/C.

[Boomer Mikey]

I ordered a set of dies from CH4D for 35/30-30 and a tapered "M" die expanding plug to expand 30-30 cases to 35 caliber and changed the shoulder angle of the reamer to 15 degrees to match the shoulder angle of the dies and the parent cartridge (30-30) in addition to making the base cartridge diameter 0.420" to provide a maximum of 0.004" - 0.005" case clearance in the chamber with my new Winchester brass.

I received my Load From A Disk program today and ran the load calculations for RCBS 35-200-FN bullets.

TC 10" barrels can reach 2000 fps with 90% loading density.
TC 14" barrels can reach 2100 fps with 85% loading density.
20" Carbine barrels can reach 2225 fps with 85% loading density.

At 2000 fps from a 10" TC you would have 1847 pounds of energy at the muzzle and 968 pounds of energy at 200 Yards. This sounds like plenty of power for a 10" handgun.

At 2225 fps from a 20" carbine you would have 2286 pounds of energy at the muzzle and 1028 pounds of energy at 250 yards.

All of this at normal 30-30 pressure levels with 35 grains of powder or less while equaling or exceeding 35 Remington factory load ballistics and the flexibility to use larger bullets.

BTW 250's can reach 2000 fps with H322 at 95% loading density providing 2220 pounds of energy at the muzzle and 1282 pounds of energy at 250 yards from a 20" carbine.

200 and 250 grain bullets from a 20" carbine at 2200 fps and 2000 fps respectively have a Taylor Indexes of 20 and 21 at 100 yards making the little 35/30-30 suitable for Elk and as effective as a 30-06 with 180 grain bullets at 100 yards.

This is looking better all the time.

Boomer

[Boomer Mikey]

My custom Dave Manson 35-55 reamer was waiting for me when I got home last night. I'll try to poke a hole in one or both of my 357 Maximum barrels this weekend.

Boomer

[Boomer Mikey]

Pictures of the completed re-chambered barrels and some test loads for this project.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...5&postcount=57

Boomer

[Boomer Mikey]

I shot these back in September with some 200 RCBS and 180 grain RCBS cast bullets with 30 grains of H322... BRUTAL! is the only word to describe the 10" Contender.

Accuracy was good at 200 meters but I quickly got tired of it beating me up.

Boomer

[DonH]

Oh my look-- the wheel!!

Pepe Ray

This IS re-inventing the wheel - and not from the .35-.30-30! In the 1880s/1890s MAYNARD loaded and chambered for a BP ctg they labeled .35-40. An extension of this they called the .35-55. Whether this one (.35-55) was actually produced in any numbers is up for grabs. Brass for these ctgs. may be made from (IIRC) .38-55. This would most likely be a lower pressure round than the .35-.30-30. A few single shot shooters have chambered for it in recent years.

[Rafe Covington]

I have a 17 in .38-55 encore bull barrel I shot as a pistol. I have been shooting 300 gr. bullets using XMP 5744, it is really accurate to about 300 yards. I have always liked .38-55, fell it should be more popular. Just my 2 cents worth.