Finally Got my .357 Barrel!

[carp]

Well I finally got my .357 barrel back for NEF. They recieved it on Dec. 15, 2006. I have it mounted up to my Buffalo Classic reciever and stocks. It looks pretty good! I cleaned it up and mounted a Cabela's Alaskan Guide 3x9x40 scope that I already had. I used the Weaver quadlock rings and it barely clears but will work O.K. I think they put the hornet front sight on it like they did to somebody elses. I don't plan on using them but I'll give them a call one day to get the right ones sent.

[dw06]

Man bet you stand the wait!What are you going to shoot in it?Be sure and give us a range report on how it does.

[midwayraider]

boy i can't hardly wait to get my .357 barrel . they received my reciever 2-12-07, guess i got a little wait 

[Jim Stacy]

Be interesting to see how long the chamber is. Friend and I measure his 357 handi chamber at 1.45 to where the forcing cone effect starts . He cuts his 357 Max brass to 1.45 and loads 21.3/296/180 XTP and it is a deer gun and a half out to 150 yards. The long case would probably work good on gass checked cast bullets also.

[Paul5388]

Jim,

It would be nice to know, especially if it's one of the new barrels with an extractor instead of an ejector.  One can never tell if NEF has made adjustments to their chamber to prevent using the longer brass, when they changed to the new extractor. 

[Jim Stacy]

Yes it would Paul and no one mentioned a 38/55 in this post ! I'm going to have to put a block on the 38/55 numbers !

[Mattkc]

I finally got my 357 barrel to the range but it didn't go well.  I had a local gunsmith chop it to 16.5" and recrown.  Mounted a UltraDot and headed to the range with a bunch of 357 loads, 125gr. sp, 9.5gr. Unique.  Everything went fine. started at 25 yards with the UltraDot on the smallest dot. Got it zeroed then moved to 50 yards then 75 yards.  At 75 I was getting about 2" groups which I was happy with as the dot was covering much of the target.  Next went to 100 yards and everything went to pot.  The dot pretty much covered the target but I had done OK at 75.  I fired and saw the round hit over the target, fired several more rounds and couldn't hit the 18"X30" target holder let alone the target.  Moved it back to 50 yards and fired a several rounds and they are all over the place.  Checked the rings and everything was tight, pulled the UltraDot off and checked the base screws and they were fine (crap).    Now I'll have to put a scope on the 357 to make sure it's not the gun and mount the UltraDot on something and see how it does, it's always something, just once I'd like to go to the range and everything works right.

[Paul5388]

Matt,

I think you're underestimating the .357's flatness and the red dot is going to severely limit it's abilities.  Mine will shoot 1" groups at 100 yards and I don't have many doubts that yours will too.

A lot of people brag on Unique, but I think for my money I'd rather use 2400.  Lee's Modern Reloading 2nd Edition says you can use 17.0 gr of 2400 with that 125 gr bullet.  That will get you close to 2000 fps, even with the short barrel.   I use the Remington Golden Saber, which is going to gain a little speed due to its bore rider design, plus it's a cheap bullet from Midway.

I think you need a scope when it's traveling that fast, which isn't going to do much to the portability/handiness compared to a red dot.

Mine didn't shoot worth a hoot until I floated the barrel and quit using anything but a taper crimp.  A roll crimp isn't needed in a single shot and you can probably get more bullet pull with a taper crimp than a roll crimp.

Since I got a Lee carbide die set, I quit using anything else, even though I have 3 sets of RCBS steel dies.  I use a Lee Classic Cast Iron Turret and put a separate crimping die in the fourth turret hole, so I can crimp in a separate step from bullet seating.

Mine also took quite a few rounds through it to break the barrel in.  I shot it in and didn't even consider lapping it.

Try again and then give us a good report of your success! 

[Mattkc]

The weird thing is it was shooting fine then the groups went crazy.  At first I thought it was a loose ring but they were tight.  Also when I moved back to 50 yards, where I had been grouping 1.5"-2", it was grouping 14"-16".  My UltraDot has 4 dot sizes going down to 2 which should be small enough for 100 yards.  I have the barrel for coyotes and deer in the brush at close range.  I put a 2.5 power scope on it and will take it back to the range, the problem with it is the cross hairs are to fine and they are hard to see in the brush and shadows.  Another problem I noticed with the UltraDot was the dot contained to overlapping red dots. 

[mt3030]

Red dot covers too much! Fine crosshairs too difficult to see in brush!
Yep, been there and done that. That's why when I get a new barrel/rifle, the first thing I do (after cleaning it) is mount a good 6 to 10 (general shooting or hunting) or 15 (varminting) fixed power for testing. That way you can test your loads without all the other cra..junk getting in the way of known results. Then after I know what loads will perform, I mount whatever sight/scope will serve in the terrain I plan on using it in. Takes a lot of questions out of the chore.