357 mag barrel questions

[ccoker]

I am thinking of sending the NEF I have in to get a 357 barrel fitted on it

a few questions:
can you shoot 38s out of one with any decent accuracy or without hurting the barrel?
would they shorten the barrel to say 18 and recrown it and if so for how much ?
what kind of accuracy can I expect for the 357 ?

I got a 223 ultralight (and cut the stock down) for my son's first deer rifle last year and have been lest than pleased with the group size when using 64g bullets
I am sure it has to do with rate of twist and the thin barrel

I was thinking that a shorter 357 mag barrel would be a good thing
lighten it up a bit over the 22
I have two more kids behind this one and think that as they get close to hunting age, after they have mastered the 22, that shooting 38s and then 357mag would get them used to some recoil and bark
I know with 75 to a 100 yards the 357 mag is deadly on deer, esepecially out of the longer barrel and increased velocity
38s are cheap and even a box of 50 357 mag is cheaper than 223 currently

[quickdtoo]

No on the custom barrel length from H&R, but you can do it yourself, there's a link in the FAQs on crowning, do it a tad longer than you want and if it doesn't come out right, pay a smith to clean it up. Several members have done their own, I think Burntmuch just did one recently.

Shooting the shorter rounds work, some have reported fair accuracy, but a good chamber cleaning is necessary before shooting the longer round in them. The 357mag barrel suffers from an extremely long jump to the lands even with mag ammo, 360 Dan Wesson brass(1.41" long compared to 1.29") fits in mine, 125gr XTPs are still out of the case before touching the lands.

Tim

[burntmuch]

Yep I cut mine down to 17 inches & redid the crown. Cant give you any info on .38s or mags. Ive shot 30 rds of max thru it. Gonna put a scope on it eventually.      Check out my post on oct 17  357 max pictures

[Doublebass73]

My .357 is just as accurate with .38's which are great to practice with. My 9 year old daughter is
very recoil shy and even she didn't mind shooting .38's out of it.

[Default]

ccoker,

   I picked up a 357 mag handi for my other half.. Shes all of about 110 lbs. soaking wet so my line of thinking after owning and loving my Ruger 44 deerfield , was that the recoil would be really mild at best , I was right on that one ....Now since I ran into the whole "rings aren't tall enough to clear the hammer " with the scope I bought , I ended up putting my Aim Point on it and that is about like using Irons at 100 yards ... neither of us have trouble keeping 2 1/2  groups out to 100yrds (cant test further due to our local range ,YES I know I know I need to clear a 300 yrd shooting lane on my property lol)  ... at  50 and 75 my love is killing the ten ring...
 So i like it as does she . recoil is light , groups are small  and with a 1900 FPS and 1011 Foot pounds of energy at the muzzle from a 125 grain hollow point and 140 hollow point remmy rounds .... no complaints at all..

  Oh and ejector works great as well

   Regards

     Default