My 357 Mag is a giraffe

[bajabill]

I got my dies and bullet and 357max brass and decided to trial some of it in my un reamed barrel.  The max brass nearly fits into the chamber.  I barely seat a Hornady 180xtp in the 357mag case and it fully chambers.  I doubt I could find the lands with a reasonably seated 250 bullet.

[trotterlg]

Guess you won't have to throat it out any after you ream it.  Larry

[Haywire Haywood]

I'll bet 360DW brass fits it like a glove.

Ian

[hellacatcher]

bajabill--------That is what I found out with mine in a similar way. In a 357max and 180gr I sure can't touch the lands didn't have do anything to the throat  when I reamed it out it had  is long long throat. I do know by going to a max it tighten up the group and made a real deer killer out of it.

[Datil]

My 357 was same as Hellacatcher. But after reaming to maxie,
 Works a lot better in MHO. I think it improve acersay  with
 357 mag & 38 spl. loads Marv.

[JPH45]

Before you ream that chamber, look up the posts by Paul 5388, he is, as best can be, the board expert on shooting the factory 357 Magnum chamber. He has done lots of stuff. Also go to www.handloads.com and look on the long guns forum, do a searh for posts by Paul there as well, he has posted more than a little bit about his 357 there. Haywire is right, bet your chamber will accept the 360 DW without any alterations.

[Paul5388]

JPH,

Thanks for the kind words, but I think "expert" might be quite a bit too strong!  :eek:

So far, I haven't found anything affordable in .360 DW brass besides Starline.     I have had several cases blow out the sides (that's a nice unalarming way of saying ruptured cases) with my Starline brass.  I rarely get that with .357 Mag brass in my standard chamber, but maybe I haven't stressed them as bad as some of my experimental .360 loads were stressed.  :roll:

I do think I'm getting a little better accuracy with the longer .360 brass than what I get with .357 brass, but either one is quite sufficient for deer size game, out to 100 yards or maybe a little more.  I just came in from my deer stand a little while ago with my Handi and .360s !

[JPH45]

Paul, You can get away with your modesty today, but your work with the NEF 357 Magnum barrel is at the least prolific, and I remain an admirer if for no other reason than your sitting at the bench to fire that many round off. An exellent body of work.

[Datil]

If I am not wrong, Could be been so long since I was can not
 remember when :-D   :-D

 357 Mag brass is 1.29 long, 360 D. W. brass is 1.41 long,
 357 Max brass is 1.60 or 1.61 long. the best I could measure
 my camber of  my mag = 1.41.  360 D. W. brass cost more
 than 357 Max at  midway, I haven't had any brass problems.
 I glad I went reamed Mine out. Marv.
 just my 2 cents

[Paul5388]

Marv,

The chamber reaming seems to work fine for those who did it, but the extra money it costs to ream went a long ways toward buying brass for .360 DW!  :-)

Here's what I'm loading lately, at close to or passing Max lengths (some of these are loaded at 2.15" OAL!).  With lengths like this in a standard chamber, Bajabill's giraffe comment seems very appropriate!



The two on the right end are .44 Mag and a .357 Mag with 250 gr Beartooth.  The three .360s on the left are 180 gr XTPs loaded in the bottom cannelure and the three in the center are 250 gr Beartooths loaded longer than the crimping groove.  All of these are taper crimped with a Lee taper crimp die.

[MtJerry]

Paul,

What kind of velocity are you getting with the 360 DW and the 108gr bullets?

[Paul5388]

Jerry,

I clocked them at 1668 fps using 800X powder.  However, when I ran them through the chrony (9/05/04), I was seating them in the top cannelure.  Since I have them loaded so long now, the pressure may be increasing from a shorter throat (less jump to the rifling), because I'm pretty well maxed out on powder charge right now.

The muzzle energy is 1081 ft lbs, but it might be better to use the XTP-SP instead of the XTP-HP I used here.  The HP may expand too much at these velocities.  I would almost guarantee the Rem 180 gr, designed for the Max, will expand too much, besides not being as accurate as the XTP.

[Fred M]

Paul
Do I understand this right, a 357 mag chamber will take a 360 Dan Wesson case without reaming the chamber or does this only happen in  Handi's?

The XTP bullets are they made by Barnes?

Barnes makes a 140gr solid copper bullet have you tried them.

I can see where this 360DW makes a good deer stand rifle. A wee 357 Handy sounds like the real cats meow.

If I was too have a rifle like that I would like to buy bullets off the shelve.
Casting is not for me, no there is nothing wrong with casting bullets.

[MSP Ret]

Fred, for whats it's worth I am loading and shooting .360 DW's out of my factory .357 Mag H&R barrel and it shoots great. Until I can find or make my dream .35 Remngton H&R chambering it will be my lower end .35 caliber Handi, unless I think I need the power of the .35 Whelen!!!....<><.... :grin:

[hellacatcher]

MY 357 mag handi would take and shoot 360 DW before it was reamed out to a 357 max. It even seemed to shoot the 360 DW better that the 357 mag, but shoot the 357 max a much tighter group.

[Paul5388]

Fred,

The .360 DW uses the same bullets a .357 Mag uses.  The XTPs are made by Hornady.

I only know of Handi rifles that exhibit the long chamber needed to chamber .360 DW.  Of course, Dan Wesson also made a Mod 7360 revolver that was chambered in .360 DW.

[mag41vance]

This thread is another example of how the .357mag/max is probably the most enjoyable, and servicable firearm anyone could have in their collection.