357 handi

[HTS]

hi all,im new to this forum and i have a 357 h+r i have tried everything to get this gun to shoot.i can hold it on a paper plate @50 yds but thats about it i've tried factory ammo and my own hand loads w/cast and jacketed 148 up through to 180 gr.then i did a chamber cast and discovered that the chamber has a forcing cone.ok now i know the 357 is a pistol chambering but a rifle has no need for it the bullet has to jump through an area roughly 5/16 or more to get to the rifling. the chamber just ahead of the casemouth is.382 and bullet dia. is .358 so it may hit the rifling squarely or it may not.it seems like my only option is to ream to the max so i can seat bullets closer to the rifling.have any of you had trouble like this with your 357's?i dont think it will ever shoot good in its current chambering,what do you all think?

[Datil]

 I say ream it maxie, Thats what did when I first got it. think it shoots a better with maxie loads.
 I think Quickdtoo has a reamer he rents out. Marv.


 PS look at the n1st item in the FQes at top of this page Marv.

[bilmac]

I'm kind of new to a 357 too, I just took it out and put some rounds through it a couple of days ago. I just shot a collection of 38s and 357s that I had laying around. I didn't try anything that was real impressive, but I was getting maybe 2" groups at 50. What did kind of excite me is that the gun was putting almost everything 357s 38s, lead and jacketed bullets, factory and handloads into pretty much the same group. And what seemed nicer is that as I shot longer ranges, the hotter stuff like the 357s were still hitting pretty close to the point of aim.

I haven't done any load development yet but I feel pretty confident that I should be able to make some loads that shoot.

[quickdtoo]

Welcome! You'll learn that's a normal chamber for the 357mag if you do a little research on the topic. Read the Handi Basics 101 and the accurizing info in the FAQs, you have some learning to do about H&Rs in general, just part of the normal learning curve, fortunately they're easy to work on and get to shoot accurately, even for H&R newbies, just like the many hundreds before you. 

Tim

[Badnews Bob]

You can also try .360 DW brass to see if it will help out before you ream to max. Unless you just want a max.

[HTS]

i dont want a max if i can help it,i have plenty of other rifles i can shoot deer with.the reasoning for this little gun was mainly for cast bullet plinking and such.im an old t/c shooter and they have their problems as well,but i thought i would like an h+r mostly for the price,way less than a t/c bbl.and out of the box accuracy from what i've read was usually pretty good.

[Swampman]

I've never heard of a .357 Handi that wasn't accurate.  Good Luck!

[Spanky]

I've never heard of a .357 Handi that wasn't accurate.  Good Luck!

Mine shoots great. I don't know why I waited so long to get one.



Spanky

[mechanic]

This is from a barrel I bought on the classified.  Shooting 180 gr. cast bullets at a moderate loading of h110.

[HTS]

nice shootin!,i used some 296,and some bullseye in my handloads all taken from the lee and hornady manuals oh yeah,and trailboss too